How to Jump-Start a Car Battery

It is always a good idea for your teen to know some basic vehicle maintenance. Making sure they know how to do basic vehicle maintenance SAFELY is also VERY important. Here are some tips on how to safely jump-start a car battery.

Enjoy! - Bill Gough

Remember to:

• ALWAYS wear eye protection or eyeglasses when you jump-start a vehicle
• ALWAYS make sure the cables will be clear of any moving engine parts when the cars are started
• NEVER smoke while jump-starting a vehicle
• ALWAYS start with the ignition in both vehicles turned OFF

Please remember that improper jump-starting can damage the car's electrical components. Consult your car owner’s manual. Jump-starting a car can be dangerous; do it only if you know how.

Find a friend or family member with another car. The cars must not be touching and both ignitions should be off. Each battery has two metal terminals on it. One is marked positive (+); the other is negative (-).

Step 1: Attach one end of one cable to the dead battery's positive terminal. Step 2: Attach the other end of the same cable to the positive terminal of the battery in the starting vehicle. Step 3: Attach one end of the other cable to the negative terminal of the battery in the starting vehicle. Step 4: Attach the other end of that cable to the engine block, or frame, of the car with the dead battery. Look for unpainted metal surfaces. Do not attach the negative cable to the dead battery itself, and do not attach it to the frame anywhere near the battery. Step 5: Start the car that's providing the jump-start. Wait a moment and then try to start the car with the dead battery. If it does not start, stop trying and wait a few moments longer. Try again for no more than thirty seconds. Step 6: After the dead car is running, remove the cable connections in the reverse order that you put them on. That means that the first disconnection is from the frame, and the last is from the positive terminal of the car that has just been started.

c 2008 Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, 175 Berkeley Street, Massachusetts 02116

Inexperience Can Lead to Tragedy

Recently, I had the privilege to hear an interview with a man who has a very riveting story to share. Although his story was one that we all hope to never experience, he has turned a tragic event into a mission to help others prevent the same happening to them. You see, Chris Fore, as an adolescent was just beginning to move into a new chapter in his life. He was the typical American high school student who had the world ahead of his an athlete with a promising future raised with good moral values and very active in his church. He had the world in front of him and it looked brighter than ever. Then one night everything changed… Chris was just 16 when he experienced an event so terrible, that it would forever change the course of his future. But worse, it would ultimately end the future of his good friend. One night after bible study, Chris and his friends decided to drive over to another friends house to finish the evening playing basketball. Chris’s friend, who was driving, had just gotten his drivers license earlier that day, and as they were driving through rural neighborhoods with many somewhat blind driveways, he caved in to peer pressure and pushed his vehicle beyond a safe speed. His inexperience as a driver led to an accident that ended his life and left a memory with those that survived the crash that would last as long as they lived. Chris survived the car crash to share the story to hopefully, make teens realize how dangerous driving really is. Chris spent the next several months in a wheel chair and his aspirations of becoming a star athlete diminished. Today, Chris is a high school football coach where every day he preaches his message of teen driver safety. He speaks on this subject every opportunity he gets and has turned this tragedy into a lifelong mission of preventing the same happening to those he influences. Again, I had the privilege to hear an interview with Chris and I would like to help him share his story with you in his own words. If YOU would like a FREE 30 minute CD of the interview with Chris Fore to hear the ENTIRE story (It could save a life)... email Kim Robinson at KRobinson@Allstate.com or call Kim at 256-765-2200.

P.S. Peer pressure, inexperience, and speeding are the leading causes of teenage deaths in our country. There are steps that you can take to possibly prevent or at least, reduce the likelihood of this happening to your family. It is the worst feeling to have the most precious thing in the world taken away from you (I know because I lost my son to a terrible accident last year) and I want to do my best to keep that from happening to you or your family.

For more information on teen driver safety visit www.TeenDriverInsurance.com/AllAmerican

Tears For My Friends

With today's blog I thought I would let someone else's words do the talking for me. There are no safety advice or tips in this message but the words are very powerful and they remind us that if we fail in our mission to keep our children safe, the consequences for us will go on for as long as we live.

Tears for My Friend By Debbye Butle

I have a friend named Jeannette. She had a daughter and a son, until October 1986. Her daughter tested the odds of the effects of alcohol on her motor skills and judgment versus her knowledge about the roads with which she was so familiar.

The alcohol won.

Cindy never saw her 21st birthday. Jeannette, however, has to live through every one of her daughter’s candles-and-cake days — wondering what her daughter would look like now and what she would be doing with her promising life.

I have another buddy. His name is Bill. He is a devoted family man, and until a dreaded October night in 1992, he had two sons and a daughter. Now he has one son, one daughter, and 17 years of memories of a child who will never grow older. Bill, too, had to live the worst parental nightmare possible — a tired teenager with a set of car keys, a can of beer, and an invincible attitude on a late weekend night.Both of my friends are incredibly loving people and responsible parents. They were looking forward to graduations, a son- or daughter-in-law, and grandchildren. But they have been cheated out of some of the best and most meaningful adventures in life, and nothing or no one can change that cruel, crushing reality.

