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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09 11 08 CSAC Agenda Packet 4646 Dakota Street S.E. Prior Lake, ~N 55372-~l.!-_~___~_.__~.~.~_._____~_ --- AGENDA Community Safety Advisory Committee September 11,2008 4 p.m. I Review Bylaws (attached) II Review and discuss Task Force and staff report to establish priorities III Next meeting date and time Adjoum- 5:15 p.m. www.cityofpriorlake.com Phone 952.447.9800 / Fax 952.447.4245 I/~;-~~ I~ '\~\ .i E-. , \."'" \ : ~ ~.". ,U\\' . :~.I \ \~f ."~! '" ,," I .~~~~~c;~~>/ ---------' 4646 Dakota Street S.E. ~rior Lake, MN 553?~~,~?!~..u..m_~__..~~__..________~~___~__. COMMUNITY SAFETY ADVISORY COMMITTEE BYLAWS ADOPTED XXXXXXXXX. 2008 SECTION 100: PURPOSE 101: 'iji':'~'::':':'-"'< The purpose of the Community Safety Advisory ~rD:rDI of operating procedures for the Community y'o: establish a code of ethics and conduct. bylaws is to provide a set i;~ory Committee, and to 102: The Bylaws shall be reviewed annually and any changes or amendments ag~ '. be recommended to the City Cou Council conducts is annual meeting a Community SafetyAdvisory Committee, o by a majority vote of the Commission shall r adoptio ,t its annual meeting. The City o in January of each year. SECTION 200: STRUCTURE OF COMMITTEE 201: ittee shall be composed of at least 5 and no : City Council. Only residents of the City who sidered for appointment. Said members shall November 1st and ending October 31st. gmmittee shall annually elect officers in accordance with the 205 herein. ' 202: COMMITTEE: The duties of the Community Safety Advisory follows: View and recommend revisions to these b laws. safet activities and olicies to the Council for im lementation. A erts to assist staff in the intef'J retation and im lementation of communit safetvmatters. 4. Periodically reconstitute the Task Force to establish priorities for incomoration into the 2030 Vision and Strateaic Plan. 5. Promote the obiectives of community safety in the most appropriate venues. 6. 7. 8. 9. 203: APPOINTMENT: The Committee shall consist of members appointed by the Prior Lake City Council for a term of three f3) ye;3rs.kThe Committee shall be representative of the www.ci.tyorpnorlae.com M\Advisory Bodies and Committees\Community Sa~h~til49@ya::a~~~\j:}~mS)\Cl311~'J~~t4'lfW ~C 1 citizens who live in Prior Lake. Committee members may serve additional terms upon approval by the Prior Lake City Council, based upon satisfactory attendance and participation, continued residence within the corporate limits of the City of Prior Lake, and in accordance with the term limit policy established herein. 204: VACANCIES: If the office of Chair becomes vacant, the Community Safety Advisory Committee shall appoint a replacement as set forth in paragraph 205 herein. If the office of vice-chair becomes vacant, the Community Safety Advisory Committee shall elect a successor from its membership at the next regular;ll1eeting, and such election shall be for the unexpired term of said office. If an appointed member of the Community Saf terminated, reaches a term limit, or 0 Commission/Committee, the Prior Lake City following manner: ory Committee resigns, is acates a seat of the pint a replacement in the 1. Applications are solicited. A Notic e vacancy is made public and individuals may be encouraged to consider sition. ' 2. The City Manager or his designee, the Cit uncil member who has been appointed as the liaison to the advi , or who has been appointed to serve on the work group, and the co air (unless the appointment is the committee chair appointment or re-app. t, or in the case where no chair has been determined) sh '. w all candicJates and make a recommendation to the full City Council. No 'wi! on any isory authority charged with the selection of the success tha 3. The recomm ndation of and the y acce is reje . ouncil vacaJor new hall presented to the City Council endation. If the recommendation point anotti'e'f individual or decide to reopen the 'dates. 205: visory Committee shall elect from among its ; hall also appoint a staff member to provide ee. ir shall be elected by majority vote of the Community Safety . tee prior to the first meeting in November. The term of the II beg ir'l..November and run for three years. The duties of the chair e approval of meeting agendas, presiding at meetings, participating ity Council in the selection of Committee members, semi-annual , the City Council on all information collected under paragraph 202 ive an accounting of its activities and any information the Committee sider relevant before the City Council annually or as directed ise. Vice-Chair: The vice-chair shall be selected annually by the Committee and shall perform the duties of the Chair in his/her absence. The vice-chair shall assume such other duties as assigned by the chair. Secretary: The City ManaQer or his/her designee shall act as the Secretary and shall be responsible for recording and compiling a written summary of all official activities of the Community Safety Advisory Committee. 206: TERM LIMIT: It is the policy of the Prior Lake City Council to impose a three term (9 year) service limitation for all appointed positions to the Community Safety Advisory M:\Advisory Bodies and Committees\Community Safety Advisory Committee\Draft 2 CSAC Bylaws-September 2008,OOC 2 Committee and providina administrative support. Partial terms do not count toward the term limitation. The purpose of the term limit policy is to encourage resident participation on City advisory bodies and provide community members with the opportunity to participate in their local government. 