Teen Driving Tips: Five Ways To Stay Sane
(NAPSI)—When your teen is officially licensed to operate a vehicle, you may feel simultaneously proud—and terrified. Following these five tips, however, can help.
Model Your Expectations
Your teens grew up watching you drive, learning your habits and creating their own concept of “safe driver” based on your actions. Parents of new teen drivers should follow all the rules of the road, which includes keeping smartphones out of reach or paired with hands-free systems.
Provide Practical Knowledge
Adults pick up all sorts of useful car knowledge over a lifetime of driving. Most teenagers don’t have any practical skills. Parents need to provide useful knowledge, including:
• How to change a tire—Show teenagers where the spare tire is, how to access the jack and what steps they need to safely change a tire. Get outside and get your hands dirty.
• What to have on hand—This includes a spare GPS in the glove box, a first-aid kit in the backseat or trunk, snow shovel, a jerrican and blankets or warm clothing in case they become stranded.
Create A Contract
According to Drive It Home, one way to help improve teen driving safety is creating a “new driver” contract, signed by both the parents and the teen. Lay out specific rules and expectations, such as when the car can be used or what the consequences of breaking the law or damaging the vehicle would be. Include provisions for expanding privileges if your teens keep up their end of the contract.
Talk About Accidents
Teens need to know what they should do if an accident occurs. In all cases—even minor parking lot scrapes—teenagers must have their insurance information on hand and request the same from any other drivers involved. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “drivers ages 16 to 19 are nearly three times more likely than drivers aged 20 and older to be in a fatal crash.” Mitigate the risk by talking frankly about accidents with your teen.
Get Real-Time Peace Of Mind
You can have the benefit of real-time crash alerts, vehicle speed monitoring, easy access to roadside assistance and one-touch emergency SOS with the ADT Go app. Get notifications when your teenagers get home from school and get driving reports on your teenagers’ trips; you’ll have peace of mind and they’ll have their independence.
Learn More
For further facts, see www.adt.com/go.
“Parents of teenage drivers can get notifications when their teenagers get home from school, real-time crash alerts, vehicle speed monitoring, easy access to roadside assistance and one-touch emergency SOS with the ADT Go app. http://bit.ly/2vhj31O”
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