June 21, 2009
How Do We Control The Teenage Driving Problem
Teenage driving is the cause of worry for lot of worldwide due to incidents of teen crashes leading to fatalities for their children on the road. The main objective towards understanding the problems related to teenage driving is to reduce the teen driver’s exposure to any sort of risk, develop the necessary driving skills in them, and changing their risk taking habit.
The solution doesn’t lie in changing the driving age from 16 to 18 years. This will only have an influence on the Automobile Industry and service sectors linked to it leading to job losses. There will be a large decrese in revenue for all the companies in the Automobile industry or service sectors linked to it. It will only create a problem for manufacturers, gas companies, insurance agents, and driving instructors.
It is important to educate the teens regarding driving rules and make them adhere to these rules in a disciplined manner. It has been found that lack of skills, risk taking behavior, and immaturity are the main reasons that lead to teen crashes. So it is important for the parents to guide their children to avoid such behaviors and develop sufficient skills before they hand them the car keys.
The teen fatality is found to occur on Fridays and weekends between 6 PM to 6 AM. Some of the reasons attributed to this are driving while intoxicated with alcohol, distractions on the road, and not wearing of seat belts.
There are several safety rules laid down by the authorities for the safety of these teenagers but they don’t follow these in a proper manner. Teenagers are supposed to wear seat belts, avoid using gadgets like phones, and avoid driving at midnight except for some practical reasons and drive with a parent or instructor for the first three months after receiving their driving license. The lack of discipline amongst teens to follow these rules is a major concern.
In order to reduce risk for their teen children the parents should also be a part of their driving skills learning program. The parents should partner with their child to teach them defensive driving techniques and driver safety rules. The parent should also share their own driving experiences with their children. This will help them become more mature and prepared to handle any adverse situations.
The parents should also help in modifying the risk taking behavior in their children. The chemical reaction of hormones and other pattern changes in the teenagers’ body makes it difficult for them to avoid their risk taking behavior. So it is important for the parents to formulate a plan and approach regarding traffic safety for their children. It is necessary to understand the situations where the teenager might take risk for the sake of enjoyment. The parents should then help these teens to carefully analyze the repercussions of their act. This might lead to modification of the risk taking behavior for the teen.
The teenagers should be made to join authorized and certified driver education programs that will ensure that they gain the necessary driving skills. The quality of the program content and approach of the instructor also plays a vital role in the knowledge grasping ability of the teen. The parent should monitor the progress of their child and make them aware of the fact that the driver program is just a start to the knowledge gaining activity towards becoming an expert driver.
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