According to AAA Foundation for traffic safety, nation wide traffic crashes rank as the number 1 cause of death for 16-19 year old teens, every year, more than 3,000 teens die on the road, and 350,000 wind up in emergency rooms for crash-related injuries.
Families and friends are suffering from these crashes as teens are not prepared to navigate the roads safely put everyone on risk. 2/3 of those who die in crashes involving teen drivers are other drivers, passengers, and pedestrians.
If you are a parent, you are in mixed emotions when you hand out the car key to your teenage child – you don’t have to play chauffeur much longer; learning to drive marks a rite of passage for you child with pride; after all you carry anxiety and fear.
You Are The Role Model
Your children look up to you since they are so little. Now it is critical for you to play role model than ever. Your children are watching you how you respond when a driver cuts you off in traffic, or if you roll through stop signs, or speeding for a rush…how you drive and how you behave wield the most influence in your teen’s lives. And their driving skills are learned, not inherited.
There is a clear link between parents’ and teens’ driving records. Teen who got into crashes were far more likely to have parents who go into crashes or traffic tickets as the parent’s behavior is a reflection of teen’s behavior. Your children have been watching you drive for years and will likely model your driving habits.
There are 95% parents believe that they are safe drivers and only 82% of teens report seeing their parent being careless when they are driving.
Lead by example, wear seat belt, drive with speed limit, limit distractions such as no cell phone, no texting, maintain as safe following distance and keep your cool behind wheel.
Use Teachable Moments
Parents have plenty of opportunities to impart advice to teens directly without being turned out. Parents should take a moment to explain what they do and why to children while driving with them. You don’t need to provide a running commentary on every maneuver, however you can recognize teachable moments and prepare your teen for similar circumstances. You can also share your own driving experiences.
Making The Most Of Practice
There is 50 hours of supervised practice required for California law, including 10 hours at night and experts recommend 100 hours so new teen drivers can gain more experience in full variety of driving environments and conditions. You may keep lesson simple, and focus on one skill at a time, start out in basic low risk situations, such as a parking lot or residential street, and gradually move to more complex situations like high ways or challenging weather.
Make sure you are calm and reinforce what your teen does well while you give lessons, correct mistakes by asking questions like the speed limit in that location, rather say “you are going to fast”.
Take regular breaks as often as you need or minimum every 20 minutes and the mean while offering feedback on both good and bad points and discuss what you just practiced.
Just remember, every single teen and parent will make difference, you will change the world by driving safely. After all, every day and every moment safe driving counts.
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