Summer Driving

Teen Drivers, Parents and The Summer Season


It is again that time of year when teens have the urge to drive somewhere, anywhere, often without a specific destination in mind. This passion for the road can lead to unintended and often severe consequences. It is well documented that teens, especially the 16-17 year group has about 4x the accident rate per miles driven as compared with non-teens. About 6,000 teens die each year in vehicular collisions. They top the mortality charts and are responsible for killing or injuring many non-teens along with property destruction and huge economic costs.

Some experts say that teens feel immune and indestructible; others say teens truly understand the risks-- but are willing to take them. Teens also have relatively little difficulty in obtaining access to both alcohol and prescription drugs—the use and abuse of the latter is rapidly increasing. What to do?

Parents need to recognize the current situation and become pro-active in establishing ground rules for driving behavior and then ensuring that the rules are followed. Allstate Insurance (Allstate.com/community) and Toyota (toyotadrivingexpectations.com) have Teen/Parent contracts on their websites that delineate specific responsibilities. Parents need to prevent access to alcohol and Rx drugs that can be abused (cough and cold preparations containing DMX, Vicodin and MDMA commonly called ecstasy). A University of Michigan study reported that 30% of 12th graders said they had been drunk at least once over the past 30 days. Active, decisive parental involvement is critical to gain control of this malady affecting our youth.

Want to provide defensive driver training for your teen? One excellent program for teens is “Street Survival” sponsored by Tire Rack/ BMW Educational Foundation (Streetsurvival.org). This full day course has classroom and behind the wheel training and covers the waterfront. It is also quite affordable and practical. I have had personal experiences as a volunteer instructor.

The bottom line is that parents and teens need to adopt and demonstrate a new, conservative--defensive strategy for a safe driving summer.

Author of “Take Back Our Roads--How To Survive On Our Streets and Highways,” (Createspace.com/3341679) or (Amazon.com)