As a parent, you want to give your teen every defensive driving tip available to keep them safe while they are out on the road. It is important to discuss the importance of safe and defensive driving with your teen, as well as practice the same defensive driving tips yourself. While your teen will learn the rules of the road, it is important to practice these safe driving habits with your teen. Unfortunately, teens forget all too fast what they have learned and often become lazy in practicing good driving habits.

The basic defensive driving tips – looking ahead, planning ahead, driving at a safe distance, and removing distractions – are the same defensive driving tips for teens, however, they need a little extra reminder. Here are just a few reminders for your teen:

  • Teens always need to check their side and rear mirrors for proper position. This is one of the first areas that is skipped when teens become lazy about driving. They need to ensure their mirrors are in the proper position so they can be aware of their surroundings at all times.
  • Teens seem to forget to use their turn signals when they become complacent with driving. They must use their turn signals to prevent unnecessary accidents.
  • Teens need to be reminded to wear their safety belts every time, no matter where they are in the vehicle. This is often the result of bad habits from childhood. This should be instilled in your child from a young age, which should carry through to their teen driving years.
  • Teens are distracted easily. Distraction is the number one cause of teen accidents. All distractions must be kept to a minimum. Passengers in the vehicle need to not cause distractions for the teen driver, no cell phones should be used – EVER, and even music must be kept at a minimum.

Teens are often more emotional when it comes to driving, therefore, it is important to teach them to not let their emotions take over their judgment. They may become flustered because someone honked their horn at them, or they may feel pressured to go through a yellow light because they are running late. Your teen should know that when they feel flustered, their emotions have taken over their driving at that instance. When this happens, they need to pull over and take a few deep breathes before driving on.

Teen accidents are the number one cause of teen deaths in the US. You do not want your teen to fall into this terrible statistic, so teach your teen defensive driving and help keep them safe on the road.