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Teen Driving Conversation Guide for Parents

How to Start a Group Discussion on Teen driving

Bring together the parents of your children’s closest friends and talk about the limits you’ve placed on your teen’s driving.
Work through your community association to have a meeting for parents.
Talk to the adult leaders of groups your teen is involved with – sports teams, school band, church youth group, after school clubs, etc. – about setting up a meeting for parents.
Ask community groups and business that employee large numbers of teens to facilitate conversations about teen driving.

Things to Talk About:

Parents Are Role Models: Teens say that the greatest role models they have are their parents. If you speed, tailgate and run red lights your teen is likely too as well. Remember: There’s no better role model than you.

Seat Belts Save Lives: If your teen is allowed to transport other passengers encourage them to insist that everyone who rides with them wear their seat belts – regardless of age or where they sit in the vehicle. Compared with other age groups, teens have the lowest rate of seat belt use.

Cell Phones: Distracted drivers representing all age groups are a factor in 25 percent to 50 percent of all vehicle crashes. Remind your teen that driving requires full attention, so wait to use the phone at a safe time and place if possible. Again, remember there’s no better role model than you.

Review Your Sate's Laws

Look at your state’s graduated driver licensing law as a baseline.

Nighttime Curfews: The nighttime (9:00 pm – 6:00 am) fatal crash risk for 16-year old drivers is particularly high, about two times the daytime (6:00 am – 9:00 pm) risk. Many states already have a night time restriction so check the law and use the information to set a reasonable curfew for your teen.

Encourage parent car-pools for special occasions, such as dances or other school events. Night time crash rates are generally higher, as well as alcohol related crashes, during the early morning hours. If the night time restriction in your state starts at midnight or if your state doesn't have one – talk about ways you can all carpool to keep teens off the road even earlier at night.
Passenger Restrictions: Teen passengers distract teen drivers. One of the most effective GDL provisions is strict passenger restrictions. If you are comfortable restricting your teen from carrying passengers for the first six months to a year once they are licensed, talk to other parents to see if they will enforce the same limits.

If you can’t get people to agree at least talk about the driving restrictions your teen faces and encourage them to tell their children that they can’t ride in the car with your teen for a period of time and that your teen isn’t allowed in their car without adult supervision.

Look Out for Each Other's Kids

Extend the “neighborhood watch” principle to teens in the neighborhood: Share the rules in your house with your neighbors and close friends. The more people looking out for your teen the better.

Talk With Other Parents: Use extra curricular activities to talk to other parents. These events provide a perfect opportunity to talk about teen driving, as well as other social issues facing teens.

Put it in Writing!

Once everyone has talked about the issues surrounding safe driving, make a commitment to each other by filling out a contract outlining how each parent will do their part to help keep each other's teens safe. For a contract template, click here.

Seat Belts Save Lives: One of the major reasons teens are killed or seriously injured when involved in traffic crashes is because they weren't using their seat belts!

An analysis of federal crash data shows that more than two-thirds of teen occupants killed in crashes were not wearing safety belts.