Are Older Teen Drivers a Greater Risk?

Teen drivers often become overconfident after one or two years of driving.

They tend to indulge in frivolous driving habits and put themselves and others at risk. Liberty Mutual is the fourth largest insurer in the US and has its branches in 30 countries. SADD or Students Against Destructive Decisions is the foremost organization which aims at preventing destructive attitudes and behaviors that are harmful to the youngsters.

ORC International was commissioned by these two organizations to conduct a quantitative survey to measure teen driving behaviors and attitudes. The survey was done in April- May 2017 and 2,800 teens were involved in it. The Teen Driving Study also included 1,000 parents of teenage drivers who possessed a license.

Research Findings

The study reveals that 57% of the senior teen drivers who consider themselves to be safe drivers experience accidents while only 34% of their younger peers face accidents.

Only 55% of the teens who are above 18 are concerned that they may lose their license if they get involved in an accident while 70% of the teens in the age group of 15 – 16 are worried about losing their driving privileges.

The survey shows that 75% of the older teens are confident about their driving skills. 71% of these teens tend to use phones when they are driving while only 55% of the younger teens indulge in such a habit. They mostly attend to a phone call or send a SMS at a stop sign or a red light.

What Role Do Parents Play?

As teens gain more freedom and their responsibilities increase at home, they tend to feel like adults. Parents play a significant role in influencing the driving habits of teenage drivers. They can set a good example for the teens and also guide them suitably.

Parents should continue to guide and practice with the teens – It has been noticed that nearly 40% of parents stop practicing with their teens after they get their license. This is not the right approach. In fact, parents can play a very important role in guiding the youngsters and encouraging safe driving habits by continuously practicing driving with them.

They can use the latest apps to monitor the teen drivers – Parents can use modern apps to monitor the driving behaviors of their teens. The app can be used to track and score their driving behavior on the basis of phone usage, speeding, acceleration and hard braking while driving.

They can encourage safe driving by rewarding the right driving behavior. For example, instead of repetitively telling the teens about bad driving habits and their consequences, parents can give small rewards to them for safe driving and thereby encourage responsible driving habits.

Set some family driving rules and let your teens know what driving rules are to be expected by family members.