The first years teenagers spend as drivers are very risky. In fact, teen drivers have the highest death rates of any age group, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

While getting a drivers license is an exciting rite-of-passage for teens, it can be enough to make a parent frantic. Here are some steps parents can take help their teens be safe:

• Pick a safe car.
  You and your teenager should choose a car that is easy to drive and would offer protection in the event of a crash. Avoid small cars and those with high performance images that might encourage speed and recklessness. Trucks and sport utility vehicles (SUVs) should also be avoided, since they are more prone to rollovers.

• Understand your state’s teenage driving laws.
  Many states have specific restrictions on teenage driving, often referred to as Graduated Drivers License laws. You should understand your state’s restrictions and the quality of those restrictions before your teenage begins driving:
  http://www.ghsa.org/html/stateinfo/laws/license_laws.html
  http://www.iihs.org/laws/graduatedlicenseintro.aspx

• Have your teen take a certified driver’s education course.
  A teenager who has learned to drive through a recognized driver’s education course may be viewed more favorably by insurers. In some states, teens must take a driver’s education course if they want to get a license at age 16; otherwise, they have to wait until they are 18. The more driving practice they have, the more confident your teen will be behind the wheel, and the better able to react to challenging situations on the road.

• Enroll your teen in additional safe driver programs.
  There are many additional “safe driver” programs that can provide additional assistance for teenage drivers. Check in your community, with your child’s school or with your insurance company to find such programs—if your teenager completes the program, you may be eligible for additional insurance discounts. In addition, some insurers now offer discounts for parents and teens who install tracking devices in the car. Parents can monitor and provide coaching on their children’s driving with a small global positioning system (GPS) device fastened to the dashboard. The GPS is connected to a Web site that lets parents set limits on their children’s driving. For example, if the car goes over a certain speed, or ventures too far from home or school, the parents will automatically receive a message.

• Talk to your teen about the dangers of combining driving with alcohol, drugs, lack of sleep and distractions.
  Teach your children about the dangers of drinking and driving, and other distractions. Accidents occur each year because a teen driver was driving while drinking, using a cellphone, text messaging, playing with the radio or CD controls, or talking to friends in the backseat. Also, teens should be careful not to create distractions and to exhibit safe behavior when they are passengers in their friends’ cars.

• Be a good role model.
  New drivers learn by example, so if you drive recklessly, your teenage driver may imitate you. Always wear your seatbelt and never drink and drive.

• Complete a parent-teen driving contract with your teen.
• Click here for the parent-teen driving contract page 

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• Automobile accidents are the number one killer of our nation’s youth.
• Drivers under the age of 20 were involved in 13% of all accidents, yet they account for only 5% of all drivers.
• 5,000 teenagers die each year from auto accidents.
• Alcohol is responsible for almost half of all teen motor vehicle deaths.
• 25% of all teen accidents involve speeding.
• Half of all teenage traffic fatalities occur between 6:00 p.m. Friday and 3:00 a.m. Sunday.
• In one year, drivers 19 and under were involved in close to 3 million motor vehicle accidents.
• The price of a bad decision can include injury to yourself or others, loss of life, loss of life style or loss of personal freedom.

Source: Insurance Information Institute; www.iii.org

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Top safety picks for 2012

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If your teenager has just gotten a driver’s license, it may be hard to imagine handing over the keys to your brand new car, but that may be the smartest vehicle to choose.

However, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and the Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.) say there is something worried parents can do to protect their teens – choose a safe vehicle.

