Getting a license for the first time and being able to drive a car is a lot of fun, and give teens some of the freedom that they desperately desire, but teen related crashes account for around twenty percent of accidents on the road and nearly fifteen percent of driving fatalities, even though only about five percent of drivers on the road are teens. The responsibility falls on you, the parent, to make sure that your teens are doing things to make their driving safer. As such, here are four driving tips that the majority of teens don’t follow, and that you may not even have known about.
Night driving or driving when you are tired can be fatal and although most of us will drive while fatigued at some point, you can lessen the risk of falling asleep at the wheel a couple of ways. First, try to avoid driving when you are normally sleeping. When your body thinks that you should be asleep it will be harder to stay awake. Also, don’t turn on the cruise control when driving fatigued. If you do doze off, your foot should automatically come off the accelerator which means that if you do crash it may be a minor one. However, a crash at sixty miles per hour is very likely fatal.
Teens seem to have a severe hearing disorder that lasts sometime into their twenties and sometimes even their thirties. This hearing disorder seems to be primarily regarding hearing parents tell you to take out the trash, or pick up your room, and hearing music at a normal volume. If you listen to music in the car, keep it turned fairly low. You will invariably find at some point in time that another vehicle’s horn will keep you from running into a pole, building or other vehicle. Do yourself a favor and make sure that you can hear people shouting, car horns and police or other emergency vehicle sirens.
Don’t get into the habit of not using your turn signals. Many teens seem to have some sort of left arm disability in addition to the hearing problems, that makes it difficult for them to use the turn signals. However, consider a four way stop where you and another driver are facing each other. He is going straight and you are turning left. If you pull out without your turn signal on, the other driver will probably pull out at the same time, which means that you’ll hit him when you turn left. This can be avoided by letting other drivers know that you intend to turn.
Headlights are not just for night time driving. Having your headlights on in the day is a easy thing to do, and it can mean a great deal to other drivers on the road. They will be able to see your car coming when visibility is poor, or when you are on long stretches of rural roads where you can’t be sure if the object coming toward you is a car or not.
Keep these things in mind as you drive, and follow the posted speed limit, stop completely for stop signs and stop lights, and keep in mind, everyone thinks it can’t happen to them. That includes teens who have died as a result of a car accident. They thought it couldn’t happen to them either.
