How You Can Help Your Teen Avoid Making The 5 Most Common Deadly Mistakes

Mistake #1 - Speeding. The best way I know to deter a child from speeding is to install a GPS monitoring system that will alert you if your teen exceeds a pre-determined safe speed. The majority of fatal accidents occur at very high rates of speed. Knowing that their parents are monitoring their speed almost guarantees that your child won't make this mistake. Mistake #2 - Over-correcting. Spend time with your teen in a large open parking lot. Have them swerve the vehicle and try to regain control at various speeds. This will help them understand how the vehicle handles, and to learn the smaller adjustments needed to recover control. Mistake #3 - Distractions. There are laws now that are designed to reduce distractions, but kids frequently ignore these rules. As a parent you must help enforce them. The laws prohibiting cell phone use and limiting the number of passengers in the teen's car were made to save lives. Mistake #4 - Following too Close. The current "3 Second" rule can help avoid making this mistake. The rule states that your vehicle should pass an object no sooner than 3 seconds after the car in front of you passes an object. Anything less means that the proper following distance is not being maintained. This rule is good, but I personally prefer the old rule that says that for every 10 MPH of speed, there should be at least one car length between your vehicle and the vehicle you are following. Mistake #5 - Failure to Yield. Apparently, teens are not getting the message on when they should yield. Drivers' education courses are not covering this well, if at all. It is very likely your teen doesn't have this knowledge and it certainly needs to be addressed. Review the different situations and spend some time in the car with your teen practicing the rules on yielding. The bottom line is that teens are not getting the drivers' education they need from school. It is up to you as the parent to spend time with your teen reviewing the rules of the road and practicing behind the wheel.