Drinking and driving among teens in high school (aged 16 or older) has gone down by 54% since 1991. Still, high school teens drove after drinking about 2.4 million times a month in 2011, according to a recent CDC Vital Signs study.

The Problem

Fewer teens are drinking and driving, but this risky behavior is still a major threat.

• Drinking and driving among teens in high school has gone down by 54% since 1991. Still, high school teens drive after drinking about 2.4 million times a month.
• 85% of teens in high school who report drinking and driving in the past month also say they binge drank. In the survey, binge drinking was defined as having 5 or more alcoholic drinks within a couple of hours.
• 1 in 5 teen drivers involved in fatal crashes had some alcohol in their system in 2010. Most of these drivers (81%) had BACs* higher than the legal limit for adults.

*Blood alcohol concentration. It is illegal for adults to drive with a BAC of .08% or higher. It is illegal for anyone under age 21 to drive after drinking any alcohol in all US states.

Steps for Safety

More can be done to protect the lives of young drivers and everyone who shares the road with them.

• Increase awareness among teens and parents.
• Strengthen enforcement of existing policies, such as minimum legal drinking age and zero tolerance laws, and graduated driver licensing systems.

• Screen teens for risky behaviors, including the following:
  • Using alcohol, drugs or other substances
  • Driving after alcohol or drug use
  • Riding with a driver who has been using alcohol or drugs
• Educate parents and teens about the risks of drinking and driving.
• Encourage parents of new teen drivers to set and enforce the “rules of the road” and consider tools like parent-teen driving agreements.
• Remind parents to lead by example as safe drivers.

•  Understand that most teens who drink do it to get drunk.
• Recognize the dangers of teen drinking and driving and that teen drivers are at much greater risk of crashing after drinking alcohol than adult drivers.
• Provide teens with a safe way to get home (such as picking them up or paying for a cab) if their driver has been drinking.
• Model safe driving behavior.
• Consider tools like parent-teen driving agreements to set and enforce the “rules of the road” for new drivers. Safe driving habits for teens include the following:
  • Never drink and drive
  • Follow state GDL laws
  • Wear a seat belt on every trip
  • Limit nighttime driving
  • Set a limit on the number of teen passengers
  • Never use a cell phone or text while driving
  • Obey speed limits

• Choose to never drink and drive.
• Refuse to ride in a car with a teen driver who has been drinking.
• Know and follow their state’s GDL laws.
• Follow “rules of the road” in their parent-teen driving agreement.
• Wear a seat belt on every trip, no matter how short.
• Obey speed limits.
• Never use a cell phone or text while driving.

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That is until I stepped into a crosswalk.

I was in New York City on business and was crossing the street with the light when an SUV turned the corner and came barreling into me. I was thrown 30 feet in the air. The impact shattered my pelvis, and every joint in my body was damaged. Instantly, my carefully balanced life came crashing down.

I went from being the caretaker to having to be taken care of. My injuries were so severe that doctors said I would never walk again. I was confined to bed for eight months and needed help with the basic tasks we take for granted like bathing, dressing and getting around. It took seven surgeries and three years of intense rehabilitation and work on my part to get to my “new normal.” During that time I was unable to work and earn a living or take care of my family as I had in the past.

One of the key factors that helped me navigate this difficult chapter in my life was my disability insurance.

Our family had relied on both my and my husband’s income. This accident and my being out of work for almost three years could have decimated us financially. Fortunately, I had planned ahead and had gotten disability insurance, which provided me with an income when I was unable to work. That influx of income allowed us to stay in our home, pay our monthly bills and the mounting medical bills. It also allowed me to hire someone to help with my kids and assist me, as well. I don’t know what we would have done without my disability insurance.

I feel extremely blessed. It’s amazing I lived and even more amazing that I lead an active life now—including keeping up with my two sets of twins!

I took out the disability insurance that I had then, and that I maintain now, because I value what I do for my family: I take care of their needs physically, emotionally, and I provide a paycheck to pay for our expenses. I’m worth it.

The bottom line is, if you need your income, you need disability insurance. And the only time to get it is before you need it.

Check out the great calculator at www.protectyourpaycheck.org to find out how much disability insurance you may need.

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* Plain and Simple, Communicate — Thanks to mobile devices, contacting your children almost anytime and anywhere is easier than ever.  For working parents in particular, the ability to check in with kids when they’re not face-to-face is key to keeping track of their activities and also helps keep the lines of communication open if any issues arise.  An ongoing discussion of how they are using technology is critical to helping them be safe in cyberspace.

* Establish Guidelines — Clearly explain when they can or cannot use the Internet.  Limiting the length of time that your children can be online will encourage them to seek out the information they need instead of just aimlessly surfing the Internet.

* “Block and Talk” — Parental blocks and filters are a must for helping keep kids away from inappropriate content.  But it’s important to also take the extra step and discuss which websites are appropriate and what kinds of websites to stay clear of on the Internet.  Monitoring tools are very important but will be most effective when coupled with parental supervision.

* Keep Information Private — Here at SafetyWeb we mention this often, but it can’t be said often enough: children need to be aware of what not to share on social networking sites.  Phone numbers, addresses and other similar personal information should never be shared on Facebook or other sites where the general public can view it.

