RALEIGH, N.C. — Summertime is a critical period for teen drivers on the road. Historically, in the 100 days between Memorial Day to Labor Day the number of teen-crash fatalities increases.

In North Carolina, 2020’s season of 100 deadliest days saw 12,562 teen crashes with 3,163 teen injures and 30 teen deaths. 


What You Need To Know

  • Memorial Day through Labor Day are considered the ‘100 deadliest days’ on the road for teen drivers, according to AAA

  • In 2020, during this period, 30 teens died in motor vehicle crashes in North Carolina

  • The Governor Highway Safety Program’s crash data from 2015-2020 reports the top five factors in teen involved crashes are speeding, lane departure and distracted driving

Data from the governor’s highway safety program’s crash data from 2015 – 2020 shows the top factors in these fatal crashes are speeding, lane departure and distracted driving.

That is where Dan Wagner comes into play. Wagner is the founder and president of Teen Driving Solutions in Raleigh. His program aims to teach teen drivers and their parent’s skills, including sound judgement, good decision making and physical control of any vehicle in real-life and traffic conditions.

“If you have the right mindset and the right skillset, you can come home alive every time. If you go out with the wrong mindset and the right skillset, you’re probably going to end up in trouble. If you go out without either one of those, you’re just a victim looking for a place to happen,” Wagner said.

The two-day driving course takes place at the Virginia Speedway. Wagner says he chose to run his program on a racetrack in order to control the variables of the environment.

Reilley McMaster recently took the course in May. He’s had his license for several years, but this program solidified his comfortability on the road.

“It gave me appreciation for the difference from driving when you know the variables on a course or driving when you don’t know the variables like down the road with a bunch of people you don’t know,” McMaster said.

For McMaster, the most concerning thing on the road is other people.

“You can control how you drive; you can’t control how everyone else drives, thinking ahead to get out of a situation, just because they [another driver] do something, doesn’t mean you have to be a part of an accident,” McMaster said.

Wagner’s desire to make sure teens make it home started when he was 14 years old when a close family friend died in an accident at 18 years old.

“A simple mistake, she dropped a tire off the pavement, over corrected and was t-boned by a semi, tragic, tragic accident, that started me on the path of learning to drive safely,” Wagner said.

In addition, he has had nieces and nephews involved in car crashes within the first month to two months of getting their licenses.

“I thought, how can this be happening in my family. What are these teens not being taught that they need to learn? That’s what lead into the program,” Wagner said.

Teen Driving Solutions was born in 2010. Since then, Wagner has helped countless teens across North Carolina make it home safely. He says 98% of students who have graduated from his program remain incident free, with less than 2% ending up in wrecks and one with a minor injury.

“When I found out what they weren’t being taught, I thought someone has to make a difference here,” Wagner said.

Teen Driving Solutions is open to anyone 15 years and up in North Carolina that has a learner’s permit or driver license. They must have a minimum of 20 hours behind-the-wheel experience.

To learn more about Teen Driving Solutions, click here.