Teenage Drivers Involved In Fatal Crashes At 4x The Rate of Other Drivers

[haha]

Teen Drivers in Fatal Crashes 4x More Than Adults

This article says the true reasons are different from the "thrill seeking" that is often blamed.

My sons both lived in the city on their own before they got drivers' licenses in thier late teens- early 20s, and this was a big load off my mind. The younger is late 20s now, and neither has had as much as a fender bender.

Ha

[hakuna matata]

It is my biggest concern with my teenage daughter. It is one reason I enrolled her in a driving school (statistically young drivers who go to driving school get in less accidents). Also one of the reasons I started her driving at age 15 (which is the earliest you can enroll in driving school).

According to the state to get her license she has to have 50 hours driving time with 10 of those hours being at night. I have told her that before she can go get her drivers license she has to pass 'my' school and it requires much much more then 50 hours and many more night hours. She drives at least 3 days a week with me or my wife about 30-45 minutes. Living in Seattle area she has to understand that much of her time driving will be in rain or darkness and she has to be comfortable with that. I figure by the end of the year she will be a damn good driver. The first year with a license is the critical one and I want that first year with me sitting there next to her. By the time she actually gets her license she will be a second year driver and I am hoping that will beat the statistics.

It is also one of the reasons for having her learn to drive a manual transmission. She has told me the following " boy you sure have to pay a lot more attention in a manual then with an automatic" and I believe that is true. You are aware you are driving and your actions have consequences. <btw--she is doing awesome on the manual now, she finally got it>

But it is a crap shoot. We will see what happens but it is one of the few things I do stress about in life. My user name doesn't apply in this situation I am afraid.

[Backpacker]

We live in a very rural area and I worry that my kids won't have any big city, big traffic experience. We had the 16 year old DS drive on our spring break on the major interstate but not in any big cities during rush hour. I'm not sure my blood pressure could have taken it. We hit Nashville about 5:15pm on a Friday. yuk!

[Texas Proud]

A friend of my niece was killed by a big truck when she failed to stop for a stop sign... but I think she was already 20 so maybe her stats are not in this...


But, another niece had her first wreck one week after getting her drivers license... she hit a parked car... IIRC, a week after that she hit another..


Distractions seem to be the big culprit... and they have watched how you drive... but you (more than likely) have experience and know when you need to concentrate more and probably are noticing a lot of things without knowing you are.... where a new driver just does not know to pay attention...

[M Paquette]

Oh, man. This must be the single biggest source of stress in my life. I've gone through 3 teenagers. We still have one (technically not a teenager for the last two weeks) living with us, and every time they were out driving on their own, we were on edge.

The whole car thing is one of the worst parts of parenthood.

[GregLee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Backpacker We live in a very rural area and I worry that my kids won't have any big city, big traffic experience.

Rural experience can be useful. My first driving experience was on my grandfather's farm when I was 10 or so, driving a tractor during wheat harvest. I got the idea that it's good to keep track of where the extreme corners of your vehicle are when I hit the corner of the combine funnel with a grain wagon.

[Moemg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by M Paquette The whole car thing is one of the worst parts of parenthood.

I totally agree !

[LOL!]

My teenage daughter drives better than my wife.
I suspect my teenage son will also drive better than my wife when his turn to learn comes.

[BTravlin]

My 17 year old daughter hit a Burger King while still driving on her permit. Then she was involved in an accident leaving the high school parking lot after school. Talk about being on edge, that place is like a daily game of chicken! And then one evening she swerved to avoid hitting a dog and ran off the road and ran over a few small trees. Fortunately, she has never been injured. We no longer repair her car.

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BTravlin ... leaving the high school parking lot after school. Talk about being on edge, that place is like a daily game of chicken! ...

Maybe I should post this in that "Stress after ER" thread, but I whole-heartedly agree. For about a year, I was picking up my daughter from after-school track practice, until she got her license. I hated getting in/out of that high school parking lot! The whole time I felt like some kid would just blindly run into me from any direction, or maybe multiple directions at the same time!

I thought they should post a parking lot monitor, and take away parking rights from any violators, fine 'em and then auction off the open space. They'd make a tidy profit, and hopefully the kids would wise up.


-ERD50

[haha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ERD50 Maybe I should post this in that "Stress after ER" thread, but I whole-heartedly agree.

Speaking of that, I find that thread as well as others about stress-free retirements a bit beyond believable. As if life wasn't able to serve up plenty of fastballs after we are retired, or our minds were not completely able to find things to stress about with little or no help from the external world.

Seeing the force with with we engage in meaningless arguments also makes me kind of doubt that we are a collection of easy-riders.

Like some wag wrote a book after the fall of the Soviet Union declaring the end of history. Sure it was!

Ha