文章基本信息

标题：Persistence of Effects of the Checkpoints Program on Parental Restrictions of Teen Driving Privileges
本地全文：下载
作者：Bruce G. Simons-Morton ; Jessica L. Hartos ; William A. Leaf 等
期刊名称：American journal of public health
印刷版ISSN：0090-0036
出版年度：2005
卷号：95
期号：3
页码：447-452
DOI：10.2105/AJPH.2003.023127
语种：English
出版社：American Public Health Association
摘要：Objectives. We describe intervention effects on parent limits on novice teenage driving. Methods. We recruited parents and their 16-year-old children (n = 469) with learner’s permits and randomized them from August 2000 to March 2003. Intervention families received persuasive newsletters related to high-risk teenage driving and a parent–teenager driving agreement; comparison families received standard information on driver safety. We conducted interviews when the adolescents obtained a learner’s permit, upon licensure, and at 3, 6, and 12 months postlicensure. Results. Intervention parents and teenagers reported stricter limits on teen driving compared with the comparison group at 12 months, with direct effects through 3 months and indirect effects through 12 months postlicensure. Conclusions. A simple behavioral intervention was efficacious in increasing parental restriction of high-risk teen driving conditions among newly licensed drivers. Motor vehicle crash rates for teenagers are higher than for older drivers, 1, 2 particularly during the first 6 months and for 1000 to 3000 miles after licensure. 3 Because driving proficiency and judgment develop only gradually with experience, 4 young age and inexperience with driving are inextricably associated with motor vehicle crash rates. 4– 8 Late-night driving 9– 11 and transporting teenaged passengers 12, 13 elevate crash risks. Graduated driver licensing (GDL) policies delay licensure and temporarily restrict high-risk driving conditions. GDL is a recent policy innovation that has been shown to reduce statewide crash rates among teenagers 14, 15 and is now the primary policy approach to reducing the rates of crashes in which young drivers are at the wheel. 9 Although 35 states and the District of Columbia currently have 3-stage GDL, actual policies vary greatly from state to state, and few approach the proposed ideal. 16 In addition, GDL is a largely passive program, and little is known about the extent to which young drivers comply with GDL restrictions. 17 With or without GDL, parents remain the true enforcers of driving privileges among teenagers, because parents can control access to the car. 18– 20 Many parents impose modest restrictions on their teenaged children when they become licensed, 21 and such parental restrictions have been found to be negatively associated with risky driving among young drivers. 21, 22 In general, parents allow their teenagers greater driving privileges than are consistent with safety. 23 However, well-designed and persuasive communications directed at salient issues and focused on specific and acceptable courses of action can alter perceptions, attitudes, and behavior. 24, 25 Previously, Simons-Morton et al. 26 provided evidence of short-term effects of parental restrictions on adolescent driving among families exposed to the Checkpoints Program. We describe the persistence of treatment group effects through 12 months postlicensure on parental restriction of driving privileges among teenaged drivers in Connecticut, a state without a formal GDL system.