Our Knoxville accident attorneys know that more teens and young people die in auto accidents than from any other cause. Unfortunately, teen drivers are inexperienced and make dangerous driving decisions such as driving while distracted or even driving drunk. Teens are also less likely than any other age group to wear their seat belts, which increases the risk of serious injury when an accident happens. Mothers Against Drunk Driving has dubbed the period between Memorial Day and Labor Day the 100 Deadliest Days of the year for young drivers.
Parents who are concerned about teen accident risks should know that there are ways to help make kids safer. Reducing teen auto accidents requires talking to your kids about dangerous driving behaviors and also modeling good behaviors yourself.
Parent Behavior Can Affect Teen Car Accident Risks
According to the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, parents play an influential role in how their kids drive. A parent who takes dangerous risks, who texts or talks on the phone or who drives in an unsafe way is more likely to have a child who does the same since kids tend to model what they see.
Unfortunately, many parents are not modeling safe driving behavior. In fact, Autos by Sympatico indicates that as many as 90 percent of parents admitted to using their GPS devices or using their cell phones to talk or text while driving. As many as 40 percent of parents said that they had been distracted by their cell phone or by caring for their kids on more than half of all trips they had taken over the course of the month.
Kids who see their parents on their phones or distracted while driving may come to believe that this behavior is OK and may do the same themselves once old enough to drive. Unfortunately, this can significantly increase the risk of a car wreck. Not only does this endanger the teen who makes the choice to model dangerous driving behavior, but it also endangers passengers in the car with the young driver and other motorists on the road.
Parents who set a good example and who take a tough stance on safe driving, on the other hand, can achieve positive change and make their kids safer. As the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) has reported, when kids see their parents as authoritative, they are 70 percent less likely to drive drunk and 30 percent less likely to use a cell phone while behind the wheel.
This reduction in dangerous behaviors, coupled with the fact that they are more likely to buckle up when driving, means that kids with authoritative parents get into crashes about half as often as those who believe their parents are uninvolved.
Collectively, these studies make an important point that every parent should be aware of: parents can affect how safe their kids are behind the wheel. If you model safe driving behavior, avoid driving while distracted and talk to your teens about driving safely, then your teens are more likely to make smart choices and less likely to become involved in a car wreck that could cause serious injury or even death.
If you are hurt in a Knoxville car accident, contact G. Turner Howard III, Attorney at Law at (844) G3-Help-Me or 865-558-8030.
