parent-teen.com
an
online magazine for families with teens
ARTICLES,
ARCHIVES, &
RESOURCES
Ages
& Stages
Alcohol/Drugs
Arts
& Media
College
Planning
Coping
Driving
Fun
Issues
News
Parent
Pages
Puberty
School
Sex
& Dating
Sports
Volunteering
Working
Your
Body
COLUMNS
College
Prep
Dear
Mike
Freshman
Journal
From
the Backpack
FEEDBACK
What our readers
say
FORUMS
Discussion boards for parents & teens,
plus professional college planning advice. COMING SOON.
CONTRIBUTE
Editorial guidelines
SHOP
Coming soon.
Recommended
books for parents and teens from amazon.com. Your purchases will
help support this site.
Parent-Teen is a publication of:
Parents'
Press
1454 Sixth St.
Berkeley, CA 94710
Phone:
(510) 524-1602
Fax:
(510) 524-0912
e-mail:
ParentsPrs@aol.com
Site contents © copyright 1997-2000 by Parents' Press
You are welcome to make a single (1) copy of any article for your personal, non-commercial use as long as all rights & copyright information remains intact. Please contact us if you are interested in reprinting any material from this site.
When Your Teen Begins
to Drive
By Jennifer Nelson
© 2000 by Parents' Press
Photo © Skjold Photography
Along with the milestone birthday of my 15-year-old son Andrew came a challenging new parent/teen relationship one that now includes riding shotgun, while the child who played Legos™ only a few short years ago carts me around town in a two-ton vehicle with dual air-bags and rear air conditioning.
I won't mention the tense moments of prayer for a passenger side brake pedal but if you've got a teen behind the wheel, take a look at some of the latest facts, statistics and information for a safer journey.
The Scary Facts
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reports that 16-year
old drivers get in wrecks nearly nine times more often than those
ages 20 or over.
For 17-year- olds, the rate is six times higher than the adult rate.
The American Automobile Association says that teens account for only 7 percent of all drivers, yet they're involved in 14 percent of all fatal auto accidents. In California alone, nearly 18,000 teen drivers are injured or killed each year.
These are startling statistics for moms and dads accustomed to looking out for junior's safety.
But stats and figures aren't a personal reflection on every teen's judgment and driving ability. The cold, hard fact is that driver education starts at home with the family car and a parent or other adult willing to hang on to the door straps and ride passenger-style for the long haul.
But before you hand over the keys, find out what's new, what's changed, and what you can do to ensure a smoother trip for your teen.
Licensing Teens
Although most states still license their drivers at 16, it's
not a magic number that indicates your teen is mature enough
to get behind the wheel. For this reason the State of California,
along with twenty-three other states, has undergone some changes
with respect to teen drivers.
Beginning in 1998, teens under age 18 are subject to a new system called graduated driver's licensing (GDL).
According to safety experts from the AAA, The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), it's the best way of getting teens to drive in more controlled conditions before full licensure.
The program requires young drivers to spend more time behind the wheel than ever before.
Plenty of Practice
Teens now must have their instruction permit for six months before
applying for a provisional license. During the permit phase,
they must log 50 hours of adult-supervised driving, including
ten hours at night. They're also required to complete driver
education training and keep a clean driving record.
"Young drivers need to have experience," says Norma Cooper from the American Automobile Association Motor Club. "They have great reflexes, but they have no frame of reference to put their judgments in."
Under the new system teens can graduate to the next level and obtain their provisional license when they pass a road test.
Restrictions
With their provisional license, they can't transport passengers
under 20 years old for the first six months. They also can't
drive between midnight and 5 a.m. for the first year (with some
exceptions for work or school). Both young passengers and late-night
driving are considered high risk factors.
The provisional license is automatically updated to a full license on a teen's eighteenth birthday as long as there are no violations, suspensions, or probation.
Not everyone is thrilled with the new system. Because GDL is a big change, opposition and confusion abound. Opponents view the system as penalizing teen drivers.
