Driving and Teens
How to Ease Your Worries About your Teen Driving
A significant rite of passage into adulthood in today's world occurs when a person earns his or her driver's license. Adolescents who have reached the legal age to drive are gaining a mobility that offers new opportunities and choices, along with new risks. With increased mobility and independence, teens also have more opportunity for the exploration of risky behaviours.
Remember your first car? A set of wheels is every teenager's dream and parents’ nightmare. If your child is learning to drive, whether it's in a family car or one of his or her own, these pointers can help you reduce the inevitable risks.
Driving Instruction:
Professional driving instruction is an excellent way to begin the driving experience at any age. Comprehensive driving courses emphasize safety and spend a great deal of time impressing new drivers with the dangers and responsibilities of being behind the wheel. They help instill good driving habits from the beginning. You can inquire at Young Drivers of BC.
Choose a Safe Car for Your Teen:
These tips are compiled from information adapted from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the Insurance Information Institute and from USAA magazine.
What to Avoid
Problems of Street-Racing:
Young drivers today are surrounded by messages in movies and TV that depict street racing as glamorous and fun, but there are also the tragic news stories about the unfortunate results of street-racing. Young drivers need to be made aware of the risks involved in street-racing, and about local street-racing laws and the consequences they incur. The logical strategy is to reach youth through driver education courses such as those offered by Young Drivers of BC.
In 2003, a grass-roots enthusiast group started an innovative program in California to address this issue, called Racers Against Street Racing (RASR). It was designed to promote legal alternatives to illegal street racing. The group educates new drivers about the dangers of street racing and aggressive driving stunts by offering them legal racing opportunities at local racetracks. The tracks provide a controlled environment for the drivers and their vehicles, and offer new drivers the opportunity to improve the performance and appearance of their vehicles. Some racetracks also include car shows, climbing walls, live music performances and foam play pits. Young drivers can get their adrenalin rush in a much safer way.
Remember your first car? A set of wheels is every teenager's dream and parents’ nightmare. If your child is learning to drive, whether it's in a family car or one of his or her own, these pointers can help you reduce the inevitable risks.
Driving Instruction:
Professional driving instruction is an excellent way to begin the driving experience at any age. Comprehensive driving courses emphasize safety and spend a great deal of time impressing new drivers with the dangers and responsibilities of being behind the wheel. They help instill good driving habits from the beginning. You can inquire at Young Drivers of BC.
Choose a Safe Car for Your Teen:
These tips are compiled from information adapted from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the Insurance Information Institute and from USAA magazine.
What to Avoid
- Steer clear of sports cars and other vehicles with a performance image. Sports cars, muscle cars and vehicles with performance features- such as turbo charging - can encourage speeding.
- Avoid vehicles that pose a rollover risk because they have higher centers of gravity. Less-experienced drivers may be more likely than those with more experience to use abrupt steering motions, which can cause rollovers. This can happen when teens are fooling around, showing off in front of friends or simply over-correcting on a turn. Under these circumstances, a more stable vehicle would, at worst, skid or spin out.
- A basic model with a more staid image (a family sedan, for example) can reduce the chance that your teenager will be in a speed-related crash.
- Choose a mid- or full-size vehicle. Check the safety ratings and choose a vehicle with good crash protection. Stay away from small vehicles. Because of their size and weight, small cars offer significantly less protection in crashes.
- Choose a newer vehicle. Late-model vehicles offer better safety equipment. For example, according to the Insurance Information Institute, a newer midsize car with air bags is a better choice than an older, larger vehicle without them. Most of today's cars offer better crash protection than those made six to 10 years ago. Improved crush zones, better-designed safety cages, antilock brakes and air bags are among the new safety features that older vehicles may lack.
Problems of Street-Racing:
Young drivers today are surrounded by messages in movies and TV that depict street racing as glamorous and fun, but there are also the tragic news stories about the unfortunate results of street-racing. Young drivers need to be made aware of the risks involved in street-racing, and about local street-racing laws and the consequences they incur. The logical strategy is to reach youth through driver education courses such as those offered by Young Drivers of BC.
In 2003, a grass-roots enthusiast group started an innovative program in California to address this issue, called Racers Against Street Racing (RASR). It was designed to promote legal alternatives to illegal street racing. The group educates new drivers about the dangers of street racing and aggressive driving stunts by offering them legal racing opportunities at local racetracks. The tracks provide a controlled environment for the drivers and their vehicles, and offer new drivers the opportunity to improve the performance and appearance of their vehicles. Some racetracks also include car shows, climbing walls, live music performances and foam play pits. Young drivers can get their adrenalin rush in a much safer way.
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french toll free 1.800.561.1128
TTY 1.888.234.0414
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