As a parent, having a teen driver on your policy can make you nervous. Fortunately there are ways you can make your teen safer on the road. Taking action can help protect them as well as other drivers. There are multiple ways to do this.
First, provide supervision by riding with your teen as often as possible. Make corrections when necessary, and talk to them about road safety and anything they might be doing that could be dangerous. You can’t force them to do things right when you aren’t there, but you can help them understand how to make good decisions and explain what’s important to you when driving and why.
Another way you can help your teen is to keep things simple initially. You’ll want to let them drive a lot to get practice, but the first trips should be short and have familiar routes. This approach makes it easier for your teen to get used to driving, and helps them build confidence in their abilities. Once they get more comfortable behind the wheel, they can ease into travelling further from home or driving where there are unfamiliar roads and higher levels of traffic to deal with.
Setting a good example yourself while behind the wheel is also very important. If you text and drive, run red lights, yell at other drivers, and don’t follow the rules of the road, it’s hard to expect your teen driver to not do these things.
Everyone makes mistakes, but the key is to reduce the number of mistakes your teen will likely make to keep them safer and reduce their chances of being in an accident.
