To help parents and new teen drivers develop safe and responsible drivinghabits, Liberty Mutual and SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions) todaylaunched an interactive teen driving resource athttp://www.LibertyMutualTeenDriving.com/ with extensive materials such as adefensive driving course, sample driver's licensing exam questions from everystate, a parent/teen safe driving contract, and a crash safety kit.

"Getting your driver's license is a rite of passage," says Dave Melton,director of Transportation Technical Consulting Services at the Liberty MutualResearch Institute for Safety in Hopkinton, Mass. "It's an exciting time forteenagers, and we want to celebrate their achievement while also urgingparents to be involved in preparing for their teen's new responsibility,particularly during the summer months when there is more risk involved --especially at night and on weekends."

And the risk in summer is real: the National Highway Traffic SafetyAdministration reported teen fatalities from motor vehicle crashes in 2006spiked to 558 in July and 484 in August, as compared to 400 fatalities inJanuary and 402 in February.

Why the Website Is for Parents

From driving basics to defensive driving tactics,www.LibertyMutualTeenDriving.com offers parents clear direction and usefultips for talking to their teens about driving. A new parent/teen contract,developed by SADD, facilitates this discussion and enables parents and teensto customize their own consequences for risky driving behaviors and rewardsfor specific safe driving behaviors, such as wearing seat belts, observing thespeed limit, and reducing driving distractions from cell phones, textmessaging and other passengers.

"It's not enough for parents to say 'Drive safely' when they turn over thecar keys to their teen," says Penny Wells, president and executive director ofSADD. "Parents should not be reluctant to set clear expectations and enforceconsequences around driving behavior, because our past research shows thatteens drive more responsibly when their parents take these steps. The newparent/teen contract on the www.LibertyMutualTeenDriving.com website is aterrific resource for families to frame that discussion and agree upon theirrules."

Indeed, a 2006 SADD/Liberty Mutual study shows that teens whose parentsset expectations and follow through with clear consequences about breaking thelaw while driving are less likely to have driven under the influence ofalcohol (16 percent versus 29 percent), marijuana (14 percent versus18 percent) or other drugs (6 percent versus 11 percent) than are teens whoseparents do not follow through with consequences.

These are some of the other website elements for parents:

-- A state-by-state listing of teen driving laws;

-- Research and data about specific behaviors that put teens at riskbehind the wheel;

-- Car safety ratings from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety andthe Highway Loss Data Institute that include car theft, injury, and collisionreports and statistics; and,

-- An accident kit available for $9.95 that includes a disposable camera,flashlight, glowstick, and a helpful guide to collect accident details andinformation.

Why the Website Is for Teen Drivers

Liberty Mutual's new website exclusively offers the National SafetyCouncil's Defensive Driving Course, the world's most widely used safe drivingcourse designed to help teens prepare for their driver's test and improvetheir driving skills. The course is available for $19.95 -- a 50 percentsavings off the regular price -- when purchased atwww.LibertyMutualTeenDriving.com.

And, as teens get ready to take their driver's license exam this summer,they can take practice test questions from their own state, such as:

-- (Illinois) True or False: When a motorist is turning right and abicyclist is approaching on the right, let the bicyclist go through theintersection first before making a right turn. Answer: True.

-- (Massachusetts) When does the law require you to use your headlights?Answer: From one-half hour after sunset to one-half hour before sunrise.

-- (California) What is the speed limit if you are approaching a railroadcrossing with no warning devices and are unable to see 400 feet down thetracks in one direction? Answer: 15 miles per hour.

Other website elements for teen drivers include:

-- A series of StreetSmart videos from Liberty Mutual and the NationalSafety Council that take teens through driving scenarios and instruct them onhow to avoid a crash, and how to identify driving hazards on city roads,suburban roads and highways. In one video, teens hear from other teens abouttheir own driving behaviors and attitudes -- safe and unsafe.

-- Interactive, step-by-step instructions on how to parallel park, how tojumpstart your car, or how to perform simple car maintenance like checkingyour oil.

-- Helpful hints for everyday circumstances, such as what to do if youhave a foggy windshield (The answer: Turn the air conditioner switch on andswitch vents to "outside" air).

About the Survey

On behalf of Liberty Mutual, Ipsos Public Affairs conducted an onlineOmnibus survey from June 24-26, 2008, with 500 respondents ages 16-18 years.The survey results cited pertain only to those teens who know when theyobtained or plan to obtain their permit/license; and are weighted for gender,age and region and matched to targets from the most recent current populationsurvey provided by the U.S. Census. The margin of error is +/-4.4% with a95 percent confidence level.

Guideline, Inc. was commissioned to conduct the 2006 SADD/Liberty Mutualsurvey with high school students on a wide range of attitudes and behaviorsrelevant to teens. The reported results focus exclusively on the responses of903 teens with a driver's license from a national sample of 26 high schools inApril and May, 2006. The margin of error is +/- 3.3% with a 95 percentconfidence level.

About Liberty Mutual Group

"Helping people live safer, more secure lives" since 1912, Boston-basedLiberty Mutual Group is a diversified global insurer and sixth-largestproperty and casualty insurer in the U.S. based on 2007 direct writtenpremium. Liberty Mutual Group ranks 94th on the Fortune 500 list of largestU.S. corporations, based on 2007 revenue. The company has over 41,000employees located in more than 900 offices throughout the world.

The eighth-largest auto and home insurer in the U.S., Liberty Mutual(www.libertymutual.com) sells full lines of coverage for automobile,homeowners, valuable possessions, personal liability, and individual lifeinsurance. The company is an industry leader in affinity partnerships,offering car and home insurance to employees and members of more than 10,000companies, credit unions, professional associations and alumni groups.

About Students Against Destructive Decisions

For more than 27 years, SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions) hasbeen committed to empowering young people to lead education and preventioninitiatives in their schools and communities. Founded as Students AgainstDriving Drunk in 1981, SADD has become the nation's preeminent peer-to-peeryouth education, prevention, and activism organization, with nearly 10,000chapters in middle schools, high schools, and colleges nationwide. SADD nowhighlights prevention of many destructive behaviors that are harmful to youngpeople, including underage drinking, substance abuse, risky and impaireddriving, and teen violence and suicide. For more information about SADD,visit sadd.org.

SOURCE Liberty Mutual Group