207: PERFORMANCE CRITERIA: Annually the Committee shall perform a written self- evaluation on the following: 208: 1. Implementation of the Committee's purpose, 2. Achievement of goals and objectives, 3. Compliance with bylaws, 4. Formulation of proposals and recommendation~ 5. Visitation of subject sites as applicable, and 6. Annual personal attendance record of at lea accomplishments, The Committee shall forward this evalua City Manager, the Mayor, and the Committee. The review committ comments to the Council by recommendation at the annual meetin comprised of the e.d liaison to the mmunity Safety Advisory Committee g-thirds (2/3) vote of the entire City ring before such a vote is taken. at Community Safety SECTION 300: STATEMENT OF El"HI 301: 'Lake recognizes that our system of ative gove 'is dependent in large measure upon people dence in their public officials. The public rightfully expects that conduct City of Prior Lake business in ways which benefit at public office will not be used chiefly or improperly to Lake finds that the proper operation of democratic representative ". requires that: EI, and appointed officials be independent, impartial and responsible to the people; · Governmental decisions and policy be made in the proper channels of the governmental structure; · Public office not be used for personal gain; and · The public have confidence in the integrity of its government. 2. The City of Prior Lake shall implement high ethical standards that enhance the public trust in its local government by: · Creating transparency in its actions through honest and open communication; and M:IAdvisory Bodies and CommitteeslCommunity Safety Advisory CommitteelDraft 2 CSAC Bylaws-September 2008.DOC 3 · Making decisions and establishing policies dedicated to public purpose and in the best interests of the overall community; · Supporting the public's right to know the public's business; and . Exercising fairness, optimism, responsiveness and respect in communicating with the public. · Periodically conduct training to discuss the values of the organization in an effort to keep public officials involved and aware and to make sure the policy is up-to-date and reflective of current conditions and concerns. 3. This Code shall be liberally construed in favor or prote 'g the public's interest in full disclosure of conflicts of interest and promoting I standards of conduct. 302: GIFTS AND FAVORS: No public official shall acc~pt~:, luable gift, favor or thing of value, regardless of amount whether in the form.gl~l'ljon ervice, loan, thing or promise from any person which to the official'!;) K~\lVledge ncerned, directly or indirectly in any manner whatsoever in bus' . dealings witlCity. 303: USE OF EQUIPMENT AND FACILlTIESc.. 0 public official shall r unauthorized use of City-owned vehiqlEi!si;'equipmentmaterials, prop services for personal convenience orp~~fit. ..... 304: Minn. Stat. 471.88, a public in making any sale, lease, or .~ personal financial interest in that herefrom. (Minn. Stat. Section theitYAttorney of the potential conflict of interest as soon as possible, befOr~t~,~ meeting; and 2. orneySF[ determine whether a disqualifying conflict of interest exists. 3. Orally in Jhe co ttee of the potential conflict and abstain from any participatior'l'~~, that agenda item. 306: The purp~~~behind .................reation of a rule, which would disqualify public officials from participatirl. +pro~~~~1 gs in a decision-making capacity when they have a direct conflict of interest in it:J~2'me-; is to insure that their decision will not be an arbitrary reflection of their own selfish interEi!$ts. There is no settled general rule as to whether such an interest will disqualify an official. Each case must be decided on the basis of the particular facts present. Among the relevant factors that should be considered in making this determination are: (1) nature of the decision being made; (2) the nature of the pecuniary interest; (3) the number of officials making the decision who are interested; (4) the need, if any, to have interested persons make the decision; and (5) the other means available, if any, such as the opportunity for review, that serve to insure that the officials will not act arbitrarily to further their selfish interests. 305: or app by a metropolitan governmental es would be required to take an action or make ~t the official's financial interests or those of an . n the official is no greater than on other 'cation, profession or occupation, must take M:\Advisory Bodies and Committees\Community Safety Advisory CommitteelDraft 2 CSAC Byiaws-September 2008,DOC 4 307: MISUSE OF OFFICIAL POSITION: No elected or appointed official may use his or her official position for a purpose that is, or would to a reasonable person appear to be primarily for the private benefit of the official. SECTION 400: CONDUCTING MEETINGS 401: REGULAR MEETINGS: In conformance with the Minneso Open Meeting Lawall meetings of the committee are open to the public. Reg 'eetings shall be held as needed at Prior Lake City Hall, 4646 Dakota Street S r Lake, Minnesota. In the event that such a date shall fall on a legal holiday, ~ 'ng shall be held on the next succeeding day. Regular meetings may b canceled or changed depending upon unique circumstances and s bJ and consent of both the Chair and/or Vice-Chair. 