Child safety

There are many social problems that I don't have an answer for. But, when solutions are obvious and cry out for implementation, I find it maddening. Take for example, the following numbers: "The overall annual death rate for boys is 19 per 100,000 (youths). For girls, it is just 10 per 100,000. Sex and age combine to produce a death rate of 45 per 100,000 among boys 15 to 19."
I don't have an answer for behaviors rooted in custom and culture. But, experience suggest some policies that would reduce the deaths. Kansas, Mississippi, Montana, and Wyoming have the highest motor vehicle death rates for people younger than 19. Kansas allows 16-year-olds to drive without nighttime or passenger restrictions. A child can get a license with nighttime restrictions at 14 1/2 in South Dakota and at 15 1/2 in MIssissippi."
Daa! How tough is that to figure out?
Until these states learn something from experience, I am not going to drive there.

I think our drug policy is of the same kind. The present policies of penalties for sellers here and producers in foreign countries do not work. What are your examples?

Data for the above from The Washington Post, December 23, 2008, p.F5.