Tips for Good Teen Driving in Bad Weather

Here are some tips to pass along to your teen driver as it's becoming more clear that summer is officially over... In rain...

• Make it a point to turn on your lights whenever you have your windshield wipers on.
• Double or even triple the amount of following space you leave between you and the car in front of you when weather is wet.
• Brake gently
• Accelerate slowly
• Crack a window to keep your windshield from fogging up
• Remember, bridges and overpasses freeze before roads do
• Don't apply cruise control

In ice and snow...

• If you're stuck in ice or snow and aren't able to gain traction, try placing the floor mats under the tired
• If you back up into ice or snow, make sure your tailpipe is clear or you could get carbon monoxide poisoning
• Make sure you have window washing fluid-- you may need it in the even of sleet or snow
• Keep your pace steady and slow, but not so slow you become stuck in deeper ice/snow

In fog...

• Stay to the right of the roadway
• Turn on lowbeams
• If you cannot see the roadway, pull clear off the road away from traffic. Turn on hazard lights and wait until visibility improves

In high winds...

• It's best not to drive a van or other high profile type vehicle or to tow a trailer
• If you're following behind a vehicle with a tow or trailer take extra precaution and keep your distance

It's also a good idea to keep an emergency pack in your car with ice scraper, a bag of sand/salt/cat litter, flares or triangles, flashlight and extra batteries, first aid kit, jumper cables, nonperishable snacks, a candle and matches, a cup in case you have to melt snow for water, a shovel, gloves, a blanket, and even a pair of boots.

Thanks to www.teendriving.com

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 it 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 on teen driving safety, please visit my web site at www.TeenDriverInsurance.com/AllAmerican.

Why Are Insurance Rates for Teens So High?

As an insurance agent, this is probably one of the most frustrating questions I get from parents who are adding their teen to their car insurance. I understand this frustration and after I explain the reasons, they usually respond with "But, my teen is a good driver..." That may be true and you've probably spent countless hours helping your teen become a safer driver. If you have, then you should be glad that the chances of your teen getting into an accident will be less likely than most teens on the road, But let me emphasize...Less Likely Than Other Teens... not experienced drivers. It takes thousands of hours behind the wheel to get the experience to avoid accidents and become the safest of drivers. And this can take years. Here's a statistic to prove this point: The crash rate for 16 year old is nearly 3 times higher than 19 years and nearly 6 times higher than drivers 20 to 24 years old. Unfortunately, you are going to have to pay high rates for your teen to drive. But, you can take steps to avoid paying the highest rates and keep them down. Step One - Use an insurance agent that specializes in insuring teen drivers. Family Insurance Specialists represent companies that offer good rates but most importantly offer quality insurance protection that can help you avoid paying out of your own pocket for an accident. Step Two - Make sure you are getting every discount you deserve. Available discounts may include safe driver, claims-free, good grades, multiple policies with the same company, and in some states you can qualify for a lower rate by keeping a good credit rating. Step Three - Buy a safe, older, lower profile vehicle for your teen to drive. Make sure it has airbags and anti-lock brakes and is not considered a dangerous vehicle. Your Family Insurance Specialist can help you decide which vehicles are least expensive to insure. Step Four - increase your deductibles or drop the collision on older vehicles. If your teen is driving an older, less expensive car, you can "self insure" the car. That means of course, if something happens, you'll have to pay for the damages to your car, but it can save you a lot of money- nearly 1/3 to 1/2! Step Five - Get a Teen Driver Monitoring Device installed in your teens car. Some insurance companies offer special discounts for these systems. The greatest advantage of these systems is that this will most likely prevent your teen from speeding. Speeding tickets can greatly increase your insurance rates and jeopardize your insurance coverage. Insurance companies know that if a teen driver gets a speeding ticket, the likelihood of an accident in the near future is great. You could get cancelled and it may be more difficult to get another insurance company to pick you up.

Head-On Collision Leaves Families Grieving

Steve Augello is the kind of dad who insisted his daugh­ter call him whenever she left a place and again when she arrived. He’s the kind of dad who had the text messages “Where are you?” and “Call me when you get this message” saved as templates in his cell phone.So on Monday night, Allie, 17, called to say she was leav­ing play practice at Bishop McLaughlin Catholic High School to head home. Steve knew the trip should have taken 15 to 18 minutes.She never arrived...

This is another case of two of Tampa Teen Drivers that have been killed in a car accident. We don't know what really happned yet. Where one of the drivers driving to fast? Where they distracted, talking on there phone, texting one of their friends? Are you concerned about your own children? We at Most Insurance have a lot of tools to help you protect your children please, please, please go read our free reports, and ask for our information that we provide you to help protect your kids. Also take a look at the Teen Driver GPS monitoring system. Here is a link to the rest of the article written by Molly Moorhead. ftp://mostftp.gotdns.com/Head-ONCollision.pdf

Put Your Teen Through The Paces Before Going Out On Their Own!