1. Posting at city hall for at least two 2. A copy of the notice, agenda and a ~, Committee, City Council, staff and oth than the Wednesday the Monday days prior to a special ays pri nlQi~he meeting. materials shall be received by the hated by the City Council, no later . g and in no case later than two (2) 402: NOTIFICATION: All regular meeting~ 403: ComrDl!il~e may be called by the Chair, ,~e of transacting any business end c .~ special meeting, but must two members of the Committee. The call for '.or to the time of the proposed meeting to each least two (2) days prior to the special shall be considered other than as designated ection B of the article shall be followed. 404: ULAR AND SPECIAL MEETINGS: A majority of Committee 405: 1. rder 2. Approval of minutes of previous meeting(s) 3. Old Business 4. Other Business 5. Staff Update 6. New Business 7. Adjournment 406: PUBLIC HEARING FORMAT: Public hearings shall be conducted in the following manner: M:\Advisory Bodies and CommitteeslCommunity Safety Advisory COl11mitteelDraft 2 CSAC Bylaws-September 2008.DOC 5 1. The presiding officer calls the public hearing to order and declares the time of opening. 2. It is the intent of the Community Safety Advisory Committee to open all public hearings at the predetermined and published time. From a practical standpoint, not all hearings can be opened at their designated time. The presiding officer may delay the start of a hearing until the business at hand is acted upon, in any manner, by the Lakes Advisory Commission. However, in no circumstances can a hearing be opened prior to the predetermined and published time. 3. The presiding officer shall read, from the hearing notice..t;;.the details on the hearing sufficient to provide the public a general understandiQ9k4iNthe purpose and procedures for the hearing and the fact that the he 'rlg;,s their exclusive or primary opportunity to provide input to the city C>. ~ubject. 4. Staff and/or a consultant make a presentatioQ 'il)Qn the subject matter for the hearing. 5. The presiding officer asks Community S have questions of the staff or consult 6. The presiding officer requests a m blic hearing. 7. The presiding officer announces . Formal input includes the name podium. 8. After all persons have been heard, the~, officer requests a motion to: · Close the public t), and the Co Safety Advisory Committee votes on the motion. On is taken, taring is closed for the record, or · Continue a public h Communr ~fety Advisory Committee votes to continue the heari ffice ,~'bC>.nsultation with the Communit Safety Ad II select and announce a time and date ..~~ the con c t-Jo additional publication or notice r~Cftl!i~~ Lneede ring is continued to a later date. However, no "ic hearing be con more than once without re-notice and ishing the , date an ation of the hearing. 9. The~~~,munitY8dvisory C'lt~....'imittee addresses the subject matter through deliberation, '~:I'l~ancrstaff, and reactions and statement of sitiono 1ect.)x\';' ubli g is closed, the Community Safety Advisory Committee should n 0 pplication before them in the form of a motion by resolution. e C . tee may formulate a recommendation which outlines the :under an approval would be granted. The reasons and II be st ed in the motion or resolution for approval or denial. an action may occur in the event insufficient information is present ,sion. The Community Safety Advisory Committee shall delineate the ., ation before continuing the item. 407: members of the Committee have equal voting authority. SECTION 500: SCOPE OF POWERS AND DUTIES 501: POWERS AND DUTIES: The Committee shall act in an advisory capacity to the Prior Lake City Council and shall advise the City Council on matters identified in Section 200 or as assigned to the committee. Semiannually, or as otherwise required by the Council, the Committee Chair shall give an accounting of the Committee's activities with respect to its goals and objectives before the City Council. Additionally, specific M:IAdvisory Bodies and Committees\Community Safety Advisory CommitteelDraft 2 CSAC Bylaws-September 2008,OOC 6 powers, duties and responsibilities may be assigned to the Committee upon approval of the City Council. 502: SUBCOMMITTEES: The Committee may divide its membership into Subcommittees as it deems necessary to implement its goals and objectives. SECTION 600: AMENDMENTS 601: These bylaws shall be reviewed by the Committee an recommend revised bylaws to the City Council for fi : The Committee may oval. M:IAdvisory Bodies and Committees\Community Safety Advisory CommitteelDraft 2 CSAC Bylaws-September 2008.DOC 7 MEETING DATE: AGENDA #: PREPARED BY: AGENDA ITEM: DISCUSSION: July 7, 2008 9A Bill O'Rourke, Police Chief Frank Boyles, City Manager CONSIDER APPROVAL OF COMMUNITY SAFETY TASK FORCE REPORT AND DIRECTING IMPLEMENTATION THEREOF Introduction The purpose of this agenda item is to request that the City Council officially receive the Community Safety Task Force report and provide direction to the staff to initiate implementation of the recommendations contained therein. History In February 2007, the 2030 Vision and Strategic Plan was last updated. One