How to Talk to Your Teens About the Top 5 Teen Driving Dangers

As an overall rule, teens shouldn’t be drinking at all — and they especially should not be drinking while driving! However, in a recent survey, nearly 1 in 3 teens reported drinking alcohol in the last 30 days. Even more worrisome, 1 in 17 reported driving after drinking alcohol.

This is a big problem, because as little as two drinks can increase the likelihood of an accident by 100%.

Be sure to tell your teen that drinking and driving doesn’t just break your family’s rules — it breaks the law. Beyond having their keys taken away or losing other privileges at home, teens could face serious legal consequences if they mix alcohol with driving. These can include the loss of their license, big fines and even jail time.

It’s also important that your teen understands that alcohol isn’t the only substance that can seriously impair their driving. Illicit drugs such as marijuana, prescription medication and even some over-the-counter medication can slow their reaction time, reduce their awareness of their surroundings or impede their ability to think critically.

Teen Safe-Driving Rule: Never mix alcohol and driving. And never drive when you’re under the influence of any impairing substance.

Teenage Driving Danger: Driving Without Buckling Up

It’s a simple action that can save your life: Whenever you get into any vehicle, put on your seatbelt!

This should be a firm rule for everyone in your family, not just your teen driver. Whether you’re a driver or a passenger, in the front seat or back seat, your seatbelt should be on any time you’re in a vehicle — even if it’s not yet moving.

And it should apply in all vehicles: whether you’re in your car, a friend’s car, a taxi, a vehicle for a ride-sharing service, a hotel shuttle or even a bumper car!

Remind your teen that putting on their seatbelt isn’t just about their safety. It’s about the safety of everyone in the car with them. In accidents, especially high-speed accidents, an unbuckled person can be thrown out of their seat. Even if they’re not ejected from the vehicle, they may collide with seats, windows, the windshield or other passengers.

 In addition, seatbelts are required by law in many states. That’s right: Seatbelts don’t just protect your safety in case of an accident, they also protect your savings every time you drive! Be sure your teen knows that they could be in for a hefty fine if they’re caught driving without a seatbelt on. And that’s on top of the trouble they’ll get in at home for not following this simple but essential rule.

Teen Safe-Driving Rule: Always buckle up. And always make all your passengers buckle up, too.

Teenage Driving Danger: Distracted Driving

When the phone rings or vibrates, it can be hard to ignore it. But that’s exactly what your teen needs to do while driving. Avoiding distractions like cell phones is critically important for drivers of all ages, but especially teens who are still building their good driving skills.

Make it a firm rule in your household that no one is allowed to use a phone while driving — and this goes for parents and guardians, too! Making or taking calls, sending or reading texts, using mobile apps or doing anything else that takes your eyes off the road (or your hands off the wheel) are all forms of distracted driving.

Here are some helpful strategies you and your teen can use to avoid phone distractions while driving:

• Set your phone to “silent” or “do not disturb” before starting the car. You’ll be less tempted to reach for your phone if you can’t hear incoming calls and texts.
• Store the phone in a bag, purse, glovebox or somewhere else out of sight so you’re not tempted to reach for it while driving.
• Designate a passenger as your official “phone steward” and hand your phone to them. They can read incoming texts aloud and type back responses without you needing to take your eyes off the road.
• If you’re driving alone or don’t have a designated “phone steward,” always be sure to pull off the road to make a phone call or send a text.

Remind your teen that phones aren’t the only distractions they need to avoid while driving. Turning to talk to passengers, fussing with audio and climate controls, adjusting their music playlist on a mobile device, eating food and drinking can all be dangerous distractions that increase the likelihood of an accident.

Teen Safe-Driving Rule: Never use your phone while driving. And eliminate any other distractions that take your eyes or ears away from the road.

Teenage Driving Danger: Speeding

Speeding and teenage driving don’t mix! Driving recklessly does more than cause accidents — it can make those accidents worse and more deadly. In fact, for over a quarter of all fatal vehicle accidents involving teen drivers, speed is a contributing factor to the crash. While it might feel like speeding could get you to your destination a few minutes faster, following the speed limit is the best way to make sure you arrive at your destination safely.

Establish a clear rule that your teen should always drive at or below the speed limit at all times — even if they’re running behind, in a rush, or the road is totally empty except for them. Explain that they may even need to drive under the speed limit if there is adverse weather or other hazardous road conditions. Rain, fog, snow, sleet and freezing rain can reduce visibility and decrease your vehicle’s traction on the road. Construction, potholes, heavy traffic or other drivers engaging in unsafe driving behaviors (such as swerving across lanes) are also factors that should prompt your teen to ease up on the gas.

Speeding tickets can become quite costly. On top of having to pay a big fine (in some states, speeding tickets can cost much as $1,000!), your insurance company may take your teen’s speeding ticket(s) into consideration when calculating insurance rates. Depending on how fast your teen was going, they might also lose points from their license — and if they lose too many points, they could lose their license.

Teen Safe-Driving Rule: Always respect the speed limit. And always slow down to a safe speed if there are poor road conditions.

Teenage Driving Danger: Driving with Multiple Passengers

While it’s always fun to hang out with friends, that socialization shouldn’t be happening in the car — especially if your teen is behind the wheel. Research shows that each additional passenger in their vehicle increases their likelihood of an accident.

Plus, it many states, it may be illegal for your teen to have any passengers in their vehicle. Especially in states with a Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) program, there might be strict rules about how many passengers can be in a car if a teen is behind the wheel. Some states go further and put additional restrictions around passengers, such as only allowing passengers who are over the age of 21 unless they’re family members. You and your teen should research your local laws and know exactly what the rules are before anyone gets in the car with your teen driver.

Even if your state doesn’t have restrictions on passengers, you may want to set family rules about how many passengers your teen can have in the vehicle when they’re driving. These rules should apply when other teens are driving, too: Set a clear expectation that your teen should not get into a vehicle driven by another teenager if there are more than the allowable number of passengers in the vehicle.

Teen Safe-Driving Rule: Limit passengers to a reasonable number. And don’t get in the car if another teen driver has too many passengers in their vehicle.