How Do We Control The Teenage Driving Problem

By Nathan Lewit

Teenage driving cause huge problems for for parents worldwide as there are many incidents of teen mishaps and fatalities on the road of teenage driving. The necessary thing here to do is to try and understand the reasons for these accidents and bring in the necessary changes to prevent such mishaps in the future. The areas to focus on would be the reduction in risk exposure, modification of risk taking ability, and providing sufficient education to the teenager to improve their driving skills.

The change in law to increase the driving age from 16 to 18 years is not the solution to this problem. This will only impact the Automobile industry and its related service sectors. It will be a big blow to manufacturers, driving instructors, gas companies, and insurance agents. There will be a sharp drop in revenues for the manufacturers as well as the insurance agents due to the change of law.

Main reasons for the teen crashes are immaturity, risk taking behavior, lack of skills and non-adherence to safety rules. It is important to educate the teenagers about these driving and safety rules and ensure that they follow them in a disciplined manner. The parents should not hand over the car keys to their children till the time they avoid such manners and gain the necessary driving skills.

The teen fatality is found to occur on Fridays and weekends between 6 PM to 6 AM. Some of the reasons attributed to this are driving while intoxicated with alcohol, distractions on the road, and not wearing of seat belts.

The teens also don't follow the rules such as driving with parent or qualified trainer for first three months after obtaining their driving license, avoiding driving at midnight except for some situations, wearing seat belts, and avoiding usage of cell phones. The failure to follow the safety rules has been another reason for teen fatalities.

In order to reduce risk for their teen children the parents should also be a part of their driving skills learning program. The parents should partner with their child to teach them defensive driving techniques and driver safety rules. The parent should also share their own driving experiences with their children. This will help them become more mature and prepared to handle any adverse situations.

The teenagers risk taking behavior also needs to be modified. Due to hormonal influence and certain growth related patterns the teenagers tend to take certain unwanted risks. It is necessary for the parent to analyze this risk and make the teen aware of the consequence of this action. Once the teenager is aware of the problems that might occur they will show tendencies to avoid risk taking behavior.

It is important for teenagers to join the best driver education program. The onus lies on the parents to make their children join an authorized and certified driver education program which can help them develop their driving skills. The quality of the program and instructors approach is important for helping the teenager grasp the required driving knowledge. It is important to monitor the progress of the teenager on a daily basis. It is important to explain to the teenager that the driver program is just the beginning of their learning curve to become an expert driver. - 21396

About the Author:

Nathan Lewit is the president of Nathans Driving School situated in Georgia. Nathan's Driving School is one of the few accredited driving schools which focuses on teenage driving and the problem associated with high teenage driving statistics.