Maybe you know someone who has lost a son or daughter because of this deadly combination. Maybe it’s a neighbor. Maybe it’s a friend. Maybe it’s someone in your own family. Maybe the children’s deaths were caused by another person who was driving while intoxicated.It’s hard for me to believe I would ever have personally known one family — much less two — that would have to live through this gnawing, once-it-happens-it-never-goes-away pain. And it’s even more difficult to know what to say to them. Hugs help. But they’ll never replace the hugs from the children who are gone because of alcohol.

When Bill was saying goodbye to his son during the funeral, he did the most loving, courageous thing that any parent could do in a situation like this. With a lump in his throat that must have felt like the size of a softball, he looked out at the stunned young faces of his son’s high school friends. He said he never wanted to have to come to a funeral for this reason again. He said, “Don’t drink and drive.”

Bill told me later he hoped he didn’t sound like he was preaching. Well … I hope he did. I hope everyone listened. And I hope everyone remembers.

© Debbye Butler. Used with author’s permission. May not be reproduced in any fashion without author’s express permission. Debbye Butler is a freelance writer based in Indianapolis, Ind.

Learn the Brutal Truths

HOW MANY TEENS DIE IN CAR WRECKS?

• In the U.S. 6,000 teens die every year in car crashes. That’s an average of 16 a day. Don’t let your friends be one of the 16.
• Car crashes are the #1 killer of teens in the U.S., even more than alcohol, drugs, violence and suicide. Can you believe that?

WHY? WHAT CAUSES THIS?

• Speeding and dumb little errors are responsible for most of the fatal teen car wrecks. Can you say “preventable”?
• Nearly 40% of all fatal teen crashes are caused by speeding.
• News flash: Life is a better rush than death.
• 87% of teens admit to speeding. Be a rebel and drive the speed limit.
• Almost 25% of teen guys say they speed because it’s “fun”. Their injured friends, however, disagree.
• In 2004, over 2,500 teens were in fatal crashes because of failing to yield or veering out of their lanes. Could there be any dumber reasons to die?

ARE THERE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN GUY & GIRL DRIVERS?

• Twice as many teen guys die in car wrecks than teen girls. Just bad luck or is there something else going on here?

WHAT KIND OF IMPACT DO FRIENDS HAVE?

• Adding just one guy passenger to your car doubles the risk of a crash. Weird, but true.
• The more friends you add to your car, the greater the risk of a wreck. Drive like your friendships depend on it.
• 44% of teens say they drive safer without friends in the car. Next time you drive with friends, invite your conscience to ride up front.
• 50% of teens say they wouldn’t speak up if a friend was driving recklessly. They just need to grow a backbone.
• A lot of teens drive recklessly to impress their date. Smart drivers have nothing to prove.

ANYTHING ELSE I SHOULD KNOW?

• 56% of teens talk on their cell phones while driving, and 13% read or write text messages. Are these distractions worth an ambulance ride to the ER?
• Some teens think they’ll get pulled over if they don’t drive as fast as everyone else on the freeway. This just in: They won’t!
• Two-thirds of teens who die in car wrecks are not buckled up. Sad when people can’t even do the basics.
• If you drive between 9 p.m. and midnight, you’re twice as likely to get in a crash. So focus, man, focus!
• Some of the deadliest days for teen crashes are July 4th, New Year’s Eve, and the 100 days between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Decide not to become a statistic.

WHAT ARE THE 15 CONSEQUENCES OF CARELESS OR RECKLESS DRIVING?

1. A really expensive ticket
2. Higher insurance rates
3. Losing your driving privileges
4. Losing your license
5. Seriously hurting a friend
6. Seriously hurting yourself
7. Being sued and going to court
8. Damaging property and having to pay for it yourself
9. Killing somebody you care about
10. Killing a stranger
11. Being arrested and charged as a felon
12. Serving time in jail
13. Not being able to get into college because of a felony record
14. Not being able to get a job because of a felony record
15. Loss of one’s dreams, one’s future, and one’s reputation with friends

NOW SHARE THE BRUTAL TRUTHS. SPEAK OUT. CHANGE MINDS. SAVE LIVES. (This information was provided by http://www.keepthedrive.com)

Studies Show Only 42% Of Teen Passengers Report Wearing Seat Belts

Parents here is an article just incase you needed another reason to remind the kids to use their seat belts.

