Publications & Sites 
Salt Creek Quilters Guild prepares for show
Sara Clarkson
Updated: March 29, 2012 3:39PM
Here is a truly terrifying pair of words: “teen driver.” Our household hosts two of these expensive and defiant creatures, and judging by the more than 75 other parents who crowded into the Hinsdale Central High School Community Room last week for the Parent Teacher Organization’s teen driver talk, many, many other parents out there have concerns and interest too.
Teen drivers are indeed a tremendous source of anxiety. Consider two breath-stopping statistics: Traffic crashes are the leading cause of death among young people ages 15 to 20. Every 15 minutes a teenager dies in an alcohol-related crash in the United States. This information comes from the Graduated Driver Licensing Program Parent-Teen Driving Guide, which is available through the Illinois Department of Transportation’s Division of Traffic Safety.
Parents of teens know that while the young men and women may nod their heads and appear to understand these facts, their youth really makes them unable to apprehend the gravity of them. The graduated driving guide spells out in no uncertain terms the rules for teen drivers.
Pat Richards, who teachers drivers ed at Central, said Illinois’ graduated driver licensing laws have cut teen fatalities in half and have required teens to have 50 hours of behind-the wheel experience as well as a learner’s permit for nine months prior to being licensed.
Craig Concklin of Concklin Insurance, who is also the parent of a Hinsdale Central student and a Central graduate, safety is the key, not insurance rates. He also advised continuing to drive with teens even during their first year after getting their license.
As soon as your teen gets his or her license — not their drivers permit but their license — they must be put on your insurance policy. Your insurance rates will change dramatically, especially if you are insuring boys and especially if you have an equal number of cars to drivers. Good student credits can save you as much as 20 to 30 percent, Concklin said. If your student goes away to college without a car and the university is more than 100 miles from you, your rates will go down again.
Hinsdale police officer Mark Keller and Sgt. Stephen Cogger talked about the law and teen drivers. Teen drivers who are under age 18 are considered to be in the initial phase of licensing.
As of Jan. 1, this year, every passenger in a car, front seat and back, must be seat belted, and contrary to teen and other public opinion, police officers can pull over a car if they believe passengers are not wearing seat belts. For the first 12 months that a teen driver has his or her license, only one other passenger below age 20 is allowed in the car with them; siblings are the only exception. For those under 18, any violation involving alcohol, and this violation does not have to involve a car or driving, will result in loss of drivers license for three months. No one under 19 is allowed to use a cell phone in a car, except to call 911. This includes hands-free devices.
Teen drivers are given this pamphlet when they take the mandatory drivers ed classes. Do check with the Hinsdale and Clarendon Hills police stations, though, as they may also have them on hand.
Egg hunts,
breakfasts
This topic should induce a smile and not a dreaded adrenaline rush. Kid Easter activities are nigh. Saturday is the annual Clarendon Hills Women’s Club Breakfast with The Easter Bunny, which, of course precedes the annual Clarendon Hills Park District Easter Egg Hunt at Prospect Park. This is the 29th year that the Clarendon Hills Women’s Club will serve dozens upon dozens of doughnuts, gallons of coffee and juice, arrange for entertainers and face painters and of course the main attraction, the Easter Bunny. The breakfast runs from 8:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. and the cost is $5 a person.
The Easter Egg Hunt follows with children ages 4 and under having their hunt at 11 a.m. and those between ages 5 and 9 having theirs starting at 11:30 a.m. The Easter Egg Hunt is free. Call (630) 323-2626.
The following Saturday, April 7 the Hinsdale hosts its Easter Egg Hunt and Breakfasts at the KLM park. The breakfast runs from 9 to 10:15 a.m. and pre-registration ($12 each for residents) is required. The egg hunt starts at 10:30 a.m. and is free and open to the public. The middle school age crowd is invited to an Easter Egg Hunt from 7:30 to 9 p.m. April 5. The cost is only $7 per child, but pre-registration is encouraged. Contact (630) 789-7090.
