After School Hours Are Dangerous For Teen Drivers

Most parents only really get concerned about their teen driver when they head out on the road at night. And rightfully so, it is a dangerous time. But a recent study shows that the time right after school is also a very high risk time for teen drivers. This study by AAA indicates that weekday afternoon driving time is just as dangerous for teens as night driving. The researchers studied the number of fatal crashes involving teens between 2002 and 2005. They found that 16 and 17 year old's were involved in almost as many fatal crashes between 3 and 5 pm on weekdays as they were on Friday and Saturday nights between 9 pm and 2 am. There were 1,100 weekday fatal accidents and 1,237 weekend evening fatal accidents. So what can parents do about this? Well, here are several suggestions: 1. Establish some specific driving rules with your teen. Be consistent in enforcing both the rules and the consequences when the rules are broken. 2. Impose an absolute ban on cell phone use while your teen is driving. Don't call them yourself when you know they are driving. 3. Require your teen to use a seat belt any and every time they are traveling in any vehicle whether a driver or a passenger. You must do the same to reinforce the importance of this. 4. Don't allow your teen driver to carry passengers during the first 3 months or more of driving. Let them get used to being out on their own before they add the distractions of passengers. 5. Don't permit your teen to ride with other teen drivers. I know this will be a hard sell in these times of high gas prices but until you know just how safe the other teen driver is, you really should not permit your child to ride with him or her. 6. Make your rules known to other adults in your teens life. This can help provide an extra set of eyes when you are not around. 7. Install a GPS monitoring system in your child's car. When they know that you are watching all of the time, their driving habits will be safer. To get more safety tips and to find out how you can get a GPS tracking system installed in your child's car for free, visit my website at www.TeenDriverInsurance.com/AllAmerican

Lack of Sleep Disrupts Teen Driving

A new study shows that poor sleep quality and being sleepy while driving significantly increases adolescents' risk of motor vehicle accidents. Researchers found adolescent drivers were twice as likely to have had a crash if they experienced sleepiness while driving or reported having bad sleep. Eighty of the 339 students that were involved in this study had already crashed at least once and fifteen percent of them considered sleepiness to have been the main cause of the crash. Fifty-six percent of the students who had at least one previous crash reported driving while sleepy, compared with thirty-five percent of subjects who had not been in a crash. The students were between the ages of 18 and 21 and fifty-right percent of them were male. Questions concerned lifestyle habits, nocturnal sleep habits, symptoms suggesting sleep disorders, and a subjective report of daytime sleepiness. Driving habits and sleepiness at the wheel were evaluated by questions assessing the frequency and timing of car use and accidents, the perceived causes of vehicle crashes and the respondents' coping methods for dealing with sleepiness while driving. Results show students suffered from chronic sleep deprivation. Although they reported that their sleep need was a mean of 9.2 hours per night, the students reported sleeping for an average of only 7.3 hours on weeknights. Only six percent of students slept nine hours or more on weeknights, and fifty-eight percent tried to catch up by sleeping nine hours or more on the weekends. Sleep problems were commonly reported by the students. Forty-five percent woke up at least once during the night with trouble falling asleep again, forty percent complained of difficulties in the morning awakening and nineteen percent reported bad sleep. The combination of chronic sleep loss and poor sleep quality had a negative effect on their alertness, as sixty-four percent of participants complained of excessive daytime sleepiness. This study emphasizes the need for education programs that target adolescents with information about improving sleep habits, the importance of sleep and the dangers of sleep deprivation.

Making Your teen a "Smart Driver"

Good parents want their children to be able to tackle all of life's challenges. Learning to drive is among the most important of those challenges. Parents need to play an active role in the process. Talk to your teen early and often. Discuss the risks and responsibilities of driving when kids are young - and keep talking to them before, during and after the licensing process to ensure they learn successful, safe driving skills. Give these discussions the same priority as you would discussions about smoking, sex or drugs. Don't rush things. Just because your teen has a permit or license doesn't mean they're ready for every driving condition. Practice with them in empty parking lots or on side streets. Practice at night, in traffic and in adverse weather conditions. Keep in mind that if they do have an accident, it might not be their fault. The fact is, our brains are still developing through the teenage years and don't reach full maturity until our 20s. Make sure you're familiar with your state's laws (they've probably changed since you learned to drive). Many states have enacted laws to help new drivers get on-the-road driving experience under lower-risk conditions, protecting them while they are learning. Know what your state's requirements are and establish your own rules for when, where, how and with whom your teen may drive. Practice what you preach. If you speed, roll through stop signs, make rude gestures at other drivers or chat on your cell phone behind the wheel, your teen is likely to do the same. For more help in teen driving safety, please visit my website at: www.TeenDriverInsurance.com/AllAmerican.com