Meet professional NASCAR driver Deborah Renshaw heading up the advisory panel of automotive expert women for Ask Patty. The Ask Patty advisory panel of automotive women experts will respond to questions on car purchases, service and other automotive related topics. Ask Patty is what women have been waiting for, a safe place to get advice before they visit their local car dealership.
The Century Council sent me an innovative eCard for the July 4th holiday that reminds viewers to stay safe this Independence Day and not drive drunk. Click below to start the video, or you can also view the eCard here at The Century Council.
I first learned about The Century Council and its efforts to stop underage drinking when we reported on the organization's support of Brandon Silveria and his "Make the Right Choice" Program. The Century Council is a national not-for-profit organization funded by distillers dedicated to fighting drunk driving and underage drinking; through educational efforts such as the Silveria lecture and video program, The Century Council educates students across the country about the hazards of underage drinking and driving.
Congressman Jim Himes and The Century Council (a national not-for-profit organization funded by distillers dedicated to fighting drunk driving and underage drinking) recently brought a life-saving lesson about the dangers of drunk driving and underage drinking to students at Warren Harding High School in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Brandon Silveria and his father Tony spoke to students about the importance of "making the right choice" about alcohol, and that if students are under the age of 21, the only responsible decision is not to drink. Brandon was involved in an alcohol-related crash at age 17 just before his high school prom and since his long and painful recovery he has chosen to share his story so other teen drivers won't make the same mistake.
During the presentation, Brandon told students his wrenching story of how, as a high school student, he had everything a teenager could want: a job, a girlfriend and plans for the future -- until he had a few drinks at a party and chose to drive home. After falling asleep at the wheel, crossing the centerline and crashing into a tree, he was left in a coma for three months and spent several years in rehabilitation. Brandon was so badly injured that basic motor functions such as walking, talking and swallowing had to be re-learned. He has permanent brain injury and suffers from dangerous seizures. Brandon's teen safety presentations continue to receive standing ovations from students across the country, and he has a series of videos posted at YouTube as well.
Safety is a strong focus at AskPatty.com, and as such, we are always excited to share announcements such as this one: For the third year, students across the country can enter Bridgestone's Safety Scholars video contest for a chance to win a scholarship, see their video on TV and perhaps even save a life - all using just a video camera and their own creative vision.
The contest will be accepting student's video entries from May 27th through June 17. As part of Bridgestone America's ongoing commitment to driver safety education, the annual is a great way for teenaged drivers to create a compelling video to encourage their peers to make better decisions, drive safer, and ultimately make our roads safer for everyone. Among the many cool benefits of the contest, the top three filmmakers will each win a $5,000 college scholarship. Ten finalists will win a new set of tires.
Students create short (25- or 55-second) videos about auto safety or, new for this year, automotive environmentalism. The top ten videos as selected by the judging panel are posted on YouTube, My Space, and Facebook so everyone can see the videos, then vote for their favorites at safetyscholars.com. The three student producers who earn the most votes for their video will not only receive a $5,000 college scholarship and a set of Bridgestone brand tires, but their videos will be aired as public service announcements (PSAs) on television stations nationwide. Plus, Bridgestone has traditionally brought the three finalists with the highest scores to the Chicago Auto Show in February, where they are given the chance to share their inspiration and present their videos to the automotive media.
It
was very early that morning when I rushed out of the house into the car
with my three teens trailing right behind me. We needed to get
to school early as my graduating senior had to present his Senior
project and needed to unload the trunk filled with props and displays.
I knew that we would be late due to a road construction detour, and
sure enough, a human stop sign gave us the signal to pause while facing
traffic was directed through the "one lane road". While waiting, I
had a couple of minutes to glance around the car, take a poll and was
amazed. We all had our seat belts on! As rushed as we were flying out
of the house we still all managed to buckle up.
I then reflected on when it all
started, more than a dozen years earlier, when my children were very small, and I
chose to make it a priority to make sure everyone was buckled up, no
matter how late we would be to any event. I was a single mother going
to a college in Georgia. I drove 40 miles to school everyday (one
way) and on one particular day the entire four lanes were blocked and
traffic had come to a stop because of an accident. When everything was
cleared and the ambulances were headed to the hospital, traffic was
able to move again.
