Parents
can help prevent teen-driver car crashes.
Whenever
one gets behind the wheel of a car, the process of risk assessment begins.
This is why drivers look behind before backing up, or look both ways before
entering the roadway. The driver is determining issues of risk before taking
action.
Often
the driver is also trying to determine how much risk he or she can get away
with. If the speed limit is 50, the driver may be thinking about going 55, or
60, or more. The experienced driver considers the choices and the likely
consequences of each choice. The process may be virtually instantaneous, based
upon the amount of prior driving experience.
Parents
have driven much more than their new teen drivers. They have driven in all
seasons and in all driving conditions and on all kinds of roadways. Parents
are keenly aware of collisions and their aftermath from personal experience or
through the experience of family or friends. Parents base their risk
assessment and driving decisions on many years of these experiences. This is
totally unlike a new teen driver, though.
Of
concern about the teen driver is lack of judgment. This means that teens do
not have the same depth of experience on which to base their risk assessment
as older, more mature and experienced drivers. Hence they may make poor
decisions. Further, emotions and impulsive thinking can override careful
consideration of behavior and impair judgment.
Lack
of experience and lesser judgment is not often recognized by teens. They
cannot see what they never had or are yet to develop. They cannot appreciate
their lack of experience and as such will argue that they are fully capable of
assessing risk as capably as older adults.
Teens
have a marvelous capacity for language. They have just spent the past several
years in high school, and elementary school before that. Some teens convince
their parents that they do know more than their direct experience could have
possibly taught.
Some
parents think that because they trust their teen or because their teen is
generally good or because their teen is convincing, that their teen will
exercise good judgment in the use of the car. However, teens just don’t have
the wealth of experience to back it up. The issue therefore is not trust, but
again experience and maturity, the basis of sound judgment.
This
is well known to insurance companies. Insurance companies do not consider
young persons experienced until about age 25 because as a group, this is the
age when crash risks start to significantly decline, statistics show.
Insurers
also know that the first year of driving remains the most risk-filled point in
a young person’s life. Teen-driver car crashes are the leading cause of
permanent injury and death in teens, and the first year of driving is the most
dangerous. Each year in the United States, more than 5,000 teens lose their
lives in motor vehicle crashes and 400,000 suffer injuries.
Parents
must talk with their teens to set limits and determine responsibilities,
expectations and restrictions on the use of the car.
To
reduce risk, parents can restrict the number of passengers allowed in the
vehicle and insist that their teen buckle up. If a teen intends on being out
after midnight, parents should continue to drive. Crash statistics show that
the hours between midnight and 5 a.m. have the greatest number of crashes and
deaths from teen-driver motor vehicle collisions. Clearly it is better to lose
some sleep than visit one’s teen at the hospital or morgue. Parents can also
discuss the use of the radio or car stereo. Turn the radio on and discuss an
acceptable limit for the volume.
Finally,
don’t let the tail wag the dog. Remember: Your car, your rules. Your
responsibility as a parent is the safety of the child until the child is truly
independent.
To
help parents discuss driving responsibilities and expectations, there is a
free “Parent-Youth Safe Driving Contract” from the I Promise Program,
a teen safe-driving initiative. Go online to www.ipromiseprogram.com
.
Parents
are the path to the keys. Make the safe-driving contract a step along the way.
Gary Direnfeld of Dundas, Ontario, is the executive director of the I Promise Program.
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Contact: Gary
Direnfeld, MSW, RSW - Executive Director |