Interactive website helps prepare teens for winter driving

ANN ARBOR-With the official start of winter, Michigan will surely have days of snow and icy roads-making driving more dangerous for even the most experienced adult drivers, but especially for teen drivers. According to several studies, all teen drivers are at greater risk of crashing compared to adults due to their young age and inexperience driving unsupervised. Many parents find this is a good time to think about things they can do to help keep teen drivers safe during every trip and to create a winter driving plan for teens, says Ray Bingham of the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute. "It's important that teens get experience driving on wet and snowy roads, but they need to get that experience in the safest possible conditions," Bingham said. "Teens' first experiences on wet or snowy roads should be with a parent present who can help them understand how to handle those road conditions. Even for teens who have some driving experience under their belt, it is good that parents help them understand where, when and how to be safe in winter weather." To help keep their teens safe, more than 31,000 parents around the state are using a free, interactive website: http://www.saferdrivingforteens.org. The information and tools on the site help parents protect teens while they gain experience driving without adult supervision, and can be an especially important resource for winter driving, Bingham says.