How Do We Control The Teenage Driving Problem

Main reasons for the teen crashes are immaturity, risk taking behavior, lack of skills and non-adherence to safety rules. It is important to educate the teenagers about these driving and safety rules and ensure that they follow them in a disciplined manner. The parents should not hand over the car keys to their children till the time they avoid such manners and gain the necessary driving skills.

The change in law to increase the driving age from 16 to 18 years is not the solution to this problem. This will only impact the Automobile industry and its related service sectors. It will be a big blow to manufacturers, driving instructors, gas companies, and insurance agents. There will be a sharp drop in revenues for the manufacturers as well as the insurance agents due to the change of law.



The teen fatality is found to occur on Fridays and weekends between 6 PM to 6 AM. Some of the reasons attributed to this are driving while intoxicated with alcohol, distractions on the road, and not wearing of seat belts.

The safety rules are not followed by the teenagers in a proper manner. They don't drive with their parent or instructor for the first three months after getting their driving license, avoid driving at midnight except for some purposeful reason, avoid usage of gadgets like phones, and wear seat belts. The lack of discipline and non-adherence to safety rules has been a major reason for teen accidents.

In order to reduce risk for their teen children the parents should also be a part of their driving skills learning program. The parents should partner with their child to teach them defensive driving techniques and driver safety rules. The parent should also share their own driving experiences with their children. This will help them become more mature and prepared to handle any adverse situations.

The teenagers risk taking behavior also needs to be modified. Due to hormonal influence and certain growth related patterns the teenagers tend to take certain unwanted risks. It is necessary for the parent to analyze this risk and make the teen aware of the consequence of this action. Once the teenager is aware of the problems that might occur they will show tendencies to avoid risk taking behavior.

The teenagers should be made to join authorized and certified driver education programs that will ensure that they gain the necessary driving skills. The quality of the program content and approach of the instructor also plays a vital role in the knowledge grasping ability of the teen. The parent should monitor the progress of their child and make them aware of the fact that the driver program is just a start to the knowledge gaining activity towards becoming an expert driver.