In order to stem the tide of the sobering statistic that 1 teen is involved in a traffic accident every 23 minutes, two Wake County moms began a program to slow down this deadly trend. The statistic is kept up to date by the NC Highway Patrol. The parents of a Raleigh Charter High teen, have enrolled him in the Teen Road Angel program, which was launched in November.
With this program, every time he gets behind the wheel, he’s driven by one simple rule of the road to not cause a car accident and be safe. However, if he forgets that rule, though, his parents have a “plan b” policy by using “teen angel”. Their car has a decal with a phone number for other drivers to report any risky driving behavior, such as texting or speeding.
Holland and co-founder Nancy Anderson, of Raleigh, got the idea from the similar sticker on many commercial trucks that say “1-800 how’s my driving?”. Parents who register their children in Teen Road Angel get a parent-teen driving contract and a sticker for their teen’s car. A $40 annual fee covers the cost of the decals and monitoring the toll-free number and Web site. Drivers can call the toll-free number on the sticker or make an anonymous complaint online. Parents get the report via email, text or voicemail within 30 minutes. The group is growing daily with more and more participants hoping to curb dangerous teen driving behavior. Let’s hope it works!