of the most significant changes was the addition of a tenth Vision element: Safe and Healthy Communities. The Long Range Planning Committee recognized two things about this Vision Element. First, that Prior Lake cannot become what it wants to be unless our residents feel safe to go about their lives every day without fear of danger. Second, the Committee recognized that no one or a few entities can deliver safety and health. In fact, health and safety are each of our responsibilities individually and collectively. Then, in August 2007 the community received notice that a Level III Sexual Offender intended to move his residence into the community. A community meeting was conducted and Nancy Sabin of the Jacob Wetterling Foundation became involved. Chief O'Rourke and I spent some time talking to Ms. Sabin about the formation of a community safety task force including its composition and its mission. We asked Ms. Sabin to act as the chair. She declined, but Police Chief O'Rourke accepted. Notices were published in the paper and electronically. We also contacted individuals in six membership categories proposed by Ms. Sabin to assure the Task Force would be representative of our multi-faceted community. In the end, 43 persons in six categories volunteered to serve on the Task Force. The first meeting was conducted in December 2007 with four subsequent meetings. Ultimately, the Task Force decided to break itself down into five subgroups. Each of the subgroups was assigned to the five most important issues facing the community as identified by the Task Force. The five areas include: 1. Substance Use and Abuse 2. Predatory Offenders 3. Inactive Neighborhoods 4. Bullying and Harassment 5. Traffic, Driving, Accidents www.cityofpriorlake.com Phone 952.447.9800 / Fax 952.447.4245 The subcommittees, composed of five or six Task Force members met between three and five times each. The subcommittees prepared draft reports in their areas of expertise to share with the full Task Force. The reports were presented to the Task Force and modifications were made. Chief O'Rourke put each report into the same PowerPoint format. On June 16, 2008, the City Council received the draft Task Force report together with the PowerPoint presentations. The City Council directed that the staff place the Community Safety Task Force report on an upcoming City Council agenda including a proposal for implementation and funding of the top three priorities and a process for making the Community Safety Task Force permanent. Current Circumstances The City Council has received a PowerPoint presentation on this subject at a workshop and earlier tonight as a presentation. Even though the Task Force addressed only the top five issues, the City would not have the time or resources to implement all aspects of the report. Accordingly, the City Council directed the staff to include in this report the implementation of the top three recommendations in each of the five areas studied. Staff recommendations of the top three priorities in each category, together with funding for each, is shown below: Substance Use and Abuse 1. Adopt social host ordinance and encourage SCALE to recommend the same County-wide. Some attorney and staff time will be needed to accomplish this recommendation. 2. Contract with Climb Theatre for all children in sixth, eighth and ninth grade in the coming school year to present a program on gateway drugs (alcohol, tobacco and prescription drugs). The cost for the next school year is $6,300 which has been requested from the Prior Lake Rotary . 3. Purchase the Intoxiclock to facilitate better blood-alcohol awareness training at Lakefront Days, Community Fest and other community- wide events. The cost is $1,275 which has been requested from Prior Lake Rotary. Predatory Offender 1. Host a "Train the Trainer" session in protecting our kids from predatory behavior for up to forty police officers. It is offered free by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Our obligation is to supply the site for this all-day program. Each agency will be responsible for the wages for those who attend. The training would be offered to any metropolitan agency. 2. Provide "Netsmartz" training for kids and parents who enroll. Officer O'Hehir has received training in this program which is designed to teach parents and children about safe Internet usage. (This program is a priority for bullying and harassment training as well since the Internet has become a site where such actions take place.) A modest fee is charged to cover materials. City costs are primarily Officer O'Hehir's time. 3. Establish a standardized background check protocol, share it with volunteer organizations and investigate the possibility of the City acting as the centralized background check facility. Some costs will be incurred investigating the data available and in researching the extent to which and under what conditions this information can be shared. Inactive Neighborhoods 1. Encourage neighborhood organizations meeting certain criteria to be on the City's opening Web page. Allow them to provide information for entry by the City to keep the page up-to-date. The City could also use the page to get targeted information to these neighborhoods. Over time there will be technical costs to add pages to the Website. There will be additional personnel costs to enter data. 2. Associations that have conducted Neighborhood Night Out or have organized Neighborhood Watch would be encouraged to offer both programs to their membership. To those that do, City staff or City Council members would be available to attend their annual or quarterly association meetings to provide information or learn more about neighborhood concerns. Initial costs are already provided for in the budget. As these prevention-minded programs become more numerous among associations, there is a significant likelihood that a full-time position will need to be devoted to them in the future. 