State Patrol Addresses Teen Driver Safety Week

Last week was National Teen Driver Safety Week – and law
enforcement hopes to remind teens behind the wheel, along with their parents,
about the rules of the road. State Patrol Inspector Scott Linek points out that
the simplest things are always important to address. 

He asks parents to “just remember to talk to your teens about
the basics, the rundown you have to get with them – we forget sometimes just
the basics of where are you going to go? When are you going to be home? What
you’re going to do – who’s going to be in the car with you, stuff like that. No
alcohol, no drugs. Talking about that stuff ahead of time is probably a lot
better than them finding out wrong stuff on their own.”

Linek adds that nowadays, people are finding that “kids don’t have the – it’s called a situational awareness. We had hours
and hours of nothing to do in the car except watching what was going on. But
kids are tuned in to electronics, so they’re less tuned in to ‘hey that kid’s
on a bike’ or whatever, and you have to mentally prepare for them to jot out
into traffic – or you see a bouncing ball, there’s going to be a kid behind it,
probably.”