But proponents argue that its not meant to penalize young drivers but to train them better. "We advocate the graduated license system that many states have passed," says Cooper. "The evidence suggests the benefits are substantial."
The first year after California's GDL became effective, the Insurance Institute found that the number of injury and fatal crashes involving 15 to 17-year-olds dropped nearly 13 percent.
What Can Parents Do?
Only you can decide whether or not your teen is ready to drive.
Once you give them the go-ahead, it's your responsibility to see that he or she learns the skills and possesses the maturity and responsibility needed to enter the driving community.
Once a teen obtains his permit, mom and dad have the daunting task of venturing out into a parking lot, street, or a deserted town for some practice.
How Much Practice?
If your permit-wielding teen is not logging in 30 minutes or
more of driving practice a week, you may be wasting valuable
opportunities. Once he's road-worthy, errands, shopping and after-school
activities are the perfect trips to practice around town.
"One thing I did when my daughter was learning and I think it worked pretty well was having her drive my car (and me) to her high school every morning for the whole six months of her learner's permit," says Parent.TEEN publisher Dixie Jordan.
"It was amazing how many different little driving problems and emergencies came up just following that same three-mile route every day."
"While getting a driver's license is an exciting rite of passage for teens, it can be enough to make parents crazy," says Cooper.
Ground Rules
Some parents set major ground rules.
"As our teens prepared to enter the community of drivers, we set rules that were not open to debate," says Mona Vanek.
Among them, Vanek says, her teens had to earn money to buy their licenses, car, and insurance.
"Our reasoning is if they weren't responsible enough to earn the money, they weren't mature enough to assume the responsibility of driving."
Take a look below for a few other guidelines
parents can enforce with regard to when, where, and with whom
teens should drive.
Set a limit
on the number of young passengers your teen transports
even after the provisional six months. Teens are likely to have
trouble concentrating on the road with laughter, loud music,
food, and other distractions, which increase with the number
of young passengers.
Insist on
seat belts. Teens tend to use their safety belts less than other
drivers do. Insist that your teen and all her passengers wear
seat belts at all times.
Limit driving
during high-risk times. Statistics tell us the highest numbers
of driving crashes occur on Friday and Saturday nights. Limit
your teen's driving during these peak times.
Take a hard
stance on drugs and alcohol. Talk with your teen about driving
under the influence and its consequences. Reinforce the seriousness
of the issue.
Have your
teen sign a safe driver's contract. Write up your own agreement
to include seat belt use, drugs and alcohol issues, speeding,
and other important rules of the road. Let your teen know what
the repercussions are if he breaks the contract.
Driver's Ed
For decades, driver's education classes in high school were thought
to help prevent accidents.
Research hasn't convincingly proved that the courses do reduce crashes long term; however, the AAA and the NHTSA haven't thrown in the towel yet. Together, they're designing a state-of-the-art driver's ed program that they hope will become a part of the GDL system.
In the past, driver's ed has focused on defensive driving skills. "These are still important," says Cooper. "Young drivers should be taught defensive driving, such as anticipating problems before they occur."
Projections show California's teen population will grow by a third over the next ten years. Clearly, the GDL system will continue to make strides in keeping these teens safer.
Organizations aimed at educating teen drivers, parental involvement, and improved driver's education will all help teens head out into the driving community armed with more experience than teens of generations past.
"The most important thing is getting teens experience behind the wheel," says Cooper.
As for me and Andrew and our next cruise around town well, I still can't help but occasionally wish they'd make an SUV with a passenger-side brake pedal.
Jennifer Nelson is a Florida-based free-lance writer and a frequent contributor to Parents' Press and Parent.TEEN.
RELATED STORY
Graduated Driver's License Working in North Carolina
Home | About Us | Ages & Stages | Alcohol/Drugs | Arts & Media | College Planning | College Prep column | Coping | Dear Mike | Driving | Feedback | Freshman Journal | From the Backpack | Fun | Issues | News | Parent Pages | Puberty | School |Sex & Dating | Sports | Volunteering | Working | Your Body | Advertise | Contribute | E-mail Us