by Lou Gervino

One dictionary defines a "youth" as "a young person between adolescence and maturity." That's got to make you feel good.

Another defines "teenager" as "a person between the ages 13 and 19" and expands the term with the following explanatory sentence: "Teenagers love to go to shopping malls on weekends." That's got to make you feel even better.

So, you don't quite rate on the mature-o-meter, but hey, you can be counted on to crawl the mall.

Not.

What these descriptions illustrate is that you and your friends aren't all that easy to define. And, it's driving marketing and advertising guys crazy. Think about it. These are people employed to guess what colour you're going to like next year, so they can slap it on their latest product and market it. They can't define you, but they certainly want to own you.

Meanwhile, there you are, trying to be an individual that's not too different from everyone else, which isn't an easy tightrope to walk. And, even if you do get a handle on the individuality thing, you're still wrestling with grades, peer pressure, the opposite sex and figuring out what you want to be when you "grow up."

No one said being a teenager was easy (except maybe your parents, if they've blocked their teen years from their memories). There's a lot of pressure, a lot of staring up at the ceiling in the middle of the night, trying to figure things out. No wonder finally nailing down a driver's license is such a bonus. Something in the midst of all this has got to make you feel good, right?

The drag is that something designed to give you such freedom can also take so much - even everything - away. The hard truth is that flunked tests and embarrassing first dates won't kill you (even though you'll probably wish they did), but driving most certainly can. It's something you probably don't take seriously, but you should.

Want the stats?

Young, more inexperienced drivers are more than twice as likely to be involved in a collision compared to older, more experienced drivers.

Motor vehicle collisions are the number one killer of Manitoba's youth.

16-19 year olds are more likely to be involved in collisions than any other age group.

16-19 year olds make up only 6.2% of all licensed drivers, yet accounted for 10% of all fatal accidents and 11% of all injuries in 1997.

Manitoba Public Insurance doesn't have a big marketing department trying to tell you what to wear. We've had, however, a big High School Drivers Education department since 1987, trying to make sure you see your 20th birthday. The program's been around for 34 years (the first 21 under the Division of Driver and Vehicle Licensing), and it's lasted because it's one of the best you can sign up for anywhere.

So, you're probably thinking you're busy, it's expensive and it's boring. Well, you might be busy, but if you're so busy you don't have time to learn a skill you'll use your entire life, you need to dump a few projects. Besides, it's not expensive and it's really fun. Honest.

12,000 high school students sign up for MPI's Driver Ed training each year. For only $50, they received 25 hours on in-class instruction, 8 hours of behind-the-wheel training by Certified Driving Instructors, 8 hours of in-car observation and all their classroom materials and booklets. The course is worth $200, but MPI picks up the tab for the other $150. It's entirely our program, we foot the bill, and we do it because we believe in it.

And, MPI has added a little extra to the program. We've partnered with the Winnipeg Police to offer Driver's Edge - Cops as Co-pilots. This is a very cool one-day advanced defensive driver program where selected students get to hang out with a police officer and practice their superior driving skills in a fully equipped police car.

And it's wicked. Comments coming back range from "I could do this every weekend" to "awesome" and "this program kicks butt."

Regardless of what MPI or anyone else sets up to keep you safe on the roads, the responsibility ultimately lies with you. Get educated. For more info on road safety and Driver Ed, check out http://www.mpi.mb.ca/english/road_safety/roadsafety.html

Lou Gervino supervises the Manitoba Public Insurance High School Driver Education program - Published with permission from the Winnipeg Free Press