Know Teen Drivers’ Risks

Parents are concerned about protecting their teen’s health and safety. But not everyone realizes that motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death forU.S.teens, claiming the lives of about eight teen a day. In addition, more than 350,000 teens are treated each year in emergency departments for injuries resulting from a crash.

Among teen drivers, those at especially high risk of crashing are:

Males: From 2000 to 2006, the number of male drivers and passengers ages 15 to 19 who were killed in crashes was higher (12,479) than the number of female drivers and passengers who were killed (6,579).

Teens driving with teen passengers: Driving with teen passengers increases the crash risk of unsupervised teen drivers. This risk increases with the number of teen passengers.

Driving at night: The crash risk for teens driving at night is nearly twice as high as the crash risk during the day.

Newly licensed teens: Crash risk is highest during the first year that teens are eligible to drive.

Take Steps for Your Teen Driver’s Safety

Fortunately, there are proven ways to reduce teen drivers’ risk on the roads. Graduated driver licensing (GDL) systems, combined with parental management, can help keep teens safe behind the wheel.

If your teen is a beginning driver, keep the following in mind:

Proven Steps Save Lives. Practice driving as often as you can with your teen. The more experience he or she has behind the wheel, the safer they’ll drive. Make sure your new driver and their passengers always wear seat belts. Prohibit driving when crashes are more likely to occur—at night and when there are other teens in the car, and enforce zero tolerance for alcohol and driving. And be sure to learn and enforce your state’s teen driving laws—you can find them on the State-Specific GDL Information page.

A Parent-Teen Driving Agreement Sets the Rules of the Road. Discuss your rules of the road with your teen. Talk about why they are important to follow, as well as consequences for breaking them. Believe it or not, your children listen to you, particularly when they know you have their best interests at heart. Reinforce your talks by working with your teen to create a parent-teen driving agreement.

Parents Must Lead by Example. Don’t wait until your teen is old enough to drive to start modeling good driving behaviors. If you talk on the phone, text, speed, drive without your seat belt, or drive after drinking alcohol so might your teen.

If football fans plan on drinking during the Super Bowl, designating a sober driver can help increase the chance of avoiding an alcohol-impaired-driving crash. Alcohol-impaired driving is no accident nor is it a victimless crime. 10,228 people died in motor vehicle crashes in 2010 in which an impaired driver or motorcycle rider had a blood alcohol concentration of .08 grams per deciliter or higher.  

There are just too many drivers out there who believe that having just a few drinks and getting behind the wheel of a vehicle is harmless. But numbers don’t lie.  Drinking and driving can result in loss of life or serious injury.  These not only affect the lives of the impaired driver but can affect other families as well.  

 When you choose to drink, drink responsibly, and pass your keys to a sober driver.  Driving impaired or riding with someone who is impaired is not worth the risk. If you know of someone who has been drinking and is planning to drive, please remember Fans Don’t Let Fans Drive Drunk.

 More information can be found on NHTSA’s Super Bowl XLVI page.

With the explosive popularity of smartphones and social media platforms, sharing photos has never been easier. Millions of pictures are uploaded to the web every day, and camera-enabled mobile phones are the perennial top-selling consumer electronic devices. So it’s a safe bet that even more photos will be cropping up on image-hosting communities and personal websites.

But what exactly is being shared?  

In some cases, you might unwittingly be letting others know where you live and work and your travel patterns and habits. These details can be revealed through bits of information embedded in images taken with smartphones and some digital cameras and then shared on public websites. The information, called metadata, often includes the times, dates, and geographical coordinates (latitude and longitude) where images are taken.  

While the geospatial data can be helpful in myriad web applications that plot image locations, it also opens a door for criminals, including burglars, stalkers, and predators. It’s not a stretch to imagine young teens’ images of their ventures to the mall or beach being culled by web predators and meticulously plotted on online maps.

“It’s not something we think is happening. We know it’s happening,” said Kevin Gutfleish, head of the Innocent Images Intelligence Unit in the FBI’s Cyber Division. The unit provides analysis and assessments of emerging threats for the operational arm of the Innocent Images National Initiative, which targets child pornography and sexual predators.  

