Has your child just started to drive? If so, then you’re probably worried about keeping him or her safe. After all, looking at statistics can be terrifying, showing that more than 1,000 drivers between the ages of 15 and 20 died in crashes in 2016 alone. That left a lot of families reeling and struggling to figure out what their future holds.
What you can do to keep your child safe
But there are steps that you can take to protect your young driver. A lot of successfully teaching your child appropriate safety practices is simply to lead by example and model good driving behavior. Here are some of those practices that you should model for your child:
- Wearing a seatbelt, which can provide extensive protection in the event of an accident
- Putting away your phone while driving so that your child doesn’t think that texting and driving is okay
- Obeying traffic laws by abiding by the speed limit, using your blinker, and fully stopping at stop signs
- Avoiding drinking and driving
You can also help protect your teen driver by enrolling him or her in driving school and developing a driving contract. It’s helpful to remind your child of some of the most important safety actions to take before they leave, too, such as talking through what to do if they need to call a friend.
Don’t be afraid to have the conversation with your child
Some parents are afraid that they’re going to come across as too overbearing when they discuss all of these safety issues. But don’t worry about that. Teen drivers are inexperienced and need reminders of how to drive safely. Reinforcing safety tips is one of the best ways to solidify actions as behaviors, too. So, to make sure that you’re doing everything you can to ensure that your child is safe on the road, continue to read up on safe driving practices and what you can do to implement them into your child’s driving routine.