Driving is not devoid of risk, but even more so for teenage drivers. Statistics show that teenagers have higher crash risk than ay other age group. Their higher crash risk is due to their lack of maturity, risky driving behaviors, and distractions.
Signing your teen up for formal driving lessons in Durham can help lower his or her crash risk considerably. As an informed parent, you should take a more active role in teaching your teenager how to drive safely. You should discuss the many perils that young drivers face with your child.
Teen drivers, particularly males, have a penchant for over speeding and allowing smaller headways. However, severe collisions usually result from going beyond the speed limit. Your teen should be told that he should maintain adequate headway so that he can “see the bigger picture” of the road ahead of him. The more space they allow between their vehicle and the vehicle ahead, the more time they will have to see and avoid a hazard or collision down the road. At least a three-second “space cushion” when following other vehicles is recommended. What this means is that when a vehicle ahead passes a stationary object, say a signpost, you should pass the same object in three or more seconds, not less.
In most instances, teen drivers adopt these risky driving behaviors whenever they are with their peers. You should remind your child that statistically, the more teen passengers he has, the higher the risk of collision will be. Teen drivers are most at risk when driving at night, especially on weekends. Before you give your child the permission to use a car at night, make sure he has already received training from you to drive during such time of day in different weather, road, and traffic conditions. In addition, you should not commence night driving until your young driver has become comfortable in operating a vehicle during the day.
Additionally, you need to talk about with your teen about the dangers associated with impaired driving due to intake of alcohol or drugs. Any amount of alcohol impairs a person’s judgment, and illicit drugs are not only harmful but also illegal. Tell your child to leave the car at home if he intends to drink, and never to hitch a ride home with a drunk driver.
Adding to their crash risk is their habit of not using the seatbelt. Fastening a seatbelt can mean the difference that will save your teen from severe injuries or death because it decreases the likelihood of you being thrown from the car in the event of an accident. Click here for pointers on choosing where to obtain driving schools Durham.