* Computers Need Protecting Too — Educate kids on how to also keep their computers safe.  Free downloads of music, videos, games, tickets, and the like, are often compelling temptations.  However, these offerings could be lurking ground for cybercriminals or invitations to download malware.  It is recommended to instruct your kids to get your permission before downloading any content from the Internet.

Naturally, these Internet safety guidelines for children should be applied year round.  However, with most children having more free time on their hands in the summer months, now is the perfect time to communicate or reiterate these guidelines, and to make sure they are in place and being implemented.

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A new brand of identity theft could be coming to a neighborhood near you.

Tucked in a pocket of northeast Ohio, not far from Lake Erie, is a little piece of the American dream. Two-story homes of brick and stone stand in front of big backyards, surrounded by a community of neighbors who know one another, socialize and watch one another’s kids.

But just last week, a rash of identity theft rocked the quiet waters of this typical upper-middle-class suburb. Police have found 18 victims, some with tens of thousands of dollars fraudulently spent in their name. And this home development isn’t alone. At least one other Ohio community has been hit with mass identity theft. It has all the trappings of an ugly new trend.

Alison Smith* first heard the news from a neighbor. “We’re all pretty close-knit around here,” she said. “A friend reached out and said, ‘Hey, a couple of neighbors have had identity theft issues.’ ” Smith called her homeowners insurance company and found she was covered by IDentity Theft 911. She connected with fraud investigator Maria Valenzuela on the phone.

“Alison did exactly the right thing,” Valenzuela said. “She knew of five neighbors who all had multiple accounts opened around the same time. She had no fraud, but called us as a preventive measure.”

Valenzuela quickly set up a 90-day fraud alert on Smith’s credit accounts, then removed her from a national database of pre-approved credit applications. They applied the same measures to Smith’s husband’s accounts, but as it would turn out, all the victims in this case were women.

The next day Valenzuela’s phone rang again: another victim from the same northeast Ohio housing development. This one wasn’t nearly as lucky as Smith. Thirteen accounts were opened in this victim’s name: $5,000 charged at Best Buy, $4,000 at Sears, more than $700 at Victoria’s Secret. The crook bought cell phones, paid utility bills, set up cable and Internet accounts.

“First I got a letter from Victoria’s Secret thanking me for applying for a new card,” said victim No. 2, Mary Jo Sullivan*. “Then a letter came from Carson’s, then Macy’s, Sears and on and on and on.” Sullivan was traveling on business when the first few letters arrived. In those two days that the accounts went unchecked, thieves managed to rack up tens of thousands of dollars in charges.

“They got me pretty bad,” Sullivan said. “Most of the people in my development caught it in the first day, or before it started, but in my case they got away with it a lot longer.”

After a few days of frantically calling all the credit companies, utilities and cell phone companies that had opened fraudulent accounts, Sullivan realized her homeowners policy offered identity protection services. Valenzuela picked up the torch again, making calls on Sullivan’s behalf, and got her squared away with police reports and credit bureaus, and put a freeze on all new credit activity.

“This information was compromised from one source,” Valenzuela said. While it might be quick to pinpoint stolen mail or home break-ins where documents are taken, that never happened in this community. And even if it did, Valenzuela said, thieves aren’t likely to get the volume of personally identifiable information that was clearly exposed here. “The damages wouldn’t have been this large-scale, this serious,” she said.

All clues point to the homebuilder, according to police. “Whenever you apply for a mortgage, that broker has all your information, so we’re probably looking at a breach or theft from the purchasing agent in that development,” Valenzuela said.

The local police told Alison Smith as much. Just a few days after calling IDentity Theft 911 and having a fraud alert set up, the thieves struck. AT&T called on a Saturday, confirming that she was setting up new service. AT&T called again, from another store location, an hour later. Smith told the agent she’d been a victim of identity theft and asked for information on the purchaser, but was told they couldn’t release personal information. “That’s my information!” Smith said. “They tried to make me out to be a criminal, because I’m asking for information on the person stealing my life.”

The fraud alert worked. The two AT&T applications were denied. A T-Mobile and a Sprint application were denied. A Kohl’s card was denied. But Verizon let five iPhones slip through. “When I talked to Verizon customer service, she came right out and said they’re not as diligent with online orders as they should be,” Smith told me.

Cell phone and store charge cards are common targets for thieves, Valenzuela said. Retailers often prioritize moving merchandise out the door over security. Most of the purchases in Smith’s case were made in Tulsa, Okla. Though the investigation is still pending, police said it likely will trace back to a crooked employee at the homebuilders office, which handled the mortgages for the entire development.

Smith, for her part, dodged a bullet, getting her accounts protected before the criminals dialed in. An ounce of prevention is truly worth a pound of cure.

“I don’t know what I would have done without Maria,” Smith said. “She’s done everything. She put all the paperwork in place to get the freezes. She was on the line with AT&T and sent letters to all three credit bureaus. I would have been lost without her.”

* Names and identifying details have been changed to protect the victim’s privacy.

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This make-ahead menu means less work on Mother’s Day. Just prep on Saturday with a quick finish on Sunday.

Pictured: Asparagus Quiche and Fabulous Fruit Salad

The Menu

Choose a delicious main dish:

French Toast Casserole Asparagus Quiche

Pair it with a fresh and pretty side dish:

Spring Strawberry Spinach Salad Fabulous Fruit Salad

Brunch Beverages

Champagne Cocktail Recipes Bloody Mary Recipes Coffee Drinks

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