Protecting Your Teenage Driver

When handing over the keys to a teenage driver, parents are presented with terrifying fears and substantial challenges. These issues become magnified because young drivers often don’t realize that their parents’ fears are based on hard evidence that young drivers are at substantially more risk on the road.

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for U.S. teens, according to the U.S. Center for Disease Control. In 2010, about 2,700 teens in the United States aged 16–19 were killed and almost 282,000 were treated and released from emergency departments for injuries suffered in motor-vehicle crashes.

Several factors contribute to the risks that teenage drivers face.

• Teenager are the least likely drivers to use seatbelts
• Texting while Driving
• Teenagers speed more while allowing shorter distances between vehicles
• Alcohol use

We cannot protect our children from all the dangers in the world, but we can do our best to protect teenage drivers by educating them about the dangers that are present for teenage drivers. Talk to your teenage driver about these issues.