Article Marketing | Article | Directories | Contents | Car Crashes: Protect Your Child from the Number One Killer of Teens

Car Crashes: Protect Your Child from the Number One Killer of Teens

Posted on May 13, 2011
Filed Under Autos, Law | Leave a Comment

There’s good news about teen drivers in Miami: among the 50 largest metro areas in an Allstate America’s Teen Driving Hotspots study, Denver had the highest rate of DUI-related, car accident fatalities—Miami had the lowest.

But don’t relax. Your teen isn’t out of the water yet.

Just because your teen doesn’t drive drunk on Miami roads doesn’t mean they are safe from ending up in fatal car crash. According to another study—this one by the American Automobile Association—teens make up only 7% of the driving population. Yet they account for 14% of the crashes.

In fact, for the ages 15-19, car accidents are the number one cause of death. So what can you do to keep your child from becoming a fatality on the roads of Miami? Follow these three tips.

Supervise Experience

Conventional wisdom says that teens crash cars because they are thrill seekers. That’s simply not the case. One study proved that recklessness was not the number one reason for teen car accidents. Lack of experience was the number one reason.

What can you do as a parent to help your child? Supervise lots of driving time. Spend a Sunday afternoon driving through some unpopulated roads. Talk them through different scenarios. Ask them, what they would do if they blew a tire? What would they do if it started raining? The idea is to role-play.

Limit Night Driving Time

Teens like to drive at night because that’s when their friends are out. But the conditions and circumstances of night driving are dramatically different than during the day. Add on the possibility that they’ll attend a party where there is alcohol—and you have trouble on your hands.

It’s best to limit the amount of time your teen drives at night to one or two nights a week and definitely not during the weekend. If that seems excessive, give them a curfew. And if they have a job at night, it’s okay to ask them to come home right after work. Their life is at stake.

Buffer Peer Influence

Teens naturally care about what their friends think about them. They listen to their advice—whether it’s good or not—and look for their approval. It’s your job as a parent to minimize the impact peer influence will have on your teen driver.

How can you do that? First, reduce the number of passengers in your teen’s car. Ask them to allow only one passenger into the car at a time. Second, prohibit certain individuals you know to be trouble. Don’t allow a misfit to encourage your teen into reckless driving or worse—drunk driving. And if they break these rules, make the consequences stiff, like taking away the car.

Conclusion

If some of these suggestions sound stiff or excessive, remember your teen’s life is at stake, especially during the first 500 miles of their driving experience when most crashes occur.

And if you or a loved one has been involved in a tragic car accident in Miami due to the mistakes or recklessness of other drivers, contact Miami auto accidents lawyers, The Killino Firm, P.C. today and we’ll evaluate your case to determine whether it has true merit. If so, we will fight tirelessly on your behalf.

Share This Article

Related Posts

  1. Make Your Journey Safe by Short Term Car Insurance
  2. Work towards Getting a Cheap Car Insurance
  3. Short Term Car Insurance Provides Lesser Auto Insurance Rate
  4. Why is it Hard to Get Car Insurance for Women Under 25?
  5. Three Reasons To Buy Short Term Car Insurance

Comments

Leave a Reply




-->