The California Highway Patrol Los Banos office will hold a driver safety course for teens next week.</p><p>A Start Smart presentation is planned Sept. 18 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the CHP office, 706 W. Pacheco Blvd.</p><p>The presentation is aimed at new and soon-to-be drivers ages 15 to 19. Parents are also encouraged to attend.</p><p>Officer Matt Pinheiro, a CHP spokesman, said the class is an effective way to mold safe drivers. He said the presentation will be full of little known facts and information.</p><p>&#x93;(For example), most people don&#x92;t know from when you&#x92;re born to when you turn 80, the highest rate of death is the first year you start driving,&#x94; Pinheiro said.</p><p>The crash rate per mile driven is three times as high for 16-year-olds as it is for 18- to 19-year-olds, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety website. And, the crash rate per mile driven for 16- to 19-year-olds is about three times the risk for drivers 20 and older. </p><p>The Start Smart class includes a video with media footage, still photography and testimonies, according to the press release.</p><p>The driver death rate per population in 2010 was 7.2 deaths per 100,000 16- to 19-year-olds, compared with 6.5 deaths per 100,000 people ages 20 and older, according to the IIHS website.</p><p>Fifty-nine percent of teenage passenger deaths in 2010 occurred in vehicles driven by another teenager, the website states.</p><p>Funding for the Start Smart program is provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.</p><p>Space is limited. To reserve a seat, call Pinheiro at (209) 826-3811.</p><p>&#x97; Thaddeus Miller