Tag Archives: drivers

How to Protect Your Teen Driver #JustDrive

‘Tis the season for scary stories, because you know, it’s National Teen Driver Safety Week.

Did you think we were going to say Halloween?

Well, ghouls and goblins don’t frighten us because we have teen drivers. Three of them between us. If that doesn’t give you a shiver down your spine, well, you’re not the ones getting pushed out of the driver’s seat every day.

How To Protect Your Teen Driver  - Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

You’re either in our driving moccasins or you’ll be there sooner than you think and you need to be ready. We don’t mean hiding all the car keys, althooooooooough we have considered that more than once. We mean that you need to have some serious talks with your kids long before they ever hit the open road. You also need to be ready to walk the talk, or rather, drive the drive. It’s time to be the best role model ever.

How To Protect Your Teen Driver  - Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

This is not a moment to hold back. Tell your kids about your scariest moments, your smartest moments, even your most regrettable moments, and then show them what a good driver looks like. Kids don’t have wisdom from experience yet, so share yours with abandon.

Between January-June 2014, the IKnowEverything program conducted game show-style events at a sampling of high schools across the country. During this time, the program asked students questions about driving scenarios. Forty-three percent of the students reported wishing they had more knowledge on how to handle different driving situations.

How To Protect Your Teen Driver  - Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

Even though it may often not feel like it, research shows that parents are the most influential driving instructors for their teens. You can’t just assume they “got it all” in Driver Ed. You must get talking and get role modeling about what a safe driver looks like.

In particular, point out  (again and again) that safe drivers:

  • Obey the speed limit.
  •  Wear a seat belt.
  •  Don’t talk or text on the phone while driving.
  •  Don’t drive drunk.
  •  Don’t drive when too tired.

To learn more, check out this video from our teens. Be sure to stick around for the outtakes because they prove even serious conversations can be fun.

 

The #JustDrive campaign is from I Know Everything whose mission is to protect teens from drunk and distracted driving and to empower parents to be good role models. You have to love that! You can find more of their resources here.

Tell us how you think our kids did in the comments!

We were compensated by Responsibility.org for writing about National Teen Driver Safety Week, but all opinions and adorable teens are our own. We are grateful I Know Everything is available to us as a resource and we wanted you to know about it too.

You can follow us on Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.

Check out our books, please, “I Just Want to Be Alone” and “You Have Lipstick on Your Teeth.”

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