What could be even better than providing the teenage drivers the total gift of safety?
Well, it looks like such would be the Christmas present that the American Automobile Association’s (AAA) Foundation For Traffic Safety is giving out to those new drivers out there. You see, what is actually happening is that the organization would be allowing teenagers use the Driver-ZED. What is the Driver-ZED? Well, it is actually a software program and is based on a DVD. It is like a game which teenagers can use and play around with. However, it is not all about games for the teenagers would be able to learn about being safe drivers and also teaching them tricks and tips so that they would avoid vehicle catastrophes at the maximum extent. After all, being in crashes could mean losing your arms and limbs and simply not just your car’s Ford Probe performance parts.
Using the Driver-ZED is just like playing a game. Those who have tried it out have certainly said that the experience of using Driver-ZED was knowledgeable and quite fun. Many people have said that such would be the best type of gift one can give to parents who have teenage drivers as children. After all, quite a huge number of vehicle crashes involve teenagers so much so that vehicle crashes can be said to be one of the top killers of teenagers in the country. Such is backed up by data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Peter Kissinger is the AAAFTS president and CEO as well and he does explain the history behind the Driver-Zed: “We developed Driver-ZED specifically to teach teens how to handle the risks they are most likely to encounter on the road by preparing them to make split second decisions. We believe Driver-ZED is a critical tool that will complement and supplement a teen’s driver training.” He also does add, “It would take most people several years of real driving to gain this variety of experiences. Instead, Driver-ZED enables young people to navigate these situations from the safety of their home or classroom, where a mistake results in a lower score rather than a real world crash.”
With a Formula One race win finally under his belt McLaren’s rookie driver Lewis Hamilton’s confidence received a much needed boost. After just six races in his budding Formula One career, the young British driver took his maiden victory at the Canadian Grand Prix. He now leads the driver’s championship with 48 points - eight points clear of his two-time defending champion teammate Fernando Alonso.
With his win at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Canada, Hamilton strengthened his grip on the lead for the driver’s championship. Going into the Canadian Grand Prix, he shared the lead in the standings with his teammate. After the race though, he leads Alonso after the latter only finished in seventh place securing only a couple of points.
His stellar performance at this year’s Formula One season has lead experts to speculate that Hamilton is on track to pose a challenge to Alonso’s bid for three consecutive championships. For himself, Hamilton is apparently eyeing the greatest prize in his profession. “Obviously now the dream is to win the world championship,” says Hamilton after winning the race.
“But at the moment we have to be realistic and I think it's always good to bear in mind that I am still a rookie, this is my first season and there are going to be some hard times,” he tells. “I hope there won't but it is bound to happen, that's just the way it goes.”
“There'll be good days and there'll be bad days but at the moment I'm pretty consistent and that's down to the team and the fact I've got a very well grounded family and that's perfect,” he furthermore says.
Hamilton’s driving skills have been proven at the Monaco Grand Prix which is one of the hardest races of the season with its tight turns and narrow track. At the Canadian Grand Prix, Hamilton showcased his composure. There have been a number of restarts during the race due to accidents on the tracks including the horrific crash that BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica suffered. Through these restarts, Hamilton’s lead was reduced to nothing, but the young driver showed his composure by performing well in all the restarts en route to his first win of the season and his young Formula One career.
Meanwhile, his teammate, Alonso, says that their team favors the young driver. “From the first moment, I wasn't completely comfortable. I am in an English team, with an English team-mate, who is doing brilliantly,” says the Spaniard. “We knew all the support and help would go his way. It is something I understand and I'm not complaining,” Alonso added.
While the win of Hamilton acts as a turn signal signifying where McLaren will be in the future, Alonso is confident that he has what it takes to defend his crown which he won when he was still with Renault. “I've won two races out of six and I've finished on the podium four times and I have those 40 points that will allow me to fight for the title in the end,” Alonso said.
“But I'm second in the championship, I'm eight points behind. It would be worse if I were at Renault, or Honda or any other team. At the moment I am where I expected to be and with a clear chance of winning the title in Brazil (the last race of the season), and not now, in the sixth race.”
Tough state laws when it comes to driving may be something that teenage drivers would not welcome with open arms. But then again, a study that has just been conducted by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety did say that those states with tougher laws actually have lesser grave crashes. This just reflects that such laws may not be quite a big deal for some but they do help out a lot keep teens and other motorists safe while driving.
Brad Roeber is the president for the Chicago arm of the AAA. On this new study, he says, “Motor vehicle crashes remain the number one cause of death for teens in the United States, and roughly 1,000 16-year-old drivers are involved in fatal crashes each year. This study was commissioned to understand the ability of legislation to make a difference on teen driver safety. Based on the research results, the impact of GDL programs is highly impressive.”
There are actually seven basic elements for the GDL (Graduated Driver Licensing) system. And these basic elements were considered by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety when they tackled the study that covered several states all across the United States. After all, it is quite important to study about these things for we all would be looking at lost lives which are quite impossible to replace compared to Dynomax auto parts which when damaged can be easily substituted.
The seven elements are: a person must at least be 16 years old at the very least before they actually are given a learner’s permit; the driver must have the learner’s permit for at least six whole months before they are actually given a driver’s license that would allow them to drive without having any experienced driver to supervise him or her; when the driver is still learning, there is a requirement that he should have at least 30 hours of driving practice while being supervised by an experienced driver after which he would be granted a certification; a person should at least be 16 years and six months old before he is given a driver’s license and this is called the intermediate stage of licensing; those with intermediate licenses should not be allowed to drive after the clock strikes 10pm; those with intermediate licenses can be allowed to have only one passengers except in the cases where family members are the passengers; and to get the unrestricted license, one should be at the very least be 17 years old.
Jesse White, the secretary of state, shares, “This report shows that we need to take a very comprehensive approach to improving teen driver safety. More parental involvement and passage of the new laws proposed by my teen driver safety task force will reduce the number of crashes involving young drivers and save lives.”
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