In mid-January, Travelers released the results of a large nationwide survey of licensed teen drivers, ages 16 to 18, and their parents. The study, conducted in October 2013, involved 1,002 teen drivers (65 percent female, 35 percent male), and 1,004 parents of licensed teens. That is, this study was large and comprehensive enough to command our attention. While confirming a variety of points about parent-teen communication about driving, the survey also contains several results that reveal stark differences between teens and parents about driving risk — differences that should constitute a wakeup call for parents.
Many of the survey’s statistics affirm what we would expect — and hope for — in parent-teen driver relationships:
- 90 percent of licensed teens have had a “talk” with a parent about safe teen driving;
- Parents’ confidence in their young drivers, and teens’ confidence in their own driving, are comparable, and increase with the teen driver’s age;
- Teens view their parents as critical role models for their driving skills and attitudes;
- Parents are most often a teen’s first driving instructor, but this role eventually gives way to a professional instructor, and that instructor is generally regarded as better suited to teach a teen;
- Boys are more confident in their driving than girls;
- About one third of teens experience peer pressure (that is, from other teens) while driving;
- Driver Education classes and state Motor Vehicle Departments are the primary sources for families of safe driving information.
These are the results we can celebrate. But the survey goes on to report on several troubling “disconnects”:
- Those teens who have not had a safe driving discussion with a parent had double the number of crashes as those who had the benefit of such a talk;
- Only about 43 percent of parents and teens reported having ongoing talks, after the teen got his or her license, about safe driving; and
- Parents and teens reported vastly different levels of concern about several risky driving behaviors, with 65 percent of teens reporting being very concerned about driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, but only 14 percent of parents; and 56 percent of teens being concerned about distracted driving, compared to 35 percent of parents.
Dissecting and interpreting the results of a large survey like this is always a tricky and inexact task, but the “disconnects” reported by Travelers strongly suggest the following:
- Less than half of parents are maintaining proactive day by day oversight over their teens after they get their license, which suggests that these parents believe that once their teen passes the State’s road test and graduates from Driver’s Ed, a parent’s role may diminish because the teen is now a relatively safe driver;
- Probably because they are not communicating after licensed driving begins, a majority of parents are not in tune with what aspects of driving are troubling to their teens, and where additional instruction and oversight would be welcome; and
- A large number of newly-licensed teen drivers are concerned by a combination of their own fears, their parent’s inattentiveness to those fears, and their feeling that they are not going to get any more help other than continuing to drive more until they feel comfortable.
All of the above points directly to several parts of the advice I provide to parents regularly: (1) don’t assume that a teen driver who has finished Driver’s Ed and has a license is anything other than a beginner undertaking a very dangerous activity; (2) treat driving like flying, by acting like an air traffic controller with your teen driver, reviewing a safety checklist and readiness to driver each and every time your new driver gets behind the wheel, for at least the first six to nine months of driving; and (3) in addition to “The Talk,” don’t’ forget about “the Agreement” — a good Parent-Teen Driving Agreement in which parents and teens acknowledge the dangers of teen driving and agree to a set of clear rules about how each of those dangers (passengers, curfews, seat belts, electronic devices, alcohol and drugs, etc.) will be handled, and what will happen if the teen driver violates the Agreement or the law.
Travelers has done us a great service by taking the considerable time to confirm the key points on which parents and teens seem to be doing well, while also spotlighting the key points of current misunderstanding to which every parent of a new teen driver should pay close attention.