I saw one of the cars with two huge
round bulges in the windshield, where two heads had hit. The image
never left my mind the entire day. That night on the news, what was
even more devastating, was that the accident involved a young couple
and their two children. One child was sitting in the lap of the
mother, and the other was in the back seat. No one had their seat
belts on and no one survived.
The event affected me to the point
that later I created seat-belt safety tours through elementary schools
to teach children to remind their parents to buckle up. I teamed up
with a police officer in which we made appointments together. I would
use one of my racing suits and mention that "cool driving" is being
"buckled up" just like real race car drivers, and the police officer
would mention that "it is the law." We both had our cars, a race stock
car and a police patrol car at the school and the kids had much fun and
learned the importance of seat belt safety.
For me, the best way to remember to
buckle up is to tape a picture of loved ones to the dash board. The
few seconds to "buckle up" even in a rush can keep smiles alive.
In Honor of Memorial Day Weekend, I
would love to hear positive "buckle up" stories from those who chose to
MAKE THE EFFORT! Let's share great ideas in how to motivate others and
BUCKLE UP FOR LIFE!
Here is wishing everyone great lifetime smiles and a very safe Memorial Day Weekend.
Do you have OnStar in your car? Most cars manufactured by General Motors within the last 10 years offer some kind of OnStar access plan, and let me tell you, it can be very useful. A couple times I have been on press driving events and have gotten lost from the route, and OnStar has helped me find my way back with verbal and onscreen turn by turn directions. And that's just the tip of their iceberg of useful features!
Well, here's another: OnStar and Poison Control have announced a joint venture that will increase the safety and security of OnStar subscribers by giving them direct access to Poison Control for expert instructions and information on potential poisonings that may occur in or around their vehicles.
With any poison-related issue, speed of treatment is the most important factor, followed by effectiveness of treatment, and nearly 75 percent of calls received by Poison Control can be handled over the phone. As demonstrated by this video at YouTube, subscribers now have the added peace of mind that Poison Control is just a button press away should they encounter any type of poisoning situation in their vehicle.
I'm still completely flabbergasted and don't even know how to tell this story.
My kidlet spent a day at home because there was teacher's inservice at his Kindergarten class this week; I also volunteered to watch one of his classmates because her mother had to work. If it had been just my little boy, I would have set him down in front of Lego Indiana Jones to be a sofa boy all day long, but I didn't want her to think I was a neglectful mother, so I planned 'activities' to keep our children occupied. We colored. We fed the fish. We walked to the park and played on the swings.
During the course of the day, we had a few lulls in the pace, and at one point, my youngster asked if he could show his friend the car I was "renting." (His term for the manufacturer vehicles I am sometimes loaned to review).
My little boy gave a very good tour of the beautiful Audi Q7 in our garage this week, and thoughtfully demonstrated the fold-down third-row seats, the two sunroofs, the side and rear window sunshades, and the cabin lighting. (This kid might become a salesperson!) But his favorite thing was the second-row center fold-down armrest with the telescoping cup holders, because it fit so nicely next to his booster seat. He folded it down, and said proudly to her: "And look at this!"
Children prematurely moved to seat belts are four times more likely to suffer serious head injuries during a collision than children in child safety or booster seats. Safety belts are designed for adults, and children under 4'9" tall should ride with a booster seat.
The booster seat safety message is a crucial one, NHTSA estimates that up to 90% of children in the U.S. who should be using a booster seat are not. Their ongoing goal is to educate parents of children who have outgrown their child safety seat to understand that a booster seat is a life-saving transition to an adult safety belt.
NHTSA produced a special series of PSAs with the Walt Disney Company, featuring Cinderella and her Fairy Godmother to educate the parents of young children who have outgrown their car seats that a booster seat is a must for any child under 4'9" before transition into an adult safety belt is safe. The campaign was designed to create awareness among parents of young children in an effort to reduce the number of avoidable deaths and serious injuries from car accidents each year.
I'm a grandmother, and it's going to be a while before any of my grandkids begin driving, but my own son suffered a terrible and tragic accident so I know how frightening it can be when your child is injured while driving. Several of our Ask Patty staffers have teenaged children who are nearing D-Day -- their 16th birthday and being eligible to receive their driver's license -- so the subject of teen driving safety is something that is near and dear to all our hearts.
