Nat’l Teen Driver Safety Week Set To Begin

Parents and their teen drivers are strongly encouraged to participate in National Teen Driver Safety Week, a special week designated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to bring awareness to the importance of safe driving habits for teens. The NHTSA has set aside the third week of October for this important cause, making October 18 to 24 this years National Teen Driver Safety Week.

Each year, more than 2,500 teens are killed in car accidents, and approximately 130,000 teens are injured. In Arizona, motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among teenagers 15 to 17-years-old.

To help decrease the odds a teen driver will be involved in a car accident, parents should consider sharing the Five to Drive rules with their teenager. A nationwide survey suggests both parents and teens agree on what constitutes unsafe driving, and therefore sharing the Five to Drive rules will help parents form a lasting bond with their teen, as well as potentially help save their life.

The Five to Drive rules are:

1. Always Wear A Seatbelt. Seatbelts save lives. In fact, approximately 55% of teens who died in car accidents in 2012 were not wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash. Insist your teen get in the habit of putting on their seatbelt every time they get in a vehicle. The habit will soon become second nature, and will help keep your teen driver or teen passenger alive.
2. Never Text and Drive. Driving while distracted greatly increases the odds that your teen will be involved in a car accident, and texting or any other cellphone use while driving involves three types of potentially deadly distractions: visual, manual, and cognitive. This means your teen is more likely to take their eyes off the road, their hands off the wheel, and their mind off of driving altogether when they text and drive.
3. Obey the Speed Limit at all Times. Oftentimes, inexperienced drivers will drive too fast for road or weather conditions, and teen drivers in particular are more likely to speed in order to impress friends or show off their vehicles performance capabilities. Make sure your teenager knows the risks involved with speeding, and encourage them to drive the speed limit at all times.
4. One DriverOne Passenger. Studies show that teen drivers are more likely to engage in distracted or risky behavior when more than one passenger is in the vehicle with them. Make sure your teen driver has no more than one passenger with them every time they are behind the wheel, no matter how short their intended trip may be.
5. Never Drink and Drive. Although the legal drinking age is 21, statistics show that one-third of teen drivers killed in car accidents were intoxicated at the time of the crash. Please insist your teen driver never drinks and drives, and insist they follow this rule all the way through adulthood as well.

If your teen has been injured in an auto accident, turn to the experienced car accident lawyers at Phillips Law Group today.

Call 1-800-706-3000 or fill out our FREE Case Evaluation Form.