As the school year winds down, young people are looking forward to the summer. But as teens prepare for proms, graduations, vacations, and road trips, it's important to keep safety in mind. The North Babylon Fire Company wants to take this time to provide some driving-safety tips for you to share with your sons and daughters who may be attending prom and/or graduation in the coming weeks.

Statistics show that Prom-Graduation season - the months of April, May and June - is the most dangerous time for teens. One-third of the alcohol-related traffic fatalities involving teens each year occur during those months.

* Make sure your teen has a safe ride home from the party whether it is another student (a designated driver) or a trusted adult. If your son or daughter needs a ride home really late at night, make yourself available for him or her.

* Some schools have started to put on alcohol-free events held immediately after prom using money raised from donations, grants and contributions from local businesses. Activities are left up to the senior class' student government. It's really just a good way for kids to dodge the crazy-party scene.

* Don't get your sons and daughters a hotel room. It's really a way of enabling them to drink and make potentially disastrous decisions.

* Don't buy alcohol for your kids. It sounds like an obvious tip but it is something parents often overlook as being OK as long as they are present. 46 percent of teens nationwide say that by age 17, they've been to a party with alcohol and/or drugs where parents were present.

* Give a reasonable curfew to your teen if they plan to go to an after-party.

* Speak candidly and openly with your son or daughter about the risks associated with alcohol consumption (ie. binge drinking, the consequences of being caught drinking under-age, drunk-driving risks).

* Know your son or daughters' friends in case you need to reach him or her and are unable to.