KHTS Radio Santa Clarita Radio – Santa Clarita News
Sheriff's Teen Traffic Offender Program
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KHTS AM-1220
REPORT DANGEROUS TEEN DRIVERS
1-877-310-STOP
Tune into KHTS, AM-1220 every Tuesday afternoon at 4:40pm and every Wednesday morning at 9:40am when Santa Clarita Sheriff Deputy, Mike Lorenzi joins us for our Sttop Report, brought to you by Valencia Acura.
We’ll bring you an update on the latest reports of reckless teenage driving in Santa Clarita and the results of Deputy Lorenzi’s communication with those teenagers and their parents.
And remember, if you see a teenager driving recklessly in Santa Clarita, call STTOP at 1-877-310-STOP.
Background:
Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for young people 15 to 20 years of age, causing roughly one-third of all fatalities in this age group. Last year, over 6,000 young people ages 15-20 died in motor vehicle crashes. Even though this age group makes up only 7% of the driving population, they are involved in 14% of all traffic fatalities. Teens were also involved in more than two million non-fatal traffic crashes last year. Based on population projections, these numbers will go up unless we intervene.
On the basis of miles driven, teenagers are involved in three times as many fatal crashes as are all drivers. Why do young drivers have such poor driving performance? Three factors work together to make the teen years so deadly for young drivers:
- Inexperience
- Risk-taking behavior and immaturity
- Greater risk exposure
The STTOP Program:
The STTOP program is designed to intervene when a young driver displays poor judgment or dangerous driving behavior. The STTOP program encourages citizens to call in and report dangerous drivers.
STTOP will take the information about the driver, his vehicle, and the dangerous driving behavior and track down the offender. After locating the driver, intervention is conducted with the driver, his parents and school officials in order to correct the dangerous behavior. License suspensions, restrictions, removal of parking privileges and education are a few of the options available to STTOP. The program's intent is not to prosecute, but to correct and educate the offender and his parents.
The goal of the STTOP program is to make teens better, safer drivers, which in turn benefits all drivers on the roadways. If you see dangerous driving or reckless behavior by young drivers or their passengers report it to STTOP at 1-877-310-STOP. The call is toll free and the information may end up saving some young person's life.
Santa Clarita Debut:
The STTOP program has been successfully implemented by the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department in Calabasas, Lost Hills, and Malibu , and now Santa Clarita. The Santa Clarita Sheriff’s partnered with the City of Santa Clarita and the Citizen Traffic Safety Committee to implement a local version of this very successful program.
Acura’s Weekly STTOP Feature on KHTS
Valencia Acura is our exclusive sponsor for the STTOP Reports.
The goal of these reports is to get everyone thinking about driving more safely. We want this reinforced with our kids, by highlighting Deputy Lorenzi’s visits to each house. We’re hoping kids will be more horrified and embarrassed about a Deputy showing up at their home, than necessarily receiving a ticket. We also want to create an impression in the Santa Clarita Valley that anyone may report any incident with a simple call to 877-310-STOP on a cell phone. As the program evolves, it will have a strong impact and make a difference.
Another goal of the program is to alert parents to specific problems. It’s one thing to have the Sheriff’s visit a house. But, if there’s a second visit, parents will realize there’s a problem and hopefully take action by restricting driving. A third visit, and we’re hoping the keys will be taken away for a month or more.
In the short time the STTOP program has been implemented, hundreds of calls have been received by Deputy Lorenzi. The STTOP program is already saving lives in Santa Clarita.
Report Dangerous Teen Driving!