The drivers education in-car training provided by our public school systems is really only a starting point for teaching your teen to drive safely. I recommend no less than 100 hours driving time for your child with the parent in the passenger seat before you let them out on their own. One of the things that you should do when teaching your child how to drive is teach them how to deal with stressful and dangerous situations while you are there to talk them through it. For example, I advise that you take them to an abandoned, low traffic road and with them observing in the passenger seat, you drive car the off the road and talk them through the process of getting the car back on the road in a safe manner. Too often, young drivers faced with this situation will overcorrect and jerk the wheel to forcefully. This can lead to them losing control of the vehicle. Let them gain experience with this type of emergency maneuver while you are teaching and talking them through it. When you feel that they are ready, have them drive off the road and bring the car safely back on to the road. Another great learning experience is 5:00 traffic. They are going to have to drive in it eventually; don’t you want to make sure that you have taught them how before they tackle it on their own? Make it a point, when you think they are ready, to have them drive in stressful traffic situations, including traffic to and from ball games and concerts. If they have done this with you in the passenger seat, then when they are doing with a distracting friend in the seat beside them, they stand a much better chance of handling this safely. Try to think of any other situations that might require your help and seek those out while you are still training them. We have a complete soup to nuts Teen Driver Training guide available to all of our insurance clients. This 47 page book will walk you through the process of teaching your child safe driving habits from vehicle maintenance to traffic lights, to highway safety and even includes a chapter on map reading. If you want to know more about this guide you can contact us by visiting our web site at www.TeenDriverInsurance.com/insurancedude.

Rain or Shine - You'll Be Just Fine

(if you follow these tips...) · Be sure that the windshield wipers on your car are in top shape. The rubber on windshield wipers wears and tears quickly. We recommend that you change the wipers at least once a year, or as soon as they leave streaks. · Keep the wiper fluid filled and make sure the sprayer works – mist and light rain combined with road dust leave grimy windows that are hard to see through – especially with glare. · Turn your headlights on every time you turn your wipers on – even if the sun is beaming through the clouds. You may not feel that you have better visibility – but your headlights help other people see you. · Slow down, and use your brakes gently. · If roads are wet, double or even triple the distance you normally leave between yourself and the next car. Braking distances can be up to TEN TIMES longer on wet roads, compared to dry roads. · Don’t use cruise control in wet or slippery conditions – it may react to slipping wheels by applying more throttle. · Know your brakes: If your car has ABS, press down firmly when you have to brake hard. If you DON’T have ABS, tap and release your brakes to keep your tires from locking up and the car from spinning out.

Teens and Cell Phones

"People don't want to be inaccessible for even 15 minutes driving up the street," said Harrison, 19, a sophomore at Marshall University in Huntington, W.Va. "They're so used to being accessible all the time.

"Targeting inexperienced motorists, several states have passed laws during the past five years restricting cell phone use by teenage drivers.

But a recently released insurance industry study looked at whether teens are ignoring such restrictions contends enforcement and parental influence are just as important as new laws. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety studied specific state laws which fine motorists under age 18 who are caught using a cell phone.

Researchers who watched as high school students left school found that teenage drivers used their cell phones at about the same rate both before and after the laws took effect.

"Cell phone bans for teen drivers are difficult to enforce," said Anne McCartt, the institute's senior vice president for research and an author of the study. "Drivers with phones to their ears aren't hard to spot, but it's nearly impossible for police officers to see hands free devices or correctly guess how old drivers are."

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for teenagers, according to the government's auto safety agency, and teenagers are involved in three times as many fatal crashes as all other drivers.

The institute says 17 states and the District of Columbia have cell phone restrictions in licensing requirements for teen drivers. The National Transportation Safety Board in 2003 recommended that states limit or bar young drivers from using cell phones, leading many states to act.

Harrison, who serves with Students Against Destructive Decisions, an advocacy group focused on highway safety issues, said few of her friends know about laws banning cell phone use by novice drivers.

Bill Bronrott, a Maryland state delegate who sponsored a successful bill in 2005 prohibiting rookie drivers under 18 from using cell phones, except to make 911 emergency calls, said a "combination of education and enforcement" was critical. So, too, parental involvement.Added Barbara Harsha, executive director of the Governors Highway Safety Association: "What these kinds of laws do is send the message to the parent more than anything else."

In the North Carolina study, researchers found that 11 percent of teenage drivers observed departing 25 high schools during the two months before the ban took effect were using cell phones. About five months after the ban took effect, during the spring of 2007, nearly 12 percent were observed using phones.

In the North Carolina phone survey, 95 percent of parents and 74 percent of teenagers supported the restriction. But 71 percent of teens and 60 percent of parents felt that enforcement was rare or nonexistent.In North Carolina, 37 citations were issued in 2007 by the state highway patrol to teens using a cell phone while operating a vehicle. Twenty-eight citations have been issued in 2008.

Selena Childs, executive director of the North Carolina Child Fatality Task Force, said in an e-mail that with many child safety laws in the state, "knowing that it's against the law is enough for many people to choose to comply with a law."

Childs said the state's driver's license system for young drivers has been effective "not so much because of law enforcement/citations, but because parents and teens self-enforce the law, resulting in reduced crashes."

Matt Sundeen, a transportation analyst with the National Conference of State Legislatures, said many state laws on cell phones are new, making it difficult to assess their impact. He said more states are considering similar restrictions.

The institute conducted two separate telephone surveys: the first, before the cell phone restriction took effect, was in November 2006 and involved 400 pairs of parents and teenagers; the second, after the law had taken effect, was in April 2007 and involved a different sample of 401 pairs of parents and teenagers. Each survey had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.

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