We all remember the feeling we had when we received our first drivers license. While our parents worried, we delighted in our new-found freedom. Our parents’ anxiety wasn’t unjustified; teens are often involved in (or the cause of) accidents. In fact:
• Car crashes are still the leading killer of people age 15 to 20.
• Young drivers are three times as likely to die in a crash as those aged 25 to 64
• The younger the driver, the more accidents. The crash rate for 16 year olds per
million miles driven is nearly three times as high as for 19 year olds, and nearly six times as high as drivers aged 20 to 24.
The O’Neill Group supports National Teen Driver Safety Week (NTDSW) which is scheduled annually in October. NTDSW is designed to spotlight the risks and hazards associated with teen driving as well as provide education. Part of NTDSW stresses the creation of a contract between parents and teen drivers.
We have developed such a contract for families with teen drivers as part of our total protection initiative because we believe it is an important step in preventing devastating teen accidents. The contract contains such items as the number of friends allowed in a vehicle at one time, and other rules teens should abide by.
Your teen is probably becoming more independent, too. Even if your teen isn’t driving quite yet, they are often passengers. It is important to start the conversation early with your teen about their new-found independence and driving responsibilities, as well as about riding with their friends who might be newly licensed.
To find even more helpful advice on the subject as well as discussion tips, we highly recommend visiting www.teendriverinsurance.com/Oneill. We also urge you to request a free copy of the parent-teen contract by calling our office at 330-334-1561 and speaking with your Personal Protection Specialist. Please help us make our streets safer, and keep your teen safe, by reminding them that with their independence comes great responsibility, too.
