Teenage Driving: Parents’ Role to Mold Them into Responsible Drivers

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Immaturity and inexperience—these are just two of the underlying reasons why teenage drivers get involved in road accidents. This is due to the fact that teenagers, in nature, have that strong fondness for being adventurous, which involves taking risks. Doing so, however, doesn’t always yield favorable results.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), some 1,963 young drivers between the ages of 15 to 20 were killed in motor vehicle accidents in 2010. Meanwhile, more than 187,000 others were injured that same year.

Surely, immaturity and inexperience are the basic reasons for these injuries and deaths. However, these two can be understood more deeply by looking at some factors.

Basically, distracted driving—outside distractions and use of mobile phones while driving, night driving, and failure to wear seatbelts are three of the most common factors for the injuries and deaths within the said age group.

In fact, in 2010, some 368 young drivers between 15 to 19 years old who were killed in motor vehicle crashes were found out to be distracted at the time of the accidents. Nighttime accidents, meanwhile, occur to them between 9 p.m. to midnight. In addition, three of five 16- to 20-year-old passengers were killed because of failure to use the seatbelt.

The statistics alone only show that teenage driving is a growing concern. Fortunately, this alarming situation has been addressed through the graduated driver licensing systems (GDL) and the implementation of state laws that ban the use of cellphones while driving for teenagers.

Aside from these key improvements, parents should also play a role in reducing such incidents. As it is, teenagers tend to bend the rules when it comes to driving. As such, parents must do a better job in reminding them of the consequences of their actions.

Apart from that, they should also serve as their “guiding light,” especially if they’re still learning to drive. That way, the young drivers learn to prioritize safety behind the wheel and to prepare themselves well in certain emergency situations while on the road.

Incidentally, legal experts, such as a Los Angeles car accident attorney who closely monitors teenage drivers, remind all drivers to be responsible enough behind the wheel, regardless of age.