A new study on teen driving habits and safety found that 59 percent of teens always buckled up in the driver seat but only 42 percent always wore seat belts as passengers. However, only 38 percent of all teens in the study reported always buckling up as both drivers and passengers. Researchers from the Meharry-State Farm Alliance at Meharry Medical College say the lack of seat belt use by teen passengers is a big problem. "Because seat belts can reduce the risk of injury and death in crashes by more than 50 percent, there is a critical need for interventions to increase seat belt use by teens as both drivers and passengers," said Nathaniel Briggs, MD, MSc, lead researcher on the study, published in the September 2008 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for U.S. teens, accounting for nearly 5,000 fatalities each year. About 40 percent of all teen motor vehicle occupant deaths involve passengers. Additionally, the researchers pointed out a need for targeted interventions that address those teen subpopulations least likely to wear seat belts regardless of whether they are drivers or passengers, including young men, African Americans, students experiencing academic difficulties, and those with a history of either drinking and driving or riding with a drinking driver.

To address the issue, Briggs and his colleagues recommend a combination of approaches.

Upgrade state seat belt laws to uniformly require that teen motor vehicle occupants in the rear seat be secured in seat belts. Currently, the majority of state laws are limited to front seat coverage for some or all teens in the 16-19 age group.

Upgrade state seat belt laws from "secondary" (law enforcement officers can ticket motorists for seat belt law violations only after stopping them for another offense) to "primary" (law enforcement officers can stop and ticket motorists solely for seat belt law violations).

Enhance enforcement efforts directed toward teen motorists.

Develop comprehensive, community-based interventions including education, peer-to-peer persuasion, and parental monitoring.

The Meharry-State Farm Alliance study population comprised over 12,000 African American, White, and Hispanic public and private high school students ages 16 or older who participated in the 2001 and 2003 National Youth Risk Behavior Surveys. The surveys are conducted every two years by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to track the leading causes of death and disability among U.S. teens.

Source: Meharry-State Farm Alliance

Lead By Example

We've all seen those drivers swerving like there were bumper pads along the side of the road. When we finally get the nerve to pass them, one of the most commons sights today is a young driver frantically texting someone on their cell phone.

I'll mutter under my breath (or sometimes quite above my breath), "What in the world are they doing. Do they have a death wish?" Then it happened...

The other day I was headed home after picking my girls up from school. As I'm driving my phone buzzes. It's my wife emailing to say we're going out for pizza, meet her at the restaurant. I just click reply and... it hit me. My daughters were in the car and I was about to do what I tell parents to discourage their teen drivers from doing - send a text message while driving. This led to this post today.

It is easy to tell your teen driver what to do and what not to do. But am I, as a parent, teaching by example or just being a blow hard. People, and ESPECIALLY teenagers, are very aware when someone is talking one way and behaving another. If you have a teen driver and want them to be safe, responsible, and considerate then don't tell them - show them. I know I will need to work on that, but its worth it.

For great safety and money saving tips, visit www.TeenDriverInsurance.com/AllAmerican.

Teaching Your Teen Vehicle Orientation and Maintenance

Before starting to drive perform a quick safety check of the vehicle. Now is a good time to have a brief discussion about vehicle maintenance. Explain basic maintenance items such as when oil changes are due and proper tire inflation. Verify that all lights and turn signals are functioning properly and free of obstruction.

Safety Tip: For emergency purposes, teach your teen to keep at least ¼ tank of gas in the car at all times. You do not want them running out of gas in an unsafe area. Additionally, you will avoid the frustration of having to unexpectedly stop for gas when your teen has been driving your car.

Safety Tip: Hazard lights. Make sure your teen knows how to locate and turn on the hazard lights in each of your cars!

Familiarize your teen with the location and operation of the vehicle controls. It is important that your teen is comfortable in the driver’s seat. Today’s newer cars are capable of adjusting the seat, mirrors, steering wheel, brake pedal and accelerator. Review proper operation of the heater, air conditioning, cruise control and wiper blades. Safety Tip: Hazard lights. Make sure your teen knows how to locate and turn on the hazard lights in each of your cars!

Explain the dashboard gauges and their purpose. Taking the time to explain the gauges will help maintain the vehicle in proper working condition. Furthermore, it may save you a large repair bill. After all, the time for your teen to understand the temperature gauge is not after the car has overheated! A good habit to form is maintaining a mileage log. The log should detail the date, miles on the vehicle, the number of gallons of gas added and the miles per gallon obtained on the prior tank of gas. When the gas mileage decreases it is an early warning signal that the engine needs maintenance.

I strongly recommend that you have your teen change a tire before he/she obtains their license. With the prevalence of cell phones, many parents assume their teen can call them or AAA for assistance. Depending on the location and time of day, it may take 2-3 hours before assistance can arrive.Safety Tip: Tire jacks can KILL! Practice with them the proper use and ‘placement of the jack”. People die from this every year. Don’t forget to show them how to chock the tires.

Safety Tip: It is very dangerous to change a tire on the highway. Call the state police to assure drivers move over and the safety of your teen.

Safety Tip: Maintain an Emergency kit in the trunk complete with: flares, a flashlight and batteries. Practice lighting flares.

Insurance Tip: Roadside Service is part of the Teensurance Program from Safeco. Help will be dispatched to help change tires or even deliver gas!

Hope this helps your family and brings everyone home safely! Please call our office anytime with any questions 256-765-2200