There are more than 1,000 car accidents every day in Florida, and teenage drivers are three times more likely to be involved. Texting while driving has become a leading source of business for Florida personal injury attorneys, partly because of teenage drivers. Parents can help protect their children by instilling teens with safe driving habits.
“Every day, car crashes end more teen lives than cancer, homicide and suicide combined,” According to AAA. “Based on miles driven, teen drivers are involved in three times as many fatal crashes as all other drivers.” Experts say that it takes about five years of experience for teen drivers to reach the level of skill of adult motorist. So there is a long learning curve, and it can be steep and dangerous. You can help keep your child safe on the road by being involved in the learning experience. You can set a good example and you can provide guidance and advice. There are resources available to help ensure your teen driver doesn’t cause a distracted driving car accident.
Parents Can Help Prevent Tragedy
“The single most important step you can take to protect the life of your teen is to be actively involved in the learning-to-drive experience,” says AAA. “Understanding the risks and knowing the facts will prepare both you and your teen for the road ahead.”
AAA recommends these key tips for parents to help teen drivers avoid a distracted driving car accident:
- Start by setting a good example with your own driving. As your teen pays more attention to your behavior behind the wheel, you don’t want to pass on bad habits. Keep your mobile devices stowed and focus on driving.
- As you begin to practice driving with your teen, do not allow a cell phone to be used in the vehicle by your or your teen, make an effort to block out other distractions. Also, before your teen starts driving solo, adopt a Parent-Teen Driving Agreement that lays out strict rules related to distraction.
- Explain to your teen driver how to minimize various potential distractions, such as eating, drinking, chatting with a passenger, reading a map, personal grooming, reaching for things in the car or looking at people or objects unrelated to the driving task. These are among the most common causes of a distracted driving car accident.
- When you are supervising your teen’s practice driving, stay off the phone and help your teen pay attention to the road. Don’t make electronic distractions an acceptable part of driving. Plus, you don’t want to cause a distracted driving car accident while trying to teach safety.
- Prohibit your teen from riding with teen drivers or transporting other teens during the learning-to-drive process. One of the most dangerous sources of distraction for teen drivers, whether due to horseplay, loud music, rowdy behavior or peer pressure, is teen passengers. A Foundation for Traffic Safety study found that carrying passengers, particularly other teens, greatly increases crash risk for drivers under age 18.
AAA also offers a “StartSmart” online session. It’s a two-hour traffic safety webinar where parents can learn the best ways to teach a teenager safe driving habits.
Help Prevent a Distracted Driving Car Accident
Awareness is the key. This chart shows the actions most likely to cause a distracted driving car accident. It is vital to impress upon your teen driver how important it is to pay attention to the road when driving. Does your child engage in any of these unsafe actions when driving? Most likely, they do. They probably don’t realize the risks.
Please share this information with your teenaged drivers. At Martinez Manglardi, we care about our community and we want to help keep our youngsters safe. Please take time to learn these safety tips and to share what you can with your children. Our lives and well-being depend on it.
The Orlando car accident attorney law offices of Martinez Manglardi, PA is a full-service Central Florida personal injury law firm. We have been helping accident injury victims recover losses for more than 30 years. If you need legal help after being injured in an accident, call 407-846-2240 for a free consultation. Offices throughout Central Florida.
