I Promise Program

April 21, 2010

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i promise program logoCar crashes are the leading cause of permanent injury and death in youth. The I Promise Program is designed to assist parent reduce the risk of their son or daughter's involvement in a crash.

Has your teenager made the safe driving promise yet? The heart of the I Promise Program is the Parent-Youth Safe Driving Contract – developed with the input of teens, parents, police, traffic safety experts and researchers.

Each day teenagers die in car crashes. However, many parents feel they "trust" their teen and so, do not need to complete a safe driving contract. The issue isn't trust though, the issue is safety.

Please consider the Parent-Youth Safe Driving Contract, which you can download free. In February 2000, Gary Direnfeld, the parent of a soon to be 16 year-old was commuting from Hamilton to Toronto at 5:30 a.m. While following a transport truck he was overtaken by a young driver weaving speedily through traffic. Noticing the 1-800 number on the back of the truck for reporting poor driving, he thought that he would very much like to be able to notify the parents of the speeding young driver. Reminded that his own son would soon be a driver he concerned himself with his safety and injury prevention. It should be noted that Gary Direnfeld is a social worker by profession with years of experience developing and directing brain injury rehabilitation services for young persons who acquired their brain injuries in car crashes. On the commute home he spoke with Kiwanian Andy Gaudet and discussed a concept for teen road safety. Mr. Gaudet coined the name "I Promise Program" and thus the program was conceived. The Kiwanis Club of Hamilton East has since served as an ongoing support, financially, spiritually and morally to facilitate the program's growth.

According to Direnfeld, “I developed it when our own son came of driving age. It was strictly a labor of love. Our son is now safely through his teens. I keep the program running in the hope of helping other families.”

For more information visit www.IPromiseProgram.com.