Fast-forward a few months. I am now in the
car with Evan, my 15-year-old son, who is
loving his new permit. Unlike Maggie, who
started out cautiously, he accelerates like, well,
a rally-car driver. Except he’s not on a track,
and we aren’t even out of the driveway! By the
time we reach the stop sign at the end of our
street, my sweaty hands are braced against the
dashboard. This dude doesn’t need more
confidence—he needs less.
While it may be hard to believe Maggie
and Evan are related, experts say it’s exactly
these personality differences that parents
should consider when tailoring instructions,
rules and consequences to an individual’s
road-readiness. And the process takes years.
“Parents need to be involved in every aspect
of teen driving,” says William E. Van Tassel,
Ph.D., manager of driver training for the
American Automobile Association (AAA).
“They should allow kids to gain as much
insight and experience as possible in low-risk
situations.” Keep your soon-to-be driver safe
with our stage-by-age guide.
every time you get in the car. Parents are kids’
number one role models, but a study from
State Farm Insurance finds most adults are
setting lousy examples: About 65% of parents
use phones while driving, yet drivers on cell
phones are four times as likely to cause a
crash as other drivers. (This makes me cringe,
since even though I try to do the right thing, I
sometimes yak on my cell, drive too fast and
play the radio too loud.) Explain your driving
choices to your kids and point out hazards—
let them learn from your good behavior.
➤ When your kid turns 12, put down your
cell phone if you’re in the driver’s seat. As
soon as your child is old enough to ride up
front (it’s determined by age or weight,
depending on state law), temper your bad
habits. After all, you’re giving a driving lesson
➤ By age 14, start researching driver’s-education programs. Today only about 56%
of teens have participated in a formal driver’s-ed course, says a joint report by Children’s
Hospital of Philadelphia and State Farm. And
while instruction does not reduce crash rates,
many parents feel safer when kids train with
pros. Find out if your child’s high school offers
a driving class and how much it costs, then
compare rates with those of private driving
schools. Courses that include several weeks
of classroom work followed by supervised
driving sessions usually run between $300
and $500. (Check out online options for the
classroom portion; they may be cheaper.)
Then ask your insurance company about
whether it offers driver’s-ed discounts—you
could recoup some of the cost.
an Rx foR oldeR dRiveRS
It’s not just teens who are susceptible to engaging in risky road behavior. A survey of
people ages 56 to 93 found that 69% use prescription medications that can potentially
impair driving—yet only a fraction know how their meds might adversely affect them.
To increase awareness of this hazard among the older drivers in your life, encourage
them to talk to their doctors or pharmacists about the side effects of their medications.
Source: AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety survey
Safety
CheCk
To help your
teen become a
more responsible
driver, follow
these tips during
the permit phase.
➤ Make lessons safe but
challenging. Once kids are
comfortable with familiar
routes, look for new ones—
hills, curves, parking lots and
odd traffic patterns. (Save
traffic circles and highway
merges for when traffic is
light.) And as tempting as it is
to stay home on a rainy night,
parents should let kids drive in
less-than-ideal conditions, says
Dale Wisely of the nonprofit
site Parenting Teen Drivers. If
you’re the nervous type, ask
another adult to supervise
instead. Without practice, kids
won’t learn how to adjust their
speed for changing weather
and traffic conditions.
➤ Coach them through their
weaknesses. There are four
main reasons teens crash, says
Jim Graham of Ford’s Driving
Skills for Life program: speed,
spacing, handling and hazards
(distractions inside the car, like
phones, friends and music). So
when your kid’s speed creeps
up, for example, don’t just tell
her to slow down. “Help her
judge how much space she
needs by counting—when the
car ahead passes an object,
she should be able to count to
three before passing it,” he
says. (Ford has found that
teens follow so closely they
can count only to one.)
➤ Learn the law. Most
parents are clueless about
specific restrictions; only 23%
know their state’s Graduated
Driver’s License laws. (See
“What’s the deal with GDLs?”
page 80.) But parents who
enforce GDL rules have a big
impact: Fewer of their sons and
daughters say they’ve been
ticketed (15% vs. 23%) and
fewer have come close to being
in a collision (56% vs. 72%).
Read up on the laws at ghsa
.org/html/stateinfo/laws/
license_laws.html.
