In American culture, many consider obtaining a driver’s license a rite of passage. Unfortunately, it has also led to thousands of teen deaths each year. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), among the teen 16 through 19-year-old population, motor-vehicle accidents still remain the main cause of death.

Teens aged 15 through 19 years old were responsible for nearly 11 percent of all motor-vehicle injury costs, the CDC said — not including costs like:

• Insurance premiums
• Auto maintenance
• Potential traffic citations

And, these types of costs can pile up with time.

WalletHub performed an analysis of the teen-driving environment in all 50 states. They used 23 different key metrics to come up with their findings. Here are some of the findings:

Each item is per teen population

The Graduated Driver License program, implemented by Texas in 2002 for example, provides new drivers the opportunity to enhance their driving skills in lower-risk environments over time.

New drivers are not allowed to drive a motor vehicle:

• If they have more than one non-family member passenger under 21 years old in their vehicle.
• Between the hours of midnight and 5 am unless they’re participating or attending a school-related activity, are required to drive the vehicle for their work or its due to a medical emergency.

Those under the age of 18 are not allowed to use a wireless communication device until they are at least 18 years old. This includes a hands-free device. The only exception is if there’s an emergency.

Office Sgt. Dub Gillum of the Texas Department of Public Safety Public Information said teen drivers are involved in motor vehicle crashes due to several factors including a lack of driving experience and distracted driving.

To tackles some of these issues that teen drivers face, he says teens should practice their driving with their parents so they gain experience. Not only this, but parents can then correct their teen’s driving errors before they turn into poor driving behaviors. Both parents and teen need to learn driving laws and concentrate on driving skills no matter what city, county and state they live in.

Driving can be daunting for the new, inexperienced teen driver, but with the right tips and advice, it doesn’t have to be.

What Parents Can Do to Help Their Teen Drivers

Some things you can do as a parent are:

• Get to know the GDL law and be aware of the restrictions placed on your teenager’s license
• Ensure your teen uses a seat belt all the time
• Discuss the dangers of alcohol and drug use while driving and that it’s illegal and deadly
• Don’t rely on a driver’s education course only to teach your teenager how to drive — these classes are only one part of the GDL system
• Ensure you’re a good role model. Drive safely yourself and practice good driving behaviors
• Implement GPS tracking for teens to monitor your teen’s driving behavior like hard braking, driving speed and aggressive driving. You’ll also want to use the GPS teen tracking system to set boundaries, so you’ll know if your teen goes out of them

While teenagers are responsible for their own driving behaviors, as a parent, you’re going to shoulder much of the financial and emotional consequences when things go wrong.  Setting up some ground rules before your teen gets behind the wheel can help.

Sources:

https://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/teen_drivers/teendrivers_factsheet.html
http://www.cleburnetimesreview.com/news/wallethub-texas-no-best-state-for-teen-drivers/article_fbb2ee10-7016-11e8-a20c-afb675f48e3b.html
https://wallethub.com/edu/best-worst-states-for-teen-drivers/4598/

Hard braking is a problem far too many fleet managers struggle to handle among their drivers. It’s not something you can always point your finger at if you don’t have the tools to de. But, it is something you must deal with whenever you have an opportunity to do so.

Why is Hard Braking a Problem for Fleet Managers?

Hard braking causes more problems than may be immediately obvious. When you compound these problems by an entire fleet of drivers, the costs of hard braking can add up quickly. These are some reasons to consider action to end hard braking in your fleet.

• Tears the brakes, requiring more frequent repairs and more downtime for vehicles.
• Wears out brake pads faster.
• Warps brake discs.
• Damages rotors by overheating them.
• Wears the tires faster.
• Wastes fuel, costing fleets up to three miles per gallon of fuel in efficiency.
• Increases accident risks.
• Symptom of aggressive driving issues that must be addressed.

It doesn’t take long for the costs of hard braking to add up for a fleet of vehicles on the road. It’s a problem your organization must address quickly and effectively.

What Causes Hard Braking?

For the most part, hard braking is an overall symptom of poor training and/or bad driving. That doesn’t mean that every occurrence of hard braking is an indication of these things.

In some cases, hard braking is the result of a driver’s attempt to avoid an accident or of a driver being involved in an accident. However, if a driver has a consistent record of hard braking, it’s a sign that the driver requires additional training and/or discipline to deter this type of action in your fleet vehicles.

How to Solve the Problem of Hard Braking in Your Fleet?

Obviously, if you have some drivers who consistently need new brakes or tires, more frequently than other drivers in your fleet, it could be a sign of a hard braking habit. Proving the habit, however, requires a little more evidence.

GPS fleet tracking is one of the best tools you have available to track hard braking among your drivers. You can even set up alerts that will send email and text notifications directly to fleet managers when hard braking occurs. This allows you to address the issue instantly.

GPS fleet tracking also allows you to track hard braking instances over time, so you can gauge if your current attempts to raise awareness, educate, and discipline offending drivers are effective.

Breaking a hard braking habit among your fleet drivers needs to be a priority for your entire organization. GPS tracking can help.

Tack trunks are part works of art and part workhorses in their own variety. They hold the gear, tack, and tools of the trade it takes to get your horses ready for whatever the day has in store. Some of them are substantial investments, costing hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars. Protecting that investment is a wise financial decision for any horse enthusiast, lover, or owner to make.

Unfortunately, tack trunks are major targets for thieves for a variety of reasons, including the following:

• They’re convenient. They are often left unlocked, unattended, and ripe for the plucking by thieves looking for easy scores.
• They’re valuable. Not only are many of the trunks valuable, but the equipment and gear they hold inside can set owners back a pretty penny.
• They’re notoriously difficult to recover. Even if you find your tack trunk, the odds are good you can’t prove it’s yours. Unless you’ve made very specific markings on the trunk or registered it, or the items in the trunk, you may never be able to prove it was stolen.

The good news is there is something you can do that will turn the tides a little better in your favor to avoid tack trunk theft.  First, consider adopting these tips for making your tack trunk a less attractive target for thieves:

• Lock your tack room. If you have a tack room, be sure it’s secure.
• Lock your tack trunk. Whether it’s in your tack room or you’ve taken it on the road, this is yet another deterrent for thieves. Especially if you secure the lock around an immovable object and purchase a high-quality lock.
• Lock trailers where tack trunks and other gear are stored. Do this in a manner that someone can’t simply back up and attach the trailer to their hitches driving off with your trailer and your tack trunk.
• Register and/or mark your gear. This is about making your tack, tack trunks, and other gear easily identifiable as belonging to you. It’s been an effective tool in the cattle business for quite a while and continues to carry weight today.
• Finally, invest in GPS tracking for your tack trunk. It might not prevent the theft of your trunk or equipment. But a GPS tracking device can certainly aid in its recovery. In fact, it offers real-time tracking benefits that might be critical in the recovery of your gear.

No plan is foolproof for preventing the theft of your tack and gear. These steps, however, will help you protect your investment and make your possessions a little less attractive to would-be tack trunk thieves of opportunity.