This week, we celebrate the National Teen Driver Safety Week. It’s that time of the year when awareness on safe driving behavior among teens is heightened. Different activities and programs are launched across the country to promote safe driving for teens and recently, driving experts revealed the key to driving success and that is parental involvement.
The American Automobile Association, Inc. (AAA) said that parents play a big role when their teens get behind the wheel. AAA Wisconsin Director of Public Affairs Nick Jarmusz, however, disclosed that parents are not actually performing well when preparing their teens for safe driving. This has been one of the results of their new survey, which shows that parents are not committed to coaching their teen drivers and are even setting bad examples with their own driving, such as distracted driving, road rage, and speeding. In addition, 65 percent of driving instructors stated that parents were worse at teaching their teens to drive than a decade ago.
In Kentucky, the parent’s involvement starts with the licensing process. No person under the age of 18 can apply for a driver’s permit or license without the parent’s signature or guardian accepting responsibility and liability. One has to go through three phases of licensing, namely Learner’s Permit, Intermediate License, and Full Unrestricted License. The parent or guardian must document and sign the driving log of the teen driver before the latter can advance to the Intermediate License phase. Also, there must be a verification form certifying that the teen driver has successfully completed 60 hours of practice driving, 10 of which must take place at night.
Statistics
- Teen drivers are more than one-and-a-half times more likely than adult drivers to be involved in a fatal motor vehicle crash.
- Speeding is one of the most common mistakes teen drivers make. More than 4,200 of the nearly 14,000 deadly crashes involving teen drivers over the last five years involved speeding.
- Other mistakes young drivers commit behind the wheel are poor visual scanning and distracted driving.
- Fifteen percent of teen distracted driving crashes is caused by the driver interacting with the passengers.
- In 2013, six teens aged 16-19 were killed every day from motor vehicle injuries.
Ways to Help Your Teens Become a Responsible Driver
As a Kentucky Accident Attorney and as a parent, too, I would like to call the attention of my fellow parents. If our teens are driving badly, it may be our fault. We may have not spent enough time in educating them. But, it’s not too late. Today, we can talk to our children and help them understand the responsibilities of a driver. Also, every time we drive, we should lead by example by showing proper driving behaviors and habits.