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| TEEN TIPS SAFE TEEN DRIVERS Continued......
The real facts parents need for their Teen Drivers!!! |
Shocking Stats Males are more than twice as likely to have serious crashes as females. But while the crash total for males has been declining over the past 20 years, the total for females has been rising. More and more female drivers are taking to the roads as aggressively as males and paying a price for their risky behavior. Parents must teach both sons and daughters... This is not a competition either of them wants to win Parent's Tip: Anything you can do I can do better is a phrase kids hear a lot growing up. Perhaps a better way to word that phrase should be Anything you can do I can do safer. Source: Safe Young Drivers, ____________________________________________________________________________ Tip #8: Learner's Licence Required? back to top Shocking Stats Only some states require a learner's licencet before a driver's license. States with the most lenient licensing procedures have the highest crash rates for teens. Whether your state has a strict licensing procedure or not, you should always: Set your own waiting period for your teen DONT ALLOW UNTIL HE'S/SHE'S 18 Pursue a driving instruction program outside the school Log plenty of practice time with your teen before letting him or her take the driver's exam Parent's Tip: State laws and instruction are great ways to get your teen started on the road to safe driving, but what you do with and for your teen makes the most difference. Source: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety ____________________________________________________________________________ Tip #9: Parent-Teen Driving Agreement back to top Quick Tip Don't forget: As the parent, you are the boss! Driving is a privilege-especially for teens. The parent can give it and the parent can take it away. To help your teen understand, take the time to review the issues and responsibilities associated with driving and consider making a Parent-Teen Driving Agreement using the outline below as a guide... Issue - LIMITS Responsibility/Rule - Weekday evening LIMIT of 10 pm and a weekend evening LIMIT of midnight Agreement - Coming home after the LIMIT will result in the LIMIT being set one hour earlier for one week Parent's Tip: Treat your teen with the same respect by allowing them some control over the rules of driving. Source: Teaching Your Teen To Drive Handbook, Tip #10: We all need our space. The 3 second rule back to top Quick Tip Perception is about one second and time to react is about three-fourths of a second in ideal conditions. Allowing enough space between you and other cars on the road allows for time to react in case of an emergency. As the car in front of you passes a fixed point like a sign, tree or building, count one thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three. If you reach the designated point before three, slow down. Increase your distance by one for each bad driving condition. For rain and fog you would add two seconds. Make sure you drive in the middle of the lane to allow space on the side of the car. If the driver behind you is too close, change lanes and let them pass. Parent's Tip: Let your teen know that adding additional space between cars will not slow down their travel time any more than a few minutes. Better to arrive a few minutes late than not at all! ____________________________________________________________________________ Tip #11: Making Time - Make it Count back to top Quick Tip Teaching Tip: Develop a practice schedule with your teen. Driving requires commitment and discipline - from both the student and the coach. The best way to demonstrate these traits is to establish a practice schedule and stick to it. Commit to the 100 hours of supervised instruction (100 hours is only 2 hours/week for a year, or 4 hours/week for 6 months) Make it routine--set aside a specific day and time for driving practice (Put it in your day-planner if you have to; this is an appointment for safety) Go with the flow--when the lessons require driving at night or in bad weather, make adjustments Don't cancel, reschedule--when you have to work late or something else unexpected comes up, don't cancel your driving date, reschedule it. Parent's Tip: Demonstrate to your child that you are making this a firm commitment to their safety Source: Safe Young Drivers, ____________________________________________________________________________ Tip #12: Tapping the Wall back to top Quick Tip Teaching Tip: Have your teen tap the wall with the bumper of your car! Want to instill some respect in a young driver for the forces that can be unleashed in a crash? Here's a harmless way to do it - just be careful... Make sure your vehicle doesn't have a fragile plastic license plate frame positioned in front of the bumper (If you have any doubts about the idea, or are worried about damage, don't try it. Or, you drive.) You or your teen pull into a parking space that abuts a solid concrete wall Stop, and then move forward slowly until the vehicle's front bumper contacts with the wall. Even at one kms an hour, the sensation will send a shiver through both of you Parent's Tip: Let them feel the shock of even the slightest bump; it will leave an imprint on your teen that will make them a safer driver. Source: Safe Young Drivers, ________________________________________________________________________ Tip #13: Mirror, Mirror on the Car back to top Quick Tip Teaching Tip: Regular and proper use of mirrors is hard to learn but the pay off is big. Tunnel vision and blind spots can be a hazard to any driver but are particularly difficult for a new driver. Teach your teen how to minimize both... For the driver side mirror: Have your teen roll up the window Press his or her head against the glass Then adjust the mirror so that they can just see the edge of the car For the passenger side mirror: Have your teen place their head in the center of the car (directly behind the inside mirror mount) Adjust the outside mirror so that they can just see the edge of the car. This is necessary even with convex (curved) mirrors where the image is distorted a little Parent's Tip: Repeat that routine every time you and your teen begin a lesson to make blind spots virtually disappear. ______________________________________________ Tip #14: Driving Practice -- The Ultimate Video Game back to top Quick Tip Teaching Tip: Ten sessions driving is time well spent. If your teen can spend 10 hours getting hand-cramps from the latest video game, he or she can spend ten sessions meandering through your local countryside or back roads, to develop driving hand-eye coordination. Anytime visibility decreases, have your teen: Slow down Access the situation If visibility is only 100 feet ahead, you should be doing no more than 35 KPH. If it's at 50 feet, it's 25 KPH, and so on. Parent's Tip: Build up to an hour or more per session. It will help your teen's mind and body become more accustomed to driving and build more confidence. Source: Safe Young Drivers, Tip #15: Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad Road? back to top Quick Tip Teaching Tip: Make it as simple at A,B,C. A Big, Clear parking lot. When you read, you begin with ABC. When you teach your teen to drive, begin with A Big Clear parking lot. A large, unoccupied parking lot can be found in a myriad of places: An office building or complex after hours A shopping mall early in the morning A place of worship any weekday A high school parking lot on weekends Parent's Tip: Try your own office parking lot after work. These lots offer plenty of space, and as a bonus, they probably have marked, defined areas to practice maneuverability techniques. Source: Safe Young Drivers, ______________________________ |
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