Sheriffs Telling Our Parents & Promoting Educated Drivers

Motor vehicle crashes are the number one cause of death for young adults between the ages of 16 and 24.

16- to 24-year-old drivers only make up 14% of all drivers, yet they are involved in 28% of all collisions.

Young drivers are involved in fatal traffic crashes at over twice the rate of the rest of the population.

More than 11,000 people aged 15 to 24 were killed in crashes in 2002, and 5,940 of those were drivers and passengers in vehicles operated by drivers ages 16 to 20.

In St. Mary's County, young drivers represent 14% of all drivers involved in fatal crashes and 15% of all drivers involved in personal injury automobile accidents.
 

---

Clearly, additional intervention is needed in securing the safety of all motor vehicle operators as well as securing our children's future.

In response to these alarming statistics, the St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office Implemented the STOPPED Program, a voluntary parental notification system used to reduce the number of young drivers involved in motor vehicle accidents.

How it works:

1.	Parents voluntarily register, with the St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office, any motor vehicle that will be operated by a driver under the age of 18.
2.	An identification decal is mailed to your address and affixed to the upper left side of the windshield of each registered vehicle.
3.	If, for any reason, the registered vehicle, when operated by a driver under the age of 18, is stopped by Sheriff's deputies, the officer will complete a notification card providing the following information:
	- Time and location of stop - Driver's name and number of passengers - Reason for the stop - Whether any traffic tickets were issued
4.	Notifications are e-mailed directly to parents to make them aware of potential problems, enabling them to enforce any parental rules that often coexist with teenage driving privileges.

The Sheriff's Office offers parents this voluntary notification system to extend their watchful eyes and raise the awareness of drivers under the age of 18. This program provides young drivers with a visible reminder of parental supervision and provides parents with the means of correcting behavior before it is too late.

For questions regarding the STOPPED Program, call (301) 475-4200 x1900.
For a registration form, click here.

If you would like to find out more, you can read about and purchase the booklet entitled Teen Driver: A Family Guide to Teen Driver Safety by clicking on the cover.