Be sure to look for cycles

The Nathan Bower Act, signed by Gov. Rick Snyder last October, was named after a 19-year-old motorcyclist killed when a car hit him in 2009.

The act requires that driver education include information about laws pertaining to bicyclists and motorcycles, and how to safely share the road with them.

Tammy Bower, Nathan’s mom, said a driver who was in a hurry didn’t look twice before pulling out in front of Nathan’s motorcycle. His death prompted Tammy, from Michigan’s Thumb, to advocate for "Nathan's Law."

At an August motorcycle safety event at the Michigan Capitol, she sported a T-shirt saying “A 2nd look may have saved Nathan’s life.”

The Department of State has compiled a list of educational resources for bicycle and motorcycle safety.

Cyclists can be hard to see. If you’re stopped at an intersection, look left, center, right and then left again, and repeat as needed to ensure the road is clear. That second look can prevent tragedies.

High schools to compete in traffic safety contest

Wanted: 50 Michigan high schools to participate in Strive for a Safer Drive (S4SD), aimed at reducing traffic crashes involving teen drivers.   Schools receive up to $1,000 to develop a peer-to-peer traffic safety awareness campaign. The top five will receive cash prizes. More information: S4SD website; (517) 241-2533 or strive4asaferdrive@gmail.com. Proposals are due by Nov. 20. S4SD is sponsored by Ford Driving Skills for Life and the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning.

Part of state-approved driver education programs is learning about the state's traffic laws. It can be daunting. The Governors Highway Safety Association has compiled each state's laws into a handy guide. You can find Michigan's list of key traffic laws here. It covers everything from child passenger safety, to drunk/drugged and aggressive driving, to seatbelts. - Ruth Johnson, Secretary of State

Study: Driver ed students have better safety records

Teens who take driver education are less likely to be involved in crashes or get traffic tickets during their first two years of driving, according to a University of Nebraska study that followed 150,000 teen drivers from 2003 to 2010.

"Because teen crashes and fatality rates are highest at ages 16-18, these reductions are especially meaningful,” researchers said. “Driver education appears to make a difference in teen traffic outcomes at a time when risk is highest."

Young drivers who don’t take driver's education are 75 percent more likely to get a traffic ticket, 24 percent more likely to be involved in a fatal or injury accident and 16 percent more likely to have an accident, the study showed. 

About 53 percent of teens in the study took a state-approved driver's education course to qualify for a provisional operators permit. The rest qualified by logging 50 hours of practice driving under the supervision of a parent or other adult, allowed by Nebraska law.