Keeping Teen Drivers Safe Starts with Parents
According to a new study by AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, teen drivers might be at more risk for car crashes than many realize. The study indicates that in the first month of unsupervised driving, teen drivers are about 50 percent more likely to crash than they are after one full year of experience driving on their own. Sadly, the majority of teen accidents in Georgia and throughout this nation are due to three common errors.
These three critical errors account for almost 50 percent of teen crashes:
- Speeding or going too fast for certain road, traffic or weather conditions. Inexperienced drivers sometimes do not know how to control their vehicle on a curved road while driving too fast or know how to adjust their speed to certain road conditions. They also do not know how to react to other vehicles on the road while they are driving too fast.
- Distracted driving. Teen drivers are found to be easily distracted by things inside and outside the vehicle. Teens should not text, talk on their phone, eat, drink or do anything that requires them to multitask while driving.
- Lack of detecting hazards. Because teen drivers do not have experience on the road, they sometimes do not scan the road for possible road hazards or other dangerous drivers. Additionally, they do not know how to respond to such hazards.
In order to help teen drivers become aware of the dangers of driving and how they can become better drivers, parents of teenage drivers need to get involved. One way for parents to get involved is to become educated on teen driving risks, statistics, and the whole learning process.
Keys2Drive, a new AAA parent and teen safe driving website, gives a guide to teen driver safety and will give parents information on the following areas:
- Before your teen starts driving. This includes information on the licensing process, driver education, and risks involved. It also teaches parents to start talking to their teens about driving risks and how to avoid auto accidents even before they start driving.
- Driving with supervision. This includes teaching your teen to drive, finding a quality driver education school, and strengthening your teen driver.
- Driving on their own. Parents need to coach their teen even when they are driving solo. Parents need to set rules and find out where their teen is going to help keep them safe.
If your teen driver was injured in a car crash due to someone else’s careless actions, your teen may have rights to financial compensation. Please call a qualified Atlanta car crash attorney to find out more about your rights at Kalka & Baer LLC.
