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• TeensOnBoard Program Launched to Monitor Teen Drivers;Bumper ID and 24/7 Toll Free Call Center Helps Parents Tell Teens: “Not So Fast!”
Hillsborough, N.J. (April 7, 2008) -- As a former human resources director, Mark New knows better than most people that “no one makes it on their own.” But it wasn’t until his teenage son got his driving permit that he thought about how he might apply that wisdom to help keep his
teenager -- and millions of others -- safe on the roads.
“I was driving with my son to the train station and I saw a truck with one of those ‘How’s My Driving?’ signs on it,” New explained. “All of a sudden it hit me: why not use the same concept to keep the eyes of the community on our teenage drivers?” After New learned that this type of monitoring had reduced accidents 20-25% in the trucking industry -- with moving violations cut up to 50% in some instances -- the TeensOnBoard program was born.
The TeensOnBoard monitoring service is simple by design. Parents place a TeensOnBoard nonremovable bumper sticker on the rear bumper of the car. Each bumper sticker comes with a unique registration number that is displayed on the sticker, along with the TeensOnBoard.com
website address and a toll free phone number. Anyone spotting a teen driving poorly can call and make a report. The TeensOnBoard call center is staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with representatives who are trained to identify real vs. prank callers. After verification, the call center
will then forward the report to the parent via email or phone call within hours of the reported incident.
“I started thinking about this problem as a concerned parent of a teenage driver, but when I started doing some research, it was obvious how great the problem really is,” said New. For example, he found a National Safety Council study that showed 90% of parents don’t ride with their teenagers to see how they’re driving after they pass their drivers’ test. And, perhaps most chilling, automobile accidents are the #1 killer of 15-20 year-olds in the U.S., according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration -- rivaling the statistics for teen deaths due to alcohol and drug abuse combined.
New said that studies also show that teenagers become better drivers when they know they are being monitored. “We’re realistic -- we know you can’t be with your teenager all the time and driving is an important part of their growing up and becoming independent,” said New. “But the statistics are just too daunting not to have some kind of economical program available to parents to monitor their teen drivers.”
The TeensOnBoard program has four membership levels, beginning at $110/year for one car. Memberships can be purchased at eensOnBoard.com and paid by credit card or PayPal online or by downloading an enrollment form and paying by check or money order. New members will then receive a membership packet within 7-10 business days, which includes the oversized (5” x 15”) reflective, UV-protected, non-removable bumper sticker(s) and program instructions.
Most of the costs of membership go toward the staffing of the TeensOnBoard call center. In addition, a portion of the proceeds are being donated to MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) and SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions) programs.
New, who has served as a human resources executive at three Fortune 500 companies, said that another facet of the TeensOnBoard program will be the development of community education programs for teen drivers. He also noted that “this program is in no way a substitute for law enforcement; in fact, the first thing our call center asks any caller is if this is an emergency and, if so, directs them to call 911 immediately.
“Our mission is simple: to help prevent car accidents involving teenage drivers, to help teens building on their driving skills and to provide parents with an affordable and reasonable level of control that builds confidence, trust and peace of mind while their teen driver transitions to becoming an experienced and responsible adult driver,” said New. “In 2006, almost 7,500 teens were involved in fatal crashes. If we could reduce that number by 25% with a program like this, that would be 1,875 lives -- and an immeasurable amount of parental grief -- spared.”
For more information, visit TeensOnBoard.com or call 908-281-0020.
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