Community December 10, 2009
YNHH joins state to make teen driving safer
In the United States, motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among teens, accounting for 6,000 deaths and 300,000 injuries. In Connecticut, although 16- and 17-year-olds made up 2.5 percent of Connecticut's driving population, they accounted for 12 percent of crashes between 2002 and 2005.
Because so many Connecticut teens are killed or injured due to car accidents, Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital, the Travelers Insurance Co., the Connecticut Police Chiefs’ Association and others have joined Governor M. Jodi Rell’s task force to develop strategies to help Connecticut teens drive more safely. At a recent press conference in Hartford, Felix Lui, MD, trauma surgeon, and Pina Violano, RN, injury prevention coordinator, both of Trauma and Critical Care, met with Governor Rell (center) after a task force meeting. The hospital’s trauma department helped launch the state’s second annual Teen Safe Driving video contest that will focus on the growing national concern with the dangers of distracted driving by teens.
