Parents, students work together on driving safety

If a child in the United States grows up and makes it to 30 years old, odds are that he or she will live a long life.

Getting to 30 is the difficulty, said author Anne Marie Hayes. She hopes local teens will get the opportunity to read her new book before they get behind the wheel of a car - and live to tell their own kids about it.

Hayes was in town recently to meet with Hillsborough County School Superintendent MaryEllen Elia. She hopes to distribute her book, "3 Keys to Keeping Your Teen Alive," to all sophomores next school year.

The workbook is written for kids learning to drive and the parents who are teaching them.

It has received a seal of approval from Laura Marchetti and Dianne Sipe, the mother and grandmother of a 16-year-old girl killed in a car crash on Interstate 75 in 2006. On that fateful evening, Durant High School junior Katie Marchetti chose not to wear her seat belt on a drive home from Sarasota.

Since her death, Katie's family has worked tirelessly to promote seat belt use among teens and get the word out about other driving safety issues.

The Valrico girl's story is included in Hayes' book, which Laura Marchetti calls a "blueprint to safe driving practices."

Hayes, whose own daughter recently turned 16, said she focused her attention on teen driving after learning that so many young people die in crashes. In 99 percent of those crashes, there was driver error, she said. And in most, no alcohol or drugs contributed.

"It's gotten so bad that the Centers for Disease Control has even labeled teen driving deaths an epidemic," Hayes said.

"If you start working with them early and really get them to practice, it can make a huge difference," she said.

The book offers 25 lessons that can be done over a year's time, with teens and their parents working together.

The three keys, she said, are actively involved parents, need-to-know information and structured practice.

Hayes also has a website and a nonprofit foundation called Teens Learn To Drive at www.teenslearningtodrive.com. The book is online at Hayes' Web page.

"My goal is to get people to look at how we train drivers and increase the practice time teens get," Hayes said. "It's huge, too, the example parents set."

Sipe, Katie's grandmother, said she believes the book really can help keep more teens alive.

"What impressed me so much about (Hayes) is that she gets it," Sipe said. "A lot of teens and parents don't get it that risky behavior is one of the reasons why we don't live to a late age."

"Sometimes, when you are reading it together ... it sinks in more," Marchetti said. "When our children turn 16, we know how to hit the panic button," Marchetti said. "We don't always know what to do after that."

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