Learn to Drive | Fatal Teen Crashes
For U.S. teens not fully experienced in how to drive a car, motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death accounting for more than one in three deaths in this age group.
Among teen drivers still learning how to drive a car, those at especially high risk of crashing are:
Take Steps for Your Teen Driver’s Safety
Fortunately, there are proven ways to reduce teen drivers’ risk on the roads until they have acquired the necessary experience in knowing how to drive a car safely. Graduated driver licensing (GDL) systems, combined with parental management, can help develop safe behaviour as the teen learn how to drive a car.
If your teen is just learning to drive a car, keep the following in mind:
- Proven Steps Save Lives. Practice driving a car as often as you can with your teen. The more experience he or she has behind the wheel as they learn how to drive a car, the safer they’ll drive. Make sure your new driver and their passengers always wear seat belts. Prohibit driving a car when crashes are more likely to occur—at night and when there are other teens in the car, and enforce zero tolerance for alcohol and driving a car. And be sure to learn and enforce your state’s teen driving laws—you can find them on the State-Specific GDL Information page.
- A Parent-Teen Driving Agreement Sets the Rules of the Road. Discuss your rules of the road with your teen. Talk about why they are important to follow, as well as consequences for breaking them. Believe it or not, your children listen to you, particularly when they know you have their best interests at heart. Reinforce your talks by working with your teen to create a parent-teen driving agreement.
- Parents Must Lead by Example. Don’t wait until your teen is old enough to drive to start modeling good driving behaviors. If you talk on the phone, text, speed, drive without your seat belt, or drive after drinking alcohol so might your teen.
Click the link below to visit the CDC site:
