Teen Driver Safety Tips
Driving Safety for Teens
Pick up a paper or tune in to the local news almost any day of the week and you’ll read or hear about an auto accident involving teens. As a parent of a new driver, these scare the death out of me.
Car accidents are the number one cause of deaths among 14 to 18 year olds. Tragically, half of all teen drivers involved in a car crash lose their lives.
Sadly, in my job, I’m only too familiar with those statistics and I know of several people who have suffered the loss of a son or daughter through auto accidents.
But a survey shows that only 25 percent of parents or relatives have had a serious talk with the teens in their families about the key elements of safe driving.
Next week, National Teen Driver Safety Week aims to highlight to young drivers in North America how they can be safer drivers, a good time to make your family members aware.
At the time of writing, I’m not sure what the main planks of this year’s campaign will be, but in 2014 it focused on 5 key elements of safer driving, which are still critical for teens today:
- NO cell phones while driving
- NO extra passengers
- NO speeding
- NO driving or riding without a seat belt
The fact is that no state or province has laws strong enough to fully protect teen drivers, so having household rules can play an important role in increasing their safety.
As the U.S. National Safety Council says: “There is no substitute for a parent’s guidance as teens learn to drive. Be the coach your teen needs.” You or they, or teens in other families you know, can even sign up for weekly lessons and tips at: https://driveithome.org/digital-driving-coach/
It’s equally critical to make sure young people are adequately insured against the risks they face on the roads. Even the safest driver faces danger every time they pull out of the driveway.
Valuable guidance on which are the safest cars for them to drive is provided by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). Check out this report: https://tinyurl.com/IIHS-list
If I can be of any further help with auto insurance needs for you or your family — or indeed other types of insurance — please get in touch, sooner rather than later. We have driving contracts for the teen and the parent to sign. I did this with my daughter, we spelled out curfews and driving privileges and what happens if she gets a ticket or involved in an accident. My daughter, Allie, was not excited about this exercise but when it was complete we both had a better understanding of what each of us expected.
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