Teen Driving

May 1, 2018  by

Keeping Teens Safe on the Road with The ART of Driving: Our May Community Outreach Partner

Ashley Renee Thompson lost her life in a singular vehicular accident on June 10, 2003 — she was just sixteen years old. She was an advanced placement student, a competitive gymnast, and loved by her friends and peers. Her mother created The ART of Driving in memory of her daughter to increase awareness among teens and parents of the unique risks faced by young, novice drivers and to impress upon them the need for improved training, increased supervised time behind-the-wheel, and increased parental involvement. The ART of Driving is also advocating for improvements in driver education for our youth and seeks to change the mindset of teens and their parents that tragedies like this “won’t happen to me”.

We are proud to once again partner with The Art of Driving as our May Community Outreach Partner. This is our sixth year supporting The Art of Driving through our Community Outreach Partner program. We will be donating $1 from every haircut this May to this wonderful, local non-profit whose mission is to keep our children safe.

We would love for you to learn more about teen driving, particularly during the most dangerous driving season for teens: prom and graduation season. What can you do as a parent, grandparent, Godparent, Uncle, Aunt, friend to help save a child’s life? The Art of Driving has various resources to help. They can assist with starting a Teen Task Force at school or in a youth club or group. They will come speak at PTSA, Teen Night, Driver’s Education classes, SGA or any other interested group to help educate and enable our local youth to be more responsible and aware drivers. Other things you can do to help your children and to support The Art of Driving:

  1. Have your child(ren) sign The Art of Driving Pledge.
  2. Purchase a copy of How the Firefly Got Its Name, written by Ashley when she was just twelve. (If your kids are too old for this book consider a purchase to donate to your local school library).

How the Firefly Got Its Name

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June 3, 2016  by

The Art of Driving is urging you to know these shocking facts!

ArtOfDrivingLogoDid you know that inexperience and distractions are the leading causes of teen driving fatalities, particularly for 16 and 17 year olds?

Robin Thompson, Founder of The Art of Driving, is out to change these statistics by increasing your child’s driving IQ through the many great programs offered by this unique, local non-profit. Robin lost her sixteen year old daughter, Ashley, in 2003 in a singular vehicular accident. Through her devastation and grief, Robin wanted to do something to help other teens and parents.

Every year approximately 3,000 teens die on our nation’s highways and another 300,000 suffer severe injuries and lifelong disabilities. The National Safety Council sees the issue as a national health crisis, and Robin believes that every parent and teen should pay attention.

We’ve been proud supporters of The Art of Driving for many years. In addition to the helping raise the driving IQ of our local teens, The Art of Driving also has a scholarship foundation. We are blessed to once again sponsor The Art of Driving this June by donating $1 from every haircut in our Fairfax and Dulles Landing Locations. We encourage you, particularly in this high risk driving season of high school graduations, to read through the Art of Driving website to learn how to raise your teen’s driving IQ and encourage them to Take the Pledge to be smart teen drivers.

Additionally, you can purchase a children’s story through the Art of Driving titled, How the Firefly Got Its Name, written by Ashley when she was just twelve. Proceeds from the book support The Art of Driving. Ashley was a lover of the Latin language as well as Green and Roman mythology. Originally an assignment for her seventh grade Latin class, How the Firefly Got It’s Name was submitted to the Virginia Junior Classical League Latin Convention after the urging of her teacher where it won first place. It’s a beautiful story and we urge you to purchase a book for your children or as a gift to a local school library.

AshleyThomspon

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