What Parents Can Do About Teen Driving in Florida
Just about every teenager looks forward to the day they get in the driver’s seat of a car and experience the freedom and independence of having a driver’s license for the very first time. But there is an ugly side to this freedom that we see all too often.
One teen car accident is enough to make the rate of teen car accidents in Florida much too high. Fortunately, there is something we can do as parents and guardians along with the Teen Safe Driving Coalition to help protect our teens and promote safe driving.
About The Teen Safe Driving Coalition
Established by The Allstate Foundation and the NSC, the Teen Safe Driving Coalition is comprised of local and state governments, public health and law enforcement agencies, injury prevention and traffic safety organizations, businesses, parents, teens, accident survivors and members of academia.
The coalition works to educate parents and teens about safe driving and provide them with safe driving techniques. So far, efforts have been fruitful. This success is due to its Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) program, which has been proven to reduce teen driving accident risks by between 20 and 40 percent.
The GDL program seeks to provide the following benefits:
– Maximizing driving exposure while reducing teens’ exposure to high risk situations
– Minimizing teen nighttime driving
– Minimizing teens carrying other teen or underage passengers
We too can reduce teen car accidents in Florida by educating our parents and teens and recreating the success of the GDL program as experienced in other states.
How Parents Can Contribute to the Coalition
Parents can contribute to the coalition by committing to the following:
- Help teens to gain experience driving at night by driving with an experienced adult
- Talk openly with teens about effectively managing distractions such as cell phone use
- Drive with teens on a regular basis to ensure safe driving habits
- Access weekly driving lessons as well as a contract outlining stipulations that both teen(s) and parent(s) agree to adhere to on DriveItHome.org. This contract is known as the New Driver Deal.
One can clearly see there are many ways in which parents, guardians, and teachers can contribute to the Coalition to ensure safe driving habits among teens. In this collaborative effort, we can all work together to reduce distracted driving, reduce car accident fatalities, and keep teens safe.
Also Read : Taming the Teen Auto Accident Pandemic
