Teen Driving: Mom Talk

Teaching teens to drive can be crazy-making ... for both teacher and student.

Thinking back to my early driving days, I remember all the stupid things I did. I took the required driver's ed class, but that’s about all the practice I got. My dad took me out a couple times, but I couldn’t really say that either of my parents actually taught me to drive.

Crashes are the No. 1 killer of teens, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

“Mile for mile, teenagers are involved in three times as many fatal crashes as all other drivers,” the website says.

It says causes for teen death are motor vehicle at 35 percent, homicide at 16 percent, suicide at 12 percent and all others are lumped into the remaining 37 percent.

According to a recent article in AAA magazine, teens’ inexperience isn’t the only reason why they are bad drivers.

“Blame their brains,” wrote Tom Vanderbilt, author of Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do. “Research shows that the area of the brain involved in risk analysis, judgment and decision-making — all critical to safe driving — doesn’t fully develop until age 25.”

The article, “Practice Rules!” was featured in the September/October issue. It outlines how parents play an important role in helping teens be safe drivers.

That is no surprise. If we drive fast and recklessly, so will our kids.

One thing I learned is that the number of accidents increases exponentially when teens have their friends in the car. Therefore, parents may consider helping their beginning drivers by not allowing them to carpool with other teens until they gain more experience.

“The more passengers, the more risk,” Vanderbilt said.

After researching several online resources for parents, I decided I love the AAA site on teen driving. It is a great place to start. Parents and teens can go there together. It has sections on understanding the facts and risks, the licensing process, insurance, and driver’s ed.

There is a section on the key points for parents and one on the teen’s role. Sites like this one help give teens straight talk, so parents don’t always have to be the bad guys. Both can sit on the same side of the table versus the computer. There is even a parent-teen agreement.

“Teens should get at least 100 hours of supervised driving before being allowed to drive solo,” according to AAA magazine.

It makes so much sense. Yet, I sure didn’t get that many hours of practice. Learning to drive was an aggravating, white-knuckle experience. Hopefully, with online resources like these, parents can save a few gray hairs.

And maybe our teens won’t complain we’re driving them crazy? Well, that’s a lot to wish for.