Florida Attorney General - Volume 7, Issue 41

Publication of the Office of the Attorney General • Volume 7, Issue 41 • October 16, 2009

National Teen Driver Safety Week

October 18-24 is National Teen Driver Safety Week. First observed in 2007, National Teen Driver Safety Week aims to bring teens, parents, educators, legislators and other community leaders together to raise awareness of safe driving practices and help prevent teen crashes, injuries and fatalities. According to Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicle statistics, hundreds of teenagers are killed and thousands more are injured in car and motorcycle crashes in Florida every year. Nationally, motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for 15 to 20 year olds.

Speeding and distracted driving are major contributors to car crashes among young drivers. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, drivers under 20 years of age represent the largest proportion of distracted drivers on the road and 16 percent of fatal crashes in this age group are attributed to driving while distracted.

I encourage parents of young drivers to take time to talk to your teenagers about the importance of being a safe driver. It is vital that all Floridians—regardless of age—understand the importance of being alert and focused when operating their vehicle. Lives depend on it.

Attorney General McCollum announced his CyberSafety Education program has reached over 1,000 Florida schools, a significant benchmark for the program that was launched in 2007. Freedom High School in Orange County was the 1,000th school in Florida to receive the CyberSafety presentation, and the school's principal emphasized the importance of having teachers and students learn about safe internet use.

Attorney General McCollum has provided comments to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) concerning whether the FTC should amend its rule on "negative option" plans. The Attorney General’s Office has aggressively pursued numerous cases involving unfair or deceptive negative option plans, and Attorney General McCollum’s comments advocate for better consumer protection measures to expand the existing FTC rule.

McCollum to FTC: Provide Consumers with Better Protection from "Negative Option" Plans

McCollum's Sunshine Technology Team Engages in Fact-Finding Mission

Attorney General’s Statement on Call for Statewide Grand Jury

Attorney General Reaches 1,000 Schools with CyberSafety Message

Attorney General McCollum’s Sunshine Technology Team held its first meeting to gather information about new technology and its applicability to state agencies. Attending the meeting were open government advocates and state agency chief information officers.

Attorney General McCollum issued the following statement on the Governor’s call to convene a statewide grand jury on public corruption:
“I support the Governor’s call for a public corruption statewide grand jury, led by my statewide prosecutor. Too many cases of corruption have occurred in Florida, and our goal will be to hold government accountable.”