The statistics are staggering: Car crashes are the number one killer of teens in the United States. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) data show that, each year, on average:
More than 300,000 teens are injured in car crashes
Nearly 8,000 teens are involved in fatal crashes
More than 3,500 teens are killed
Many automotive companies focus on safety programs for teen drivers: Bridgestone has the "Safety Scholars" Video Program, Ford sponsors the "Driving Skills for Life" teen safety program, and Allstate's got the "Teen Safe Driving Pit Stop Tour." The list goes on and on, and I'm sorry for leaving some programs out, these are just the ones that pop into the top of my mind when I think about teen safety programs.
If you've got teen drivers in your household, I'd like to also point out the "Speak Up" public safety program sponsored by the Ad Council and the American Automobile Association. It doesn't require any special training or classes; it just encourages young adults to be the spokesperson in their peer group against reckless driving by empowering them to speak up when they are in the car with friends and don't feel safe.
According to Ad Council research, eight in 10 teens said that if a friend told them their driving behavior made their friend feel uncomfortable, they would listen. And four in 10 teens said that in the past six months they had been in a situation when they felt concerned that a friend's driving behavior put them at risk as a passenger.
So with these two simple facts in mind, their supporting website www.urthespokesperson.org simply advises:
"If you're riding with friends and you don't feel safe, you need to speak up. Why? Well, car crashes are the number one killer of teens and young adults. By far. Driving fast, text messaging and even eating can cause things to go wrong very quickly. By keeping the driver in check, you can help save lives. Speak up! You are the spokesperson against reckless driving."
The site features several tongue-in-cheek videos to make the point. It also shares quick facts and real stories to help increase awareness about the dangers of reckless driving and educate teens on how to be safe drivers by focusing on safe speeds, avoiding distractions, wearing seat belts, and understanding the differences associated with driving SUVs. These are all the same things that we, as parents, try to teach our teenagers, but the goal here is to ask the teenagers to share it with their peers.
Finally, the site asks teenagers to sign a pledge to speak up each when they ride with friends and feel unsafe. The site says "It's your life in their hands, so stand up and let everyone know that you're not afraid to say something," and rewards teens who make the pledge with code to share the following offer on their own sites and blogs.
According to NHTSA, per mile driven, sixteen-year-olds are involved in more than five times as many fatal crashes per mile driven as adults. If you've got a young driver in your household, we know you don't want to be affected by this statistic.
So share this information and website with your teen driver, encourage them to make the pledge, and empower them to be the spokesperson for safe driving whenever they are in the car with peers who make them feel unsafe.
Daylight Saving Time went into effect today, and my family spent a good half-hour at breakfast discussing how we have more or less sunshine during the day as a result of the time change. Have you set your clocks forward? Even the clocks in your car?
The additional hour of light is credited with saving energy, cutting crime, and making roads safer.
All I know for certain is that the sun was BLINDING me at 7:45 on the way to church this morning, and that I will be driving STRAIGHT INTO THE BLINDING SUN every morning for the next few weeks as I drive my kids to school.
Daylight savings comes into effect when we “Spring forward” on the second Sunday of March each year and ends when we “Fall back” on the first Sunday in November. Benjamin Franklin was the first to propose a voluntary time shift, and various parts of the United States have optionally implemented Daylight Saving Time since Daylight Saving Time legislation first became law in 1918 – as part of the Federal Act, which also established our national Standard Time Zones.
Safe driving is always a priority, but it's even more critical to drive safely in severe weather conditions. If possible, it is best to postpone a trip if there is an extreme weather system moving through your area. But if you absolutely must hit the roadways, learning to keep yourself safe is the next best thing.
Winter weather conditions such as rain, wind, snow, ice, sleet and fog make driving difficult, but spending a few moments reviewing some safe driving techniques can help you reach your destination safely.
Safe Driving = Low Auto Insurance Premium Let's face it: sooner or later, you might be forced to drive in harsh weather conditions. Therefore, it's crucial that you learn to do so safely. Depending on what part of the country you live in, your winter weather will vary. But no matter where you live, driving safely can help reduce the risk of an accident, keeping your auto insurance premium low and your wallet fat.
This site, its contents and all related content, formats and documents are copyrighted property of AskPatty.com, Inc and are not to be reproduced or republished without the written consent of AskPatty.com, Inc.
Facebook
Flickr
LinkedIn
MySpace
RSS Feed
Twitter
Youtube
Recent Comments