According to the California DMV if a driver is between the ages of 16 to 19, they are 2.7 times more likely to have an accident then an older driver. Looking at just 16 year olds makes this number even higher at 3.7 times likely to have an accident then drivers of all ages. Those are some scary numbers. What causes such higher numbers for our young drivers? Well, the obvious is inexperience, not knowing what to watch for, more speeders in this age bracket then the average older bracket, and more likely to be drinking behind the wheel. However, for those parents that have been in the unfortunate position of teaching their children to drive, you know the dangers out there are not all on the shoulders of our young.
I remember teaching my youngest daughter to drive. So often I found myself saying something to the effect of, "why do so many people do that to you?" after she was cut off, yet again. Or watching in horror as she tried to get up the nerve to merge with traffic and some idiot in a hurry to his own death swerved around her and terrified her even more.
My daughter is not an aggressive person and she doesn’t make for an aggressive driver. She isn’t one of those teenage drivers who get behind the wheel of a car and begin making enemies in the world by driving at the speed of light. She’s cautious, careful, and alarmed by the overly aggressive, "can’t wait one-second" drivers that abound on our roadways.
Trying to get her license, she basically monopolized the car for months. And I got more and more frustrated with other driver’s behaviors. When I finally got the car back, I realized, it really was her. Oh, not her fault, just her. People rarely cut me off, they rarely swerve around me, honk or swear at me. Why? Because I am aggressive. Not a scary aggressive driver. I don’t start a fight for domination of the road. However, if I’m pulling out of a space and a car tries to speed up and hurry behind me so that he or she doesn’t have to wait that awful second, I have no problem hitting the gas a little harder and preventing the maneuver! But my poor little girl is horrified, and frightened of all these testosterone filled, no-lost-seconds-driven drivers bent on ensuring she sits and waits while they perform their hair-raising second-saving maneuvers.
And then I thought. Why not do it like they do in England? Over there it is required for people that are just starting to drive to have a magnet on their vehicles. This lets other drivers know they are learners and in some fascinating way, it makes a difference. People, even those overly aggressive "I’m going on with my life this second" drivers will stop and wait while a new driver figures out what to do next. It was amazing to watch, and I thought, why not give it a try?
So, I created "Training driver" magnets. I put one on the back of our truck, put my daughter in the drivers seat, and was enchanted to watch as other drivers suddenly became less aggressive. Oh, it doesn’t stop everyone, but her driving life improved drastically. It was also amazing how many parents stopped me and asked where I got the magnet. Enough that I figured I’d better get them ready to sell. So I did, and the response has been great. Parents love them. So do grandparents, by the way. They love being able to be a little part of keeping their grandchild safe as they venture out into the scary world of "driver".
The signs are magnets so they don’t damage the paint and they are easily removed so they can be taken off and put back on in literally milliseconds if you don’t want it to stay on your car when your new driver isn’t in the driver’s seat. Right now we are offering two designs, both unisex, though we plan to start offering a greater variety of backgrounds soon, so if you have a teenage waiting to start their driving career, check back to see our new options.
The magnets are now available at: Cheekyscraftersfaire.com or, for those in the Virginia area: Cheeky’s Crafter’s Faire, 1464 Mt Pleasant Rd #14, Chesapeake VA 23322.