3. Through the Chamber or other community-wide organization, encourage associations who have done National Night Out or Neighborhood Watch in the last year to enter teams to complete in sporting events with traveling trophies which would culminate with a "Community Olympics" as part of Lakefront Days. Bullying and Harassment 1. Provide "Netsmartz" training to kids and parents who enroll. This program includes advice regarding "cyberbullying" to gain common knowledge, awareness and means for addressing such behavior on the Internet. 2. Invite School Liaison Officers to meet with coaches, organizations such as PLA V, Prior Lake Soccer, Prior Lake-Savage Hockey Association, and others to promote consistent messages with the school district regarding bullying and harassment. Initially, costs are expected to be minimal. 3. Attend annual homeowner association and civic club meetings to provide adult/parent education on bullying and harassment. Initial costs are expected to be minimal. Traffic, Driving, Accidents Subcommittee 1. Ask the School District to issue parking permits only to students who are willing to take a pledge to use seatbelts, avoid distractions while driving and commit to not driving with substance use. If violated, the student would lose the parking permit. Costs would be modest to print the pledges if the School District is unable to do so. 2. Use the City Website, electronic signs and printed publications to promote a "Slow Down - Save Money - Save Lives" campaign. Funds for this program would be incorporated in the 2009 budget. 3. Encourage ISD 719 to partner with the Scott County Safe Communities Coalition to implement youth safety initiatives to improve driving behavior. ISSUES: The recommendations set forth above are consistent with the subcommittee reports. There are 15 initiatives proposed. We have selected those that we believe will have impact and can be accomplished in a year from both a financial and personnel resources perspective. The final recommendation addresses how this effort can be made ongoing rather than temporary. We propose that a Community Safety Advisory Committee be formed. This five member committee would be composed initially of one volunteer from each of the five Community Task Force subcommittees. Like our other advisory committees, members would have a three-year term. The first appointees would be two for two years and three for three years in order to have staggered terms. This committee would work with staff periodically to discuss and clarify the implementation of the fifteen items identified above. In 18 months, the committee would be responsible for reassembling a larger group (35 - 40) to review and refocus our efforts for the coming 18-24 months. This process would continue so that the goals and objectives agreed upon integrate with the 2030 Vision and Strategic Plan and can be incorporated into the Safe and Healthy Community Vision Element. FINANCIAL IMPACT: The financial impact for these actions is modest. However, the responsibilities, when successful, will create the need for at least one new full-time equivalent position by 2010. Costs could also increase if funding anticipated from the Prior Lake Rotary, School District or National Center for Missing and Exploited Children were to be unavailable now or in the future. ALTERNATIVES: 1. Approve the Community Safety Task Force report. 2. Approve the recommended priorities in the five categories and direct their implementation. 3. Take no action with respect to the Task Force report. 4. Take no action to approve the recommended priorities and direction to the staff. RECOMMENDED Alternatives #1 and #2. MOTION: ReVie~fI'Y.J"l ',tt Frank Boyles, Ity M ., . I. ------ . . . . . . Uagers die in . "If we saw back from a e front page ibell, a state here some in 2006. ;~dging. Fatal- lethe mid-70s through the early '90s, mainly because of tougher seat belt and drunk driv- ing laws. But since then, the statistics have remained stubbornly high, de. spite improved safety features in cars. Some of this is due to teens them- selves. "Anytime you have immaturity combined with inexperience, you have the potential for disaster," says Nicole Nason, head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. '~nd that's what you get with a 16-year-old behind the wheel." But that's not the whole story. Speed, distraction, and driver inexpe- rience cause most crashes-and those things can be controlled. "These deaths should not be considered an inevitable part of the teen experience," says Justin McNaull, director of state relations for AAA. "We can change this." Here are three steps that will prevent crashes and save countless lives-of teens and others on the road. 1. TEACH YOUR KiDS Part of the reason for teens' poor judg- ment is hardwired: The brain's pre- frontal