“The way that images are being posted in real time allows others who have access to see the metadata and see where the photos were taken and reveal their location at that time,” Gutfleish said.  

An intelligence analyst in the FBI Criminal Division’s Crimes Against Children Unit said these details can reveal a “pattern of life,” particularly when images posted over time are clustered in geographic locations.  

“It doesn’t have to be in real time to be dangerous,” said the analyst. “Historical data can tell you a lot about individuals’ day-to-day habits and may indicate where they are most likely to be at a certain time.”  

Some popular social media sites automatically scrub metadata from images before they are published. On the other hand, some leverage the data to display location information beside the images. An amateur sleuth could easily pinpoint a location using the available latitude and longitude coordinates.

“Even if they don’t intentionally say where they are, the photos could reveal that,” Gutfleish said. “And that could present a potential danger.”

 Gutfleish said he has seen an increase in intelligence reports and complaints about the potential misuse of the metadata embedded in photos. He said the proliferation of online tools that aggregate personal information from social networking and image hosting sites is enough to urge a level of caution.

He suggests mobile phone users at the very least check the “options” or “settings” on their phones (and any applicable mobile applications) to see if they are sharing location information. In many cases, the default setting is to share location information.

“It’s just a best-practice if you don’t want to give out your location,” Gutfleish says. “We simply want to make sure people know this is happening

Information from Cybercrimes

As you celebrate the holiday season enjoying traditions, food, family and fun, be reminded that Bryan Police Department will be out in force this holiday season from December 16, 2011, to January 2, 2012, to arrest anyone caught driving drunk behind the wheel.

 “The message is simple, Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over.  Drinking alcohol and driving do not mix.  If you plan to consume alcohol, you should also plan not to get behind the wheel of a vehicle” said Community Relations Officer Matt Arnold. 

Unfortunately millions of drivers on America’s highways still think they are invincible, and they choose to jeopardize their safety and the safety of others on our roads, he said.

 “There will be no spreading holiday cheer behind the bars of a jail cell,” Matt Arnold  said. “Don’t let your 2011 holiday season end in an arrest or worse, death.  Remember, whether you’ve had way too many or just one too many, it’s not worth the risk.”  

Officer Arnold  recommends these simple tips for a safe holiday season:           

• Plan a safe way home before the festivities begin;
   
• Before drinking, designate a sober driver and leave your car keys at home;

• If you’re impaired, use a taxi, call a sober friend or family member, or use public transportation;

• If you happen to see a drunk driver on the road, don’t hesitate to contact your local law enforcement;

And remember, Drive Sober Or Get Pulled Over. If you know someone who is about to drive or ride while impaired, take that person’s keys and help him or her make other arrangements to get home safely.

  Project Blue Light allows the public to pay tribute to fallen police officers, while showing support for those who continue to work, by placing a blue light in their window.

  By displaying a blue light in your window during the Christmas season, it signals that you remember those who lost their lives in the line of duty, you remember their families, and you hope for a year of peace for officers who are still serving.

  So far in 2011, 149 police officers have been killed in the line of duty; six of them were from Ohio.

  The project is an effort of Concerns of Police Survivors Inc., of C.O.P.S., which provides resources to assist in the rebuilding of the lives of surviving families and affected co-workers of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty.

  The idea for Project Blue Light began in 1988 when Dolly Craig wrote to C.O.P.S. that she would be putting two blue candles in her living room window that holiday season in memory of her son-in-law and daughter whose deaths left six children without parents.

   Since that time, the program has spread nationwide. Battery-operated candlesticks can be easily found online or at local hardware or other retail stores.

  Placing a blue bulb in them will serve as a community reminder that police officers protect and serve, putting their lives on the line every day.

 With so many people hitting the roads, it is important to remind drivers that as you rush around on errands or prepare to make a long trip to see family, safety should be your #1 priority. Distracted driving is surely one of the major obstacles drivers will face during this busy season. Calling home to find out what’s needed at the grocery store might be important for the Thanksgiving menu, but it’s not so important that the call can’t wait until you’re safely parked in the parking lot. While the vast majority of drivers agree that using a cell phone behind the wheel is a threat to safety, many continue to exhibit a “Do as I say, Not as I do” attitude when it comes to their own behavior while driving. This attitude has to change because no phone call or text is worth the consequences.

