Top 5 Tips for Your New Teen Driver

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As a parent, having a new teen driver in the family can be frightening. You might feel as though you can’t protect them when they’re out on the road. However, there are a few ways to help ensure their safety. Use these top five tips to help ease your anxiety about your teen.

1: Make Sure the Care is Safe

Sometimes, it’s all too easy to give into your kid’s demands. You want them to have the best of the best, but their idea of a perfect car and your idea of a safe one probably doesn’t mix. Going with something sporty or speedy is a recipe for disaster.

Help them pick a care that’s as a safe as possible without sacrificing style. Explain to them how safety features can help lower their insurance premium, leaving more money in their bank account to have fun with friends. The safer the car, the less you have to worry about.

2: Rehash the Rules of the Road

It never hurts to go over driving safety tips and laws with your kids. You might be worried about them failing to yield or rolling through a stop sign. So, doublecheck to make sure they know what they’re doing when they leave the house. The easiest way to do this is to quiz them while you’re in the car together.

3: Focus on Defensive Driving

Instead of stressing out over what kind of driver they might be, why not give them a head start at being a safe one? Any car accident attorney will tell you that defensive driving habits save lives. The ability to anticipate and avoid accidents is a vital skill for drivers of any age.

Most drivers react to situations, which often makes a potential accident worse. They might swerve into oncoming traffic or cause a pile up with a reactionary jerk of the steering wheel. Defensive driving works to stop that instinct and replace it with one that detects potential dangers ahead of time.

4: Reinforce the Seatbelt Law

Some teens tend to think that seatbelts are an inconvenience or unnecessary. You can thwart that line of thinking by reinforcing the fact that seatbelts save lives. Make sure to wear yours every time you’re in the car and don’t let your child wearing one be an option. If they see how important it is to you, they’ll be more likely to follow suit.

5: The No-Phone Rule

In 2017, distracted driving claimed 3,166 lives. The dangers of texting and driving are real and terrifying. So, enforce a strict no-phone policy whenever you’re in the car. Talk with your teen about what could happen if they take their eyes off the road for just a second. Like the seatbelt rule, this is a “monkey see, monkey do” scenario.

If your child simply isn’t listening, then you do have alternative measures. There are plenty of apps that lock your teen’s phone while the car is in motion. It might seem a little extreme, but the consequences are even worse.

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Melissa Thompson

Melissa is a mother of 2, lives in Utah, and writes for a multitude of sites. She is currently the EIC of HarcourtHealth.com and writes about health, wellness, and business topics.