cortex-which handles tasks like controlling impulses-isn't fully formed. "Our brains get tons of input from multiple places," says Flaura Winston, MD, scientific director of the Center for Injury Research and Prevention at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. '~dults don't act on all those impulses; we sort them. But teens have a hard time doing this." And they have a hard time under- . . . ANATOMY OF A TEEN CAR ACCIDENT I '--...... . . z 0 c- O' Z I <:; ~ 0 > W ~ c- >- "' 0 w C- o: ~ >-- '" ::> ~ ~ ;::- I " ~ w w ~ Z 0 '" 0: ;;; 0 W C- o: . ~ t;; ::> ~ ~ 3: S w "' ---- . . DANGER AFTER DARK standing what's risky in a car. In a recent study, researchers surveyed 5,600 teens and found huge gaps in their knowledge. One problem is that teens fail to see certain behaviors as dan- I gerous. Only 28 percent said using a cell phone is a risk, and 10 percent said the same about having other teens in the car. (They're both big distractions, and boys in the car are more distracting than girls.) Only half cited speeding or not wearing a seat belt. Even if teens got the right idea about a behavior-for instance, 87 percent said drinking and driving is dangerous-they didn't view it as their problem: Only 16 percent said they ever see it happen. (Some might be lying; 25 percent of young drivers killed in crashes had been drinking.) The message for parents: Spell out the dangers for your kids. It's up to you because only 20 percent of schools offer driver ed today, down Nearly half of teen crash deaths happen at night. Unknown 26 SOURCE: NHT$A (2006) from 90 percent in the 1980s. Nason says, "You have a responsibility to make sure your child isn't going to drive into someone else head-on be- cause he's busy chatting on his cell phone and nobody's told him, 'Hang up the phone and drive the car.''' 2. FOR STATE LAWS "You don't suddenly become a good driver when you turn 16," Nason says. . . -------- . WHICH STATES HAVE THE TOUGHEST LAWS? In a first.ever analysis, we examined each state's graduated driver licensing, seat belt, and DUllaws and awarded points based on strictness. (Alaska gE;ts more points in the seat belt category because anyone ,6 and older who isn't buckled up can be fined; New Hampshire gets fewer because it has no seat belt laws at all.) For complete methodology"-go to rd.com. . BEST I Alaska California Delaware Washington Illinois Maine Indiana Oregon Hawaii Georgia Kentucky North Carolina District of Columbia i GOOD New Jersey Connecticut New York Nebraska Maryland Oklahoma Colorado Tennessee Alabama Missouri Louisiana Utah ..FAIR Massachusetts Vermont Michigan Ohio Iowa Virginia Wisconsin Pennsylvania New Mexico Texas West Virginia Arizona Florida Nevada 4. WORST New Hampshire Kansas Wyoming South Carolina Mississippi North Dakota Minnesota Idaho Rhode Island South Dakota Montana Arkansas DATA FROM INSURANCE INSTITUTE FOR HIGHWAY SAFETY "We need to ease teens into a lifelong habit of good driving." That's the goal of graduated driver licensing laws, which impose restric- tions before teens earn a full license. An ideal law would set the minimum age for a permit at 16, limit passengers to one, ban cell phones, prohibit driv- ing between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m., and not allow a full license until age 18. . . These laws make sense. A recent study by Johns Hopkins University for the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found that a tough phase-in law could decrease deaths among 16-year-old drivers by 38 percent. "It~s clear that giving young drivers more time be- hind the wheel with supervision makes a big difference," says Susan Baker, the study's coauthor. That was the case in Georgia, where a graduated licensing law slashed fatal crashes involving 16-year-old drivers by 37 percent over five years and cut speeding-related fatal crashes among the same age group by nearly half. The law also imposes stiff penalties- including having a license taken away for up to a year-for speeding, reck- less driving, and other serious errors. Currently, 47 states have phase-in laws, but few are as effective as they could be. Only eight set the minimum age for a permit at 16. Fewer than ten prohibit driving after 10 p.m. And only 12 have strict limits on passengers. . THE TEEN DEATH TOll States with the toughest driving laws tend to have lower fatality rates, but other factors count too. Rural roads (with higher speed limits, less traffic, and fewer nearby medical services) are a big crash risk. The following is a list of the top 10 states in teen-driving fatalities per 100,000 kids. Find the rest at rd.com. Wyoming 42.6 Missouri 37.4 Mississippi 42.1 S. Dakota 36.9 Montana 40.2 Tennessee 36.4 Alabama 39.8 Kentucky 35 Arkansas 37.5 Oklahoma 33.8 Kansas State Senator Phil Journey pushed for a bill to impose nighttime, passenger, and cell phone restrictions on teen drivers, but it failed in his state's House of Representatives. He says the costs of refusing to act are obvious: "Statistically, we know that some body's going to leave home and is not going to survive because this bill didn't become law." (To find out . ----- . . 