Learning to drive is a common rite of passage for teenagers, allowing them more freedom of movement and a chance to take on extra responsibility.
But what about safety? The bad news is that newly licensed teens are at high risk of experiencing a motor vehicle crash. According to the 2016–2017 National Household Travel Survey, the crash rate per mile driven is about 1.5 times as high for 16-year-olds as it is for 18–19-year-olds.
However, parents can play an important role in teaching their teens to drive safely. By limiting night driving and other risky activities, modeling safe driving behavior, and talking to teens about driver safety, you can establish guidelines that reduce the risk.
- Beginning Drivers' Crashes Differ
The crash risk per mile traveled is worst among 16-year-olds compared to other teen drivers. Driving experience and maturity level both make a difference.
No parent wants to imagine their teen having a car accident, but understanding the factors involved in past collisions can help you set up better safety guidelines for your teen driver.
Characteristics of the fatal crashes of 16-year-old drivers include the following:
- Driver error. Compared with older drivers' fatal crashes, those of 16-year-olds more often involve driver error.
- Speeding. Sixteen-year-old drivers have a high rate of fatal crashes in which excessive speed is a factor.
- Single-vehicle crashes. Many fatal crashes of 16-year-olds involve only the teen's vehicle. Typically these are high-speed crashes in which the driver lost control.
- Passengers. Sixteen year-olds' fatal crashes are more likely to occur when passengers are riding in the vehicle. This risk increases with the addition of every passenger.
- Alcohol. Although this is a problem among drivers of all ages, it's actually less of a problem for 16-year-olds. Typically about 14 percent of fatally injured 16-year-old drivers have blood alcohol concentrations of 0.08 percent or more, but alcohol becomes more of a problem in later teen years.
- Night driving. This is a high-risk activity for beginners. Per mile driven, the fatal crash rate of 16-year-olds is about twice as high at night compared with during the day.
- Low belt use. Most teens who are killed in crashes aren't using their safety belts.
- What Parents of Teenagers Can Do
With or without a strong graduated licensing law, parents can establish effective rules and communicate with teens about driver safety. In particular:
- Don't rely solely on driver education. High school driver education may be the most convenient way to learn skills, but it doesn't produce safer drivers. Poor skills aren't always to blame. Teenagers' attitudes and decision-making matter more. Young people tend to rebel, and some teens seek thrills like speeding. Training and education don't change these tendencies. Peers are influential, but parents have much more influence than typically is credited to them.
- Know the law. Become familiar with restrictions on young drivers. Then enforce the restrictions. Learn more about the law in the state where you live.
- Restrict night driving. Most young drivers' nighttime fatal crashes occur between 9 p.m. and midnight, so teenagers shouldn't be driving much later than nine. The problem isn't just that such driving requires more skill behind the wheel. Late outings tend to be recreational, and even teens who usually follow the rules can be easily distracted or encouraged to take risks.
- Restrict passengers. Teenage passengers riding in a vehicle with a beginning driver can distract the driver and/or lead to greater risk-taking. About six of every 10 deaths of teenage passengers occur in crashes with teen drivers. While driving at night with passengers is particularly lethal, many of the fatal crashes involving teen passengers occur during the day. The best policy is to restrict teenage passengers, especially multiple teens, all the time.
- Supervise practice driving. Take an active role in helping your teenager learn to drive. Plan a series of practice sessions that include a wide variety of situations, including night driving. Give beginners time to work up to challenges like driving in heavy traffic or on the freeway. Continue to supervise practice driving by your teenager after graduation from a learner's permit to a restricted or full license.
- Remember that you're a role model. New drivers learn a lot by example, so practice safe driving yourself. Teenagers who have crashes and violations often have parents with poor driving records.
- Require safety belt use. Don't assume that belt use when you're in the car with your 16-year-old means a safety belt will be used when your child is driving alone or out with peers. Insist on using safety belts all the time.
- Prohibit driving after drinking alcohol. Make it clear to your child that it's illegal and highly dangerous for a teenager to drive after drinking alcohol or using any other drug. While alcohol isn't a factor in most of the fatal crashes that involve 16-year-old drivers, even small amounts of alcohol are impairing for teenagers.
- Choose vehicles with safety, not image, in mind. Teens should drive vehicles that reduce their chances of crashing in the first place and then offer protection from injury in case they do crash. For example, small cars don't offer the best occupant protection in case of a collision. Avoid vehicles with performance images that might encourage a teenager to speed. The best vehicle choice for your teenager, and for everyone else in your family, is one equipped with the latest safety technology including side airbags that protect people's heads and electronic stability control.
Protecting You and Your Family
At Farm Bureau Insurance, we want you and all of our South Carolina customers and neighbors to take an active role in their child's driving. By teaching and enforcing good driving habits in our teens, we can protect the local community we cherish.
Since 1955 Farm Bureau Insurance has provided affordable auto insurance to South Carolina drivers. Your teen driver can qualify for discounts through safe driving, meeting certain academic criteria, and completing a driver's training course.
Information was provided by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.