Another issue drivers need to watch out for is drowsy driving. Many drivers will be taking long trips at odd hours of the day so it is important to watch out for signs of sleep deprivation. Nearly one-third of drivers admit having driven when they had trouble keeping their eyes open and this is even more of a concern after a large Thanksgiving meal. 

 So this Thanksgiving, be sure to put your cell phone down and get plenty of rest before you hit the road. Having the right kind of stuffing at the table is important but the most important ingredient to a successful Thanksgiving is the safe arrival (and departure) of the friends and family you care about.  Everything after that is gravy. 

 Happy Thanksgiving from the AAA Foundation Family! 

Information from AAA

• Properly fitting tire chains
• Bag of sand or salt (or kitty litter)
• Traction mats
• Snow shovel
• Snow brush
• Ice scraper
• Booster cables
• Warning devices such as flares or emergency lights
• Fuel line de-icer (methanol, also called methyl alcohol or methyl hydrate)
• Extra windshield wiper fluid appropriate for sub-freezing temperatures
• Roll of paper towels
• Flashlight and a portable flashing light (and extra batteries)
• Blanket
• Extra clothing, including hat and wind-proof pants, and warm footwear
• First aid kit
• Snack bars or other “emergency” food and water
• Matches and emergency candles – only use with a window opened to prevent build-up of carbon monoxide.
• Road maps.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will conduct the first nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS). The nationwide test will occur on Wednesday, November 9 at 2 p.m. eastern standard time and may last up to three and a half minutes.

The EAS is a national alert and warning system established to enable the President of the United States to address the American public during emergencies.  NOAA’s National Weather Service, governors and state and local emergency authorities also use parts of the system to issue more localized emergency alerts. 

Similar to local EAS tests that are already conducted frequently, the nationwide test will involve broadcast radio and television stations, cable television, satellite radio and television services and wireline video service providers across all states and the territories of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and American Samoa.

On November 9, the public will hear a message indicating that “This is a test.” The audio message will be the same for both radio and television. Under the FCC’s rules, radio and television broadcasters, cable operators, satellite digital audio radio service providers, direct broadcast satellite service providers and wireline video service providers are required to receive and transmit presidential EAS messages to the public. A national test will help the federal partners and EAS participants determine the reliability of the system and its effectiveness in notifying the public of emergencies and potential dangers nationally and regionally.

“A national test of our Emergency Alert System, with the vital communications support and involvement of participants, is a step towards ensuring that the alert and warning community is prepared to deliver critical information that can help save lives and protect property,” said Damon Penn, FEMA’s Assistant Administrator of National Continuity Programs. “Because there has never been an activation of the Emergency Alert System on a national level, FEMA views this test as an excellent opportunity to assess the readiness and effectiveness of the current system.  It is important to remember that this is not a pass or fail test, but a chance to establish a baseline for making incremental improvements to the Emergency Alert System with ongoing and future testing.  It is also important to remember that the Emergency Alert System is one of many tools in our communications toolbox, and we will continue to work on additional channels that can be a lifeline of information for people during an emergency.”

“The upcoming national test is critical to ensuring that the EAS works as designed,” said Jamie Barnett, Chief of the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau.  “As recent disasters here at home and in Japan have reminded us, a reliable and effective emergency alert and warning system is key to ensuring the public’s safety during times of emergency.  We look forward to working with FEMA in preparation for this important test.”

Over the past two years and as part of ongoing national preparedness planning efforts, FEMA, the FCC and other federal partners, state, local, tribal and territorial governments, Emergency Alert System participants and other stakeholders have been working toward making this test a reality. 

As the federal, state, tribal, territorial and local governments prepare for and test their capabilities, this event serves as a reminder that everyone should establish an emergency preparedness kit and emergency plan for themselves, their families, communities, and businesses.  Anyone can visit www.Ready.gov for more information about how to prepare for and stay informed about what to do in the event of an actual emergency.

FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.