16: A RISKY AGE The crash rate for 16-year-olds is nearly double the rate for 19-year-olds. Crashes per million miles driven in 2006 26 14 19 SOURCE: lIHS . how to lobby for tough laws in your state, see "Do More" on page 125.) The mainobstac1e is the belief that stricter measures impinge on parents' right to decide when and with whom their kids drive. The reasons for the complaints vary: Some parents want their teens to run errands unaccom- panied; others want their kids to drive a farm truck as soon as possible. (That's what sank the Kansas bill.) Vermont State Representative Kathy Lavoie, the mother of two teens, sup- ports some limitations but balks at a nighttime restriction that would pre- vent kids from driving to hunting grounds in the early morning, which teens in her state enjoy. "When it comes to an infringement on parental rights, I get nervous," she says. 120 -......... . Nason of the traffic safety adminis- tration has heard these objections be- fore. "Fear of the 'nanny state' always rears its head," she says. "But a car crash doesn't just affect the person in the car. It affects the people in the car they hit." Add in the costs to law en- forcement and health care, she notes, and it's hard to argue against putting society's interests ahead of parents' rights. In a recent study, AAA found that teen crashes cost the rest of us more than $34 billion annually. Bradford Hill, the Massachusetts state representative who sponsored legislation that cut speeding by 33 per- cent and reduced serious-injury crashes by more than 40 percent, said most parents in his state support the law. "They say" 'I'm so glad these changes were made,''' he says. Some teens feel the same way. In New York, 18-year-old David Mangano of White Plains sees the value in his state's law that limits teen passengers to two. "If you have a lot of people in the car, it's really hectic," he says, "so it's nice to have that restriction." 3. GET TOUGH AT HOME Even if your state has weak laws (see page li8), you can still set the rules for your own teen. "You're the parent," says AAA's McNaul!. "You control when your child gets licensed, you control the keys, and you control the car. You can put significant conditions in place." Start by making sure your teen al- ways wears a seat belt. "It's the single most effective safety device in your car," says Nason. But more than half READER'S DIGEST rd.com 08/08 . of teen drivers killed on the road in 2006 weren't buckled up. You can also lay down your own phase-in law. Set your teen's night driving limit to no later than 10 p.m., don't allow more than one passenger, and ban cell phones-even with a headset. "Using a phone with a head- set is of no benefit to an inexperienced driver," says University of Utah re- searcher David Strayer. If your teen balks? Too bad, says Arthur Kellermann, MD, an emer- gency room physician who's also an injury-prevention researcher at Emory University and the father of a 20-year- old. "This is tough love," he says. Nicole Nason agrees: "Every time you say, 'You don't start this car with- out a seat belt on, you can't drive late at night, this is not the party mobile,' you are saving your children's lives." ----- . . . w ~ , -. ~ ~ "".' ,- ":?'~ ONE MAN'S MISSION TO GET TEENS TO THINK TWICE EVERY TIME THEY GET INA CAR BY LINDA TRISCHITTA . ---- . "I was just like yOU-I thought I was invincible," says Adam Blomberg, standing before 400 students in a darkened auditorium at Miami's Coral Reef Senior High School. A photo of a bloodied and unconscious teenager, a breathing tube protruding from his mouth, flashes on the wall. "That was me," he says. There's a collective gasp before the room grows silent and Blomberg, 31, an anesthesi- ologist who trained at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, begins the story of what happened one night in February1995. Blomberg, then the IS-year-old cap- tain of the track team and a math ace at Cooper City High, near Fort Lau- derdale, had been headed to a Uni- versity of Miami basketball game with four friends. He was sitting in the backseat, reaching for his seat belt, as READER'S DIGEST rd.com 08/08 . the van pulled away from a gas station and collided with an oncoming car. Blomberg was thrown 40 feet through the rear left window, landing headfirst on the asphalt. He broke nine ribs, suf- fered a collapsed lung, and, of greatest . concern, bruised the left side of his brain, where a blood clot formed. His friends and the other driver escaped with minor injuries. When Blomberg's mother, Mara Young, now a 59-year-old preschool teacher, arrived at the intensive care unit, so many bandages covered her son that she didn't know where to kiss him. He was in a -coma and on a respirator. A four- inch strip of stitches held his scalp to- gether. As she began filling out forms, a hospital worker asked if her son was an organ donor. Blomberg, listed as a "possible fatality," awoke from his coma two days later. His doctors told Young that his injuries would almost certainly lead to a lifetime of disabilities. Young didn't tell her son the grim prognosis. When his track coach came to the hospital to visit, Blomberg promised him he'd run in the district meetthat spring. ------- Blomberg had inherited his father's stubborn will. Ron Blomberg, 59, was a former New York Yankee and the PHOTOGRAPHED BY JOHN GOODMAN/REDUX . game's first designated hitter. He soon arrived from Atlanta, where he'd moved after his divorce, to join the vigil at his son's bedside. Nine days after arriving in the ER, Adam was well enough to go home. His doctors ordered three months of bed rest. The