One in two teenagers will be in a reportable accident the first year they hold their driving license. We are not talking about backing into a tree or hitting the side of the garage or running over the curb. We are talking about accidents where one must call 911 and report the accident because there has been serious damage to a vehicle or vehicles and/or there are injuries that occurred. I do not like these odds and have a few things you can do as a parent to help reduce these odds.

The very first thing I would recommend is a very very strict adherence to a rule of no tailgating. Years and years ago we were taught to keep one car length behind the car ahead of us for every ten miles per hour that we are traveling. Current studies have shown that this distance is too short for the higher speeds plus the fact that most teenagers cannot accurately estimate a car length while traveling down the roadway. A two second following distance is the norm today. But why settle on two seconds! Insist that your teen stay four, five, six or more seconds behind the car ahead of them. The number one accident between two cars is not the head on collision, it is not the side collision, it is the rear collision. Logically, how dumb is that? You are hitting the car ahead of you, the one going the same direction you are going, the one you can SEE! If you can eliminate the rear end collision, you have improved the odds to about one in four from the one in two previously stated.

The second thing I would recommend is a very strict requirement that all persons in the car your teen is driving wear a seatbelt. There are days in the history of the United States where noone who was wearing a seatbelt died in a traffic accident. There has never been a day where noone died that was not wearing a seat belt. Teens who do not wear seat belts are risk takers. Of course they die more often than those wearing seat belts but much of the reason is that they just don't drive with the same degree of caution as a seat belt wearer. I would make this a no second chance issue. "I see or hear of you or anyone in your car without a seatbelt on and the car is moving, you will not drive again for a month."

The third thing I would recommend is teaching your teen that speeding, even a little over the posted speed limit, is another absolute nono. Show your teens the places where police tend to set up their radar. I know that if I have seen a policeman sitting somewhere checking speed

• 1
• 2
• next page >>

---

Add your voice

Know something about Driver safety: How to encourage teens to drive safely?
We want to hear your view. Write now!