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Parental Involvement Key to Teen Driver Safety
May 14, 2012 – In this informative read from USA Today's Larry Copeland, the important role of parental involvement in the teen driving process -- from the permit phase to the independent driving phase -- is discussed. Dennis R. Durbin, MD, MSCE, CIRP scientific co-director, shares the fact that he started talking to his son, Jack, when he was 13 about safe driving to increase his awareness and to explain what is happening in a series of narrations. These "conversations," Dr. Durbin stresses, should continue even after teens are driving alone since they are at their lifetime highest risk of crashing during the first six to 12 months of driving alone without adult supervision. The article also reminds parents to follow and enforce Graduated Driving Licensing (GDL) laws in their state.

Read the USA Today article.

CHOP Research Reveals Teen Belt Use Significantly Higher in States with Stronger Laws
April 19, 2012 – While most teens do buckle up when driving, novice teen drivers who live in states with “secondary enforcement” seat belt laws are less likely to use the life-saving devices than those in “primary enforcement” states, according to CHOP research published today in the American Journal of Public Health. The researchers also found that seat belt rates differed as teens moved through the probationary licensing process known as Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL).

Read the U.S. News & World Report HealthDay article.
Read the full press release.
Read the study abstract.
Read more about teens and seat belt use.

Most Common Injury in Teen Crashes? Head Injury
April 2, 2012 – In this post from his blog, Automotive Intelligentsia in Forbes Magazine, Jim Gorzelany shares findings from Miles to go: Monitoring Progress in Teen Driver Safety, a 2012 national report from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute and State Farm, including the fact that 55,000 teen drivers and teen passengers were seriously injured in motor vehicle crashes in 2009-10, with 30 percent suffering acute head injuries, including skull fractures and traumatic brain injuries (TBI). In the post, Dr. Dennis Durbin, MD, MSCE, co-scientific director of the Center for Injury Research and Prevention at CHOP and lead author of the report, explains that full recovery from these injuries is often not achievable, with prevention being "the best medicine."

Read the blog post.
Read the press release.
Download the report and related videos.

CIRP Researcher Shares Her Views on Teens with ADHD and Driving in New York Times
March 27, 2012 – In this informative article in the New York Times Health section, Patty Huang, MD, a developmental pediatrician at CHOP and member of the CIRP team, shares her insights about teens with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and driving. Dr. Huang and others who have researched teens with special needs and driving explain why some of these teens should wait to drive. For all of these teens, parents should proceed with caution when deciding on letting them take the wheel.

Read the New York Times article.
Read the accompanying New York Times article on driving with Asperger's.

Center Expert Testifies at Congressional Hearing on Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury
March 19, 2012 – Today, CIRP founder and co-scientific director Flaura Winston, MD, PhD, participated as a witness in a Congressional hearing, "A Review of Efforts to Prevent and Treat Traumatic Brain Injury." She was invited to represent the medical expertise and perspective of CHOP before the Subcommittee on Health of the Energy and Commerce Committee in the House of Representatives. Dr. Winston’s testimony describes pediatric brain injury and recommends a public health framework to reduce the number and severity of pediatric brain injuries.

Access a video of the hearing and a PDF of Dr. Winston's testimony here.

Insights on Child Emotional Recovery From Injury
February 27, 2012 – In her latest contribution to Medscape.com, Flaura Winston, MD, PhD, CIRP founder and co-scientific director, discusses the Center's research on the emotional impact of physical trauma on injured kids and their families. As many as 1 in 8 children and their parents have persistent traumatic stress reactions for months after an injury, and some experience posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Dr. Winston encourages physicians to help families recognize the symptoms of emotional stress and PTSD and the need for treatment. She also offers CHOP's award-winning website, AfterTheInjury.org, as a tool for these families.

View the video on medscape.com. (Note: You must create a free member log-in to view the video)

New NHTSA Crash Test Dummy Has CHOP DNA
February 28, 2012 – The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has introduced a 10-year-old crash test dummy, joining the 12-month-old, 3-year-old, and 6-year-old dummies currently used for safety testing. The 10-year-old dummy, which helps to address the safety needs of 8- to 12-year-olds in car seats and booster seats, has very special CHOP DNA -- real world crash data from the Partners for Child Passenger Safety study.

Read more.

Center Researchers Reveal Disparities in Formal Driver Ed Participation
February 13, 2012 – A new CHOP study provides national estimates of participation in formal driver education (DE) and identifies gaps in enrollment for certain groups of teens. According to the study more teens took DE in states that required it, with three out of four participating, regardless of gender, socioeconomic status, academic performance, and urbanacity. In states where DE was not required to obtain a license, more than one-third of all students and 71 percent of Hispanic teens received no formal DE and over half had no behind-the-wheel training. The findings were published today in Pediatrics.

Read the news article.
Read the Huffington Post article.
Read the abstract.

New CHOP Study Finds Parents Key in Learning-to-Drive Process
January 29, 2012 – According to a new CHOP study that surveyed 945 parents of recently-licensed teens, teens with two parents involved were more likely to have received at least 50 hours of adult-supervised practice driving than teens with one parent involved. Teens who lived in a state where adult-supervised practice driving is mandated were also more likely to have received the 50 hours of practice than teens who lived in a state without that requirement. The paper findings underscore the integral role parents play in the learning-to-drive process, as well as provide further support for strengthening Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) requirements in many states to include adult-supervised practice hours before teens may obtain a probationary license. The findings were published today in the Journal of Safety Research.

Read the news article.
Read the abstract.

New CHOP Studies Focus On Peer Passengers: The "Other Distraction" for Teen Drivers
January 24, 2012 – Two new studies by CHOP researchers identify factors that may lead teens to drive with multiple peer passengers, a known crash risk, and then, how those passengers may affect their driver's behavior just before a serious crash. The unique research paves the way for future studies to examine how interactions between teen drivers and their peer passengers may specifically be associated with crashes. The findings were published today in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

Read the foxbusiness.com article.
Read the Time Magazine article.
Read the Atlanta Journal-Constitution article.
Read the USA Today article.
Read the Philadelphia Inquirer article.
Read the study abstract.
Read the study abstract.

New CHOP Research Examines Teens with Autism and Driving Readiness
January 10, 2012 – A new study conducted by CIRP researchers and funded by the Center for Child Injury Prevention Studies (CChIPS), a National Science Foundation Industry/University Cooperative Research Center at CHOP, found that among a sample of 300 15- to 18-year-olds with a higher-functioning autism spectrum disorder (HFASD) old enough to drive in their state, two-thirds are currently driving or planning to drive. The study, which was published in the January 2012 issue of the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, surveyed the parents of these teens.

Read the The Columbus Dispatch article.
Read the US News & World Report HealthDay article.
Read the FamilyCarCarGuide.com article.
Read the PsychCentral.com article

Read more in our In The News and In The New Archives sections.