Like any other teen, I want to drive. I really want to drive myself. I want to have freedom. But I want to do itsafely. There’s no point in using your freedom if you use it dangerously. The leading cause of death for teens is accidents. I know how stupid it is to get distracted while driving but there are a lot of little things that I don’t know that are also dangerous. Because I’m an inexperienced driver, there’s no way I could know all the little things that are so dangerous. That’s why parents need to teach their teen drivers how to drive safely.
The CDC has a program that recommends parents on what to do. I think that they have really good ideas. Here are their ideas.
- Extend your teen’s supervised driving period. Practice driving as often as you can with your teen. The more experience he or she has behind the wheel, the safer they’ll drive.
- Set the rules of the road to reduce the chance of injury or death: 1) Make sure your teen always wears a seat belt.?2) Limit your teen’s nighttime driving.?3) Restrict the number of teen passengers allowed in the car.?4) Prohibit cell phones and texting while driving.
- Enforce your rules of the road with a parent-teen driving agreement. Work with your teen to draft and sign the agreement. Include clearly written rules, as well as consequences for breaking the rules.
- Set a good example behind the wheel. Kids learn about road safety from a young age. Don’t wait until your teen is old enough to drive to start modeling good driving behaviors.
Pictures: CDC