• Avoid vehicles that encourage reckless driving. Teen drivers not only lack experience, but may also lack maturity. As a result, speeding and reckless driving are common. When you’re picking a vehicle for your teen, avoid sports cars or other vehicles with high performance features that could encourage speeding or other reckless driving.
• Don’t let your teen drive an unstable vehicle. Sport utility vehicles, especially the smaller ones, are inherently less stable than cars because of their higher centers of gravity. Abrupt steering maneuvers – the kind that can occur when teens are distracted or over-correcting a driver error – can be more likely to cause rollovers. A more stable car would, at worst, skid or spin out.
• Pick a vehicle that offers good crash protection. Teenagers should drive vehicles that offer state-of-the-art protection in case they do crash.
• Don’t let your teen drive a small vehicle. Small vehicles offer much less protection in crashes than larger ones. However, this doesn’t mean you should put your child in the largest vehicle you can find. Many mid- and full-size cars offer more than adequate crash protection. Check out the safety ratings for mid-size and larger cars.
• Avoid older vehicles. Most of today’s cars are better designed for crash protection than cars of six to ten years ago. For example, a newer, mid-size car with airbags would be a better choice than an older, larger car without airbags. Before you make a final choice on the car your teenager will drive, consult the U.S. Department of Transportation or the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

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Responsible driving behavior needs to be an ongoing conversation with your teen, starting with the Teen – Parent driving contract. The act of creating the contract will prompt an important dialogue between you and your teen driver. Experience shows that discussing expectations and consequences and committing them to writing, makes them more effective in shaping behavior.

What is the parent–teen driving contract

A written set of rules that your teen agrees to follow while driving and a list of consequences that will occur if the rules are broken.

How it helps

This contract will make clear what safe driving rules are and reduce arguments when consequences are enforced. Better driving habits will help to reduce the risk of accidents with teens.

Click here for the Travelers Insurance parent-teen driving contract.

By Jared Ullrich

When it comes to driving statistics, especially TEEN DRIVING STATISTICS, the numbers can get pretty scary. The main cause of death and major impairment amongst the youth population is by far auto accidents. In fact, teens are three times more likely to be involved in a fatal auto accident than any other driver on the road.

At Ullrich Insurance Agency, we highly recommend the parent-teen driving contract for all families with teen drivers.   

As you go through the contract, point by point, you not only discuss each of the areas of danger that your teen will encounter while driving, but the document itself also contains many interesting and relevant statistics for each danger.  Reviewing this document with your teen will open up an important conversation that could potentially save your teen’s life.

There is a reason why auto insurance rates skyrocket when a teen reaches the ripe age of sixteen and takes his or her rightful place behind the wheel of mom and dad’s car. Young drivers are a lot riskier.

Statistics show the the main cause of accidents and death amongst teen drivers is not driving impared under the influence of alcohol or drugs, it is not falling asleep at the wheel, it is not speeding…. it is driver error.

Teen drivers make simple mistakes at the wheel that can cost them their lives.  

“Experience shows that discussing expectations and consequences and committing them to writing, makes them more effective in shaping behavior.”

If you see value in the parent-teen driving contract, feel free to pass this link on to your friends and family.  As our teens enter the cars of other teens, don’t we hope that they are just as safe?

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In today’s world, it seems almost cliche to say that “texting while driving is dangerous.” This is a piece of advice that everyone seems to know but too few people seem to follow.

Maybe we think that we are so good at texting while driving that the rule doesn’t apply to us. Though this is a natural feeling, we need to be careful.

On December 27, 2010, AT&T came out with a powerful campaign called “It Can Wait,” that includes a powerful ten minute video called “The Last Text.” It highlights the stories of four youth and their deadly experiences with texting while driving. The powerful message of the video is especially driven home when they youth show the actual last texts of those who were killed while typing them.

Though you might be a great texter and a great driver, you should reconsider texting while driving.

 The statistics:
-auto collisions and crashes are tne #1 killer of American teenages
-in 2010, there were 4,000 deaths and 400,000 injuries from distracted driving nationwide
-400%: the percentage by which a risk of a driver getting into a serious accident increases when the driver is using a handheld device
-drivers using phones while driving are more likely to be involved in an accident than a driver when a .08 blood alcohol level

What you can do:

-watch this video “The Last Text”

-learn and talk about the real dangers of texting while driving

-take the pledge not to text and drive at http://itcanwait.att.com/

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