tubes had left his vocal cords irritated, so at first he had a hard time speaking. "But as soon as he could talk well," Young remembers, "he said, 'I'm going to give back.''' It was his last semester of high school, but schoolwork was impossi- ble. His doctors instructed him not to read so he wouldn't tax his brain, still threat- ened by the clot. "I went from doing cal- culus to coloring in a coloring book," he says. During the day, he often nodded off mid-sentence. At night, when his own screams woke him, his stepfather, Mark Young, would hurry in to rub down his aching limbs and back. He poured his energy into rehab. Three months after the crash, he got his sur~eon's okay to join his track team at the district meet. That day, he led the warm-up jog. But later, watch- ing a videotape, he realized he hadn't been running at all. Instead, he'd shuf~ fled around the track, his teammates walking silently behind him. Even so, there were positive signs: The clot had dissolved, and his blood pressure and heart rate were stable. 123 . In April he returned to school, and in June he graduated with his class. He was one credit short, but the admini- stration let it slide. . "Whe?~~a!l,1was t,y~;~tlc;a half, he toldlTl?,::fath~r, a s~Fg;tlon, that he wantedtobeiadoctor~nd he never '>>;;lVer7~K' M.a,t;~Young;!\iWS. The U ni- Yyr~~t1'f''cof awarded ~rotti~efg ...... ., ..... scholarship Ptlf()F~the aC~!~0; .... .;, d though his ~~1.ll'()gsycholORi~F?~~t think he'd be ready/to attend{Bl&inberg had other plans. He set up a conference call with his physicians and the university, in- sisting he be allowed to enroll. UM honored the scholarship. The premed major took only three courses at first. He tape-recorded his classes and listened to them over and over, trying to drill the information into his unreliable memory. "It would take me nine hours to comprehend a one-hour lecture," Blomberg says. As time went on, the work grew easier. During his junior year, Blomberg found a way to honor the promise he'd made after his accident. While volun- teering at UM's William Lehman In- jury Research Center, he realized that sharing his own story would be a way to help others. He created a presentationillustrat- ing the dangers of behaving irrespon- sibly in a car, from not buckling up to speeding to driVing under the influ- ence of alcohol and drugs. He tracked down photos of teen crash victims from the center's archives, then in- corporated statistics and his own ex- 124 .~- . perience. He spoke the first time to a local Boy Scout troop and was soon giving his talk, "A Survivor's Story," at high schools around the state. The Blomberg family had reason to celebrate. Adam had fully recovered and was on his,way to fulfilling his lifelong dream of becoming a doctor. But in January 2000, Blomberg's 22-year-old stepbrother, Michael, was killed in a crash while driving to his Atlanta home late one night. He wasn't wearing a seat belt. After the accident, Blomberg stopped telling his story to crowds, racked with guilt over his inability to reach Michael. If Blomberg had failed his own brother, he reasoned, how could he possibly make a difference to a roomful of strangers? Requests from schools continued to roll in, but he turned down everyone. Then Blomberg got a call from a high school counselor. As he started into his standard excuse-lack of time-he looked across the room at a stack of thank-you notes from students who had heard him speak. He realized that Michael's death was only further proof that kids needed to hear what he had to say. He agreed to visit the school and began contacting others on the waiting list for his talks. Midway into Blomberg's 45-minute speech at Coral Reef High, Michael's photo, with his birth and death dates, flashes onto the screen. Some kids tear up; all of them listen silently. "My fam- ily went through not only my experi- READER'S DIGEST rd.com oafos . SEAT BELTS MATTER . They've saved more than 225,000 lives since '975. SOURCE: NHTSA . ence but also my brother's," he says.. "We lived the horror twice. It can hap- pen to anyone." Morgue and accident photos appear while Blomberg tells the teens' sto- ries. All the deaths are the result of actions kids can relate to: fiddling with the radio, driving too fast, drinking, and, as with Adam and Michael, fail- ing to fasten a seat belt. A slide shows a car wrapped around a tree, followed by another of a high school senior in a body bag. He'd been driving in a res- idential neighborhood at night with his younger sister in the passenger seat. As the driver changed the radio station, he lost control and smashed into the tree. Both siblings died. "I re.alize I may not be able to per: suade all of you," he says, "but if! can reach just one of you, it's worthwhile." Blomberg leaves the school hoping he has changed someone's behavior. He recalls a letter he received from a -------.... ItlU5TRATED BY TREVOR JOHNSTON . student who heard him speak and got into a crash later that same day but was unharmed. "She told me she was wearing her seat belt because of me." Letters like this reinforce his belief that he survived the accident for a rea- son. "There are a lot of physicians in the world, and we all save lives," he says. "I have a special opportunity to save lives not just as a doctor but also as a human being." Find out more about Adam Blomberg's cause at drivingresponsibly.com.