Columnist Muriel Stevens: AAA gives well-traveled advice

Wednesday, June 15, 2005 | 8:15 a.m.

Summertime is a risky time for teen drivers, says an advisory from AAA Nevada. AAA is urging parents of young drivers to carefully monitor their teens' driving.

Young drivers consider themselves invincible (we've all been there). But read the statistics -- risks increase for teens because of their inexperience and overconfidence. "The fatality rate for teenage drivers is four times higher than the rate for drivers 25 to 65," AAA reports.

Teen riders are also at risk. The death rate is high for teen passengers in cars driven by other teenagers. It doesn't have to be this way.

"One way parents can protect their teen drivers is to use provisions in Nevada's graduated driver licensing laws as guidelines as they decide how their teen drivers may drive during the summer months," Michael Geeser, spokesman for AAA Nevada, said. "New provisions, expected to be signed soon by the governor, should make the laws even stronger."

To learn more about Nevada's graduated driver license requirements, visit www.dmvnv.com. Check out the link for teen drivers under "Driver Licensing."

Chubb launches new service in Nevada: Signature Passport Policy, by the Chubb Group insurance companies, is designed for affluent travelers who want to be prepared for any emergency situation, including trip delay and emergency medical transportation. Currently available in eight states, Signature Passport Policy is expected to be launched in many more states. It costs $365 per year.

If you have any travel safety concerns or want more information about this singular policy, visit www.chubb.com/personal.

New Swatch store at Forum Shops: Swatch has opened a retail outlet in the Forum Shops at Caesars. These low-priced hip watches made their mark with funky plastic-banded timepieces that quickly became sought-after collectibles.

Some of the earlier designs are worth lots of moolah now, if you can find one. There's more than a plastic band to today's Swatches. It takes time to view the walls of watches, yet I can never resist.

Does Dad collect timepieces? Buy him one of the display boxes that can accommodate from four to 12 watches. If he's a macho collector, one exhibit case may not be enough. I'm hooked on watches too, so I was happy to receive a handsome display case from a friend for my birthday.

I'd really like to have an automatic watch winder. I could keep all of my older watches ready to wear. Right now I have at least five ticktocks that need replacement batteries.

It was a puzzlement to learn that only one of the zones on my two-time-zone watch needed a battery. Presumably, the batteries for both zones were put in at the same time. It's just another one of life's small mysteries.

Cultural anthropologist attacks smelly fruit: Adventurous dads can tickle their palates with "Are You Really Going to Eat That: Reflections of a Culinary Thrill Seeker" by Robb Walsh (Anchor Books, $14). Travel with Walsh as he journeys to the jungles of Thailand to taste smelly stink fruit or to the Blue Mountains of Jamaica for the perfect cup of Joe.

Walsh has been described as "A cultural anthropologist with a serious face-stuffing issue." Maybe so, but his essays are manna for armchair travelers and adventurers who never met a stink fruit they didn't like.