Supporting the goals and ideals of National Teen Driver Safety Week.

Madam Speaker, I'm pleased to rise this afternoon in support of this legislation which designates the third week of October as National Teen Driver Safety Week.

As has already been stated, we witness this issue on far too many occasions, but roughly 7,500 teenage drivers were involved in fatal car crashes in 2005. Today, motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among American teenagers.

The time has come for Congress to recognize this terrible problem and consider effective interventions that will help reduce the number of accidents involving teens on American roads.

On Monday, January 22, 2007, following a tragic accident that claimed the lives of two young high school students in my district, The Morning Call newspaper compiled a report: Fatal crashes involving teens that had occurred in the Lehigh Valley region since 2001. This report indicated that there were a total of 13 fatalities between 2001 and 2006, with alcohol involved in two of the seven accidents reported. Other contributing factors included racing and reckless behavior.

Sadly, it appears that these events, which are happening in every corner of the United States, could have been prevented, enabling these young adults to reach their destinations safely.

To address this troubling issue, the Children's Hospital of Pennsylvania, or CHOP as it's commonly referred to, is currently conducting research that will help develop the best interventions to reduce the risk of crash injury for teen drivers and travelers sharing the road with them.

The alliance of Children's Hospital of Pennsylvania and State Farm Insurance Company, CHOP's partner in this initiative, is nationally recognized for its research and outreach involving child passenger safety. However, this year they've expanded their agenda from the car seat to the driver's seat in an effort to address the cause of motor vehicle crashes, the leading cause of death among American teenagers.

Together, CHOP and State Farm have conducted research indicating that teens often drive while distracted and fatigued.

I believe this alliance brings together a wide range of expertise and research and outreach, translating scientific evidence into actions that will help save lives. It's important that Congress support efforts to effectively educate these teens and families about ways to address these problems.

This resolution will endorse the goals and ideals of a week in which intensive programming will be used to encourage these teens to drive more safely. By delaying exposure to risky driving conditions until they have had enough supervised driving experience, managing

peer-to-peer interactions while in the vehicle, and reinforcing the need to protect and react to hazards more appropriately, teens will be better prepared to drive responsibly. Throughout our great Nation, teens are dying in crashes at a rate of four times that of adult drivers.

Congress must work to prevent these tragedies, and I certainly encourage my colleagues to support this important resolution.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

Tragedy strikes every day as teen drivers, just on the cusp of adulthood, are killed at an alarming rate each year, causing grief and profound sadness for their families and communities.

Motor vehicle crashes continue to be the leading cause of death among adolescents and young adults in the United States.

In 2005, almost 7,500 drivers between the age of 15 and 20 were involved in fatal crashes across the United States. Many of these deaths are preventable, and it is imperative that we do all we can to improve the safety of our roads and highways for all drivers.

H. Con. Res. 165 supports the ideals and goals of National Teen Driver Safety Week, an important event that will go a long way towards educating our young people and their families about safe driving practices.

The statistics of teen driving are simply staggering. This age group makes up only 7 percent of licensed drivers but suffers 14 percent of fatalities and 20 percent of all reported accidents.

Based on miles driven, drivers between the ages of 16 and 19 have four times the mortality rate than drivers older than 25 and up.

Most important of all, the number of teen drivers on the road is expected to grow to over 32 million by 2010, meaning that, unless we take action, this tragic problem will only get worse.

National Teen Driver Safety Week seeks to reverse these alarming trends by concentrating national attention on the development and communication of effective interventions to help reduce crashes involving teen drivers. Teens will be taught about safe driver practices that will prevent many of these accidents from occurring. Efforts will be made to encourage teens to wear seatbelts, as nearly two-thirds of all teenagers killed in motor vehicle accidents have been reportedly not wearing seatbelts.

Finally, National Teen Driver Safety Week will echo other groups in warning about the dangers of drunk driving, nighttime fatigue and other use of electronic, handheld devices. By educating teens, along with their families, we can possibly make a lasting change in teen driving behavior that will lead to safer roads for all of us.

Therefore, I ask my colleagues to join me in supporting H. Con. Res. 165, supporting the goals of the National Teen Driver Safety Week.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I would like to recognize my friend from Pennsylvania (Mr. Dent) for as much time as he may consume.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from the great State of Tennessee (Mr. Duncan).

Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I am proud to join my colleague from Pennsylvania, Mr. Dent, in supporting the goals and ideals of National Teen Driver Safety Week. I signed on as an original co-sponsor of this important initiative because I believe that teen driver safety--especially in Pennsylvania--deserves our support and our attention. This is an important piece of legislation and I urge my fellow Members of Congress to support it today.

I am also proud of the research and prevention efforts of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, which includes a campus in my district. We should all applaud their commitment to keeping our teens and roads safer and I hope that the establishment of Teen Driver Safety Week will bring attention to this important issue in communities like mine across the United States.

Madam Speaker, the figures are daunting: Almost 7,500 drivers between the ages of 15 and 20 were involved in fatal crashes in 2005 and the fatality rate for teens is four times the rate for drivers between 25 and 69. The good news is that we can do something about it. The majority of teen driver crashes in our country are due to avoidable mistakes like speeding or cell phone use. The research shows that involvement from parents, educators and peers can make the difference in saving young lives.

In my own district, an organization called Central Bucks Cares is leading the charge to engage teen drivers in safe driving practices. After the tragic deaths of Laura Lauterbach and James Ogden, both students at Central Bucks East High School, the nonprofit community coalition assembled a roundtable discussion on teen driving. Following the roundtable, student intern Sarah Canavan of Buckingham helped Central Bucks Cares to draft a contract that teen drivers and their parents could agree to.

Teens agree to responsible driving practices, including courteous behavior towards other drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians, as well as adherence to traffic laws and road signs. Parents agree to serve as good role models in their own driving and to encourage safe driving practices by enforcing the terms of the contract.

Sarah's younger sister Amy and her mother were the first teen/parent pair to sign and fully support the agreement. I hope that many more families in Pennsylvania and nationwide will follow their example in making a commitment to safer teen driving.

Madam Speaker, I see the difference that Central Bucks Cares is making in my district and I hope that this legislation will help other communities to do the same.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 165) supporting the goals and ideals of National Teen Driver Safety Week.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

As a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, I'm pleased to join my colleagues in the consideration of H. Con. Res. 165, which supports the goals and ideals of National Teen Driver Safety Week.

This resolution, which has 55 cosponsors, was introduced by Representative Charles Dent on June 6, 2007. The resolution was reported from the Oversight Committee on July 19, 2007, by a voice vote.

Madam Speaker, road crashes are the leading cause of death for teenagers. These crashes are more common among young drivers than among any other age group, with one in four crash fatalities in the United States involving young people from the ages of 16 to 24.

The first 6 months after a teenager receives his or her license, he or she is especially at high risk of being in a car accident. Unfortunately, this risk stays relatively high until the young driver reaches 25.

In an effort to improve road safety and reduce crashes among young people, the Center for Injury Research and Prevention at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the State Farm Insurance Company codeveloped a multiyear teen center research initiative to help young drivers develop safe, smart driving behaviors and skills.

Madam Speaker, I commend my colleague Mr. Dent from Pennsylvania for seeking to support the goals and ideals of National Teen Driver Safety Week, and I urge the swift passage of this bill.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I reserve my time.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I appreciate the work of my colleague, Mr. Westmoreland, the remarks of my colleagues, Mr. Duncan from Tennessee and Mr. Dent from Pennsylvania, and urge passage.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Georgia for giving me this time. I actually came to the floor to speak on other legislation, but when I realized that this bill was up, I wanted to at least make a couple of comments about it.

I have the privilege of serving as the ranking member on the Highways and Transit Subcommittee. Prior to that, or a few years ago, I served for 6 years as chairman of the Aviation Subcommittee. The statistics, or the comparison between aviation and safety on our highways, is just staggering.

Unfortunately, we have more people killed in 3\1/2\ months on our Nation's highways than we have had killed in all U.S. aviation accidents combined since the Wright brothers' flight in 1903. But more importantly I want to commend the authors of this legislation, because we need to do everything we can to call attention to the record of teen drivers and raise the awareness of teenagers as to how dangerous our Nation's highways can be.

According to the most recent statistics by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, our safest drivers, contrary to what a lot of people believe, are those 75 and over. The second safest group of drivers are those 65 to 74.

The 75 and over age group has 2.5 accidents per 10,000 drivers. That compares to the 16-to-20 group which has 13.3 percent per 10,000 drivers. It's an amazing statistic as to how dangerous teenage driving is and how safe our older drivers are.

I just wanted to say that I rise in strong support of this resolution on Teen Driver Safety Week.