Talk To Your Teen About Safe Driving This Holiday Season

For many parents, the holidays provide a great opportunity to spend time with children who may otherwise be away at college or busy with school and activities. While you are having family time and enjoying your celebrations this holiday, it may be a good idea to use the time to take care of something very important: talking to your kids about safe driving.

Winter presents a great risk to kids, especially to teen drivers who may not be familiar with driving in bad weather. Not only that, but the risk of auto accidents is increased in winter and kids may spend more time driving over the holidays when they are home for break or celebrating with their friends.

Our Knoxville injury attorneys want to emphasize to parents the serious risks that teen drivers face. The CDC statistics show that car accident deaths are the number one killer of teens, and other studies indicate that teens are more likely to text and drive and more likely to drive when they are fatigued than older drivers. By taking the time to discuss safe driving principles with your kids and to set up some basic ground rules over the holidays, you may be able to help your teen to stay safe.

Talking to Your Kids About Driver Safety

Tennessee provides a number of tips for parents who want to help their children to become safer drivers. On the website of the Department of Safety & Homeland Security, for example, they offer some guidance on setting a good example when driving with your teen as well as on educating your teen about driving safety.

They also address some of the key issues that impact driver safety and that parents should discuss with their children. These include:

• Emphasizing the importance of seat belts. Not only do seat belts save lives but not wearing a seat belt can also result in a teen getting a ticket. Law enforcement has cracked down on those who don’t wear seat belts through the Click It or Ticket enforcement program.
• Warning teens of the dangers of drunk driving. Drunk driving is illegal and there are zero tolerance rules in Tennessee for teenage drivers. Not only that, but statistics show that more than 15 percent of teenage drivers involved in fatal wrecks had been drinking at the time of the crash.
• Emphasizing that speeding is very risky behavior. Between 2003 and 2008, more than 14,000 teenage drivers between the ages of 16 and 19 were involved in speeding-related wrecks. Parents also need to emphasize that just going the speed limit may not be enough to stay safe. Driving speed should always be adjusted for the current road, traffic and weather conditions.
• Forbidding distracted driving. Teens should be absolutely forbidden from texting and driving or using cell phones when driving. Other dangerous driving behaviors to skip include grooming, putting on makeup or playing with in-car controls like music systems. Distracted driving is extremely dangerous and teens need to keep their eyes on the road.

Parents should discuss these and other issues with their children. The holidays when the whole family is together present a great time to go over these important safe driving tips and to monitor your teen’s driving behavior to make sure that no unnecessary or dangerous actions are going on.

When teenagers don’t follow the rules and behave in an unsafe way behind the wheel, the consequences can be tragic and may include serious injury or death not only of the teen driver but also of passengers and of other innocent victims on the roads.

If you are interested in pursuing a Knoxville wrongful death case, contact G. Turner Howard III, Attorney at Law at (844) G3-Help-Me or 865-558-8030.