Encourage Responsible Teen Driving from the Start
Laws where you Live
Tools To Help You Prepare Your Teen For Safe Driving
- Behind the Wheel Documentaries Two public television documentaries that follow newly licensed teens and their parents to see what happens when they get behind the wheel.
- Parent-Teen Driving Contract A guide to help you and your teen agree and commit to driving rules and the consequences of breaking them.
- Tips for teen drivers Tips to help teens make smart decisions while driving.
- Safe cars for your Teen Important tips to follow when choosing a safe car for your teen driver.
- Keep those grades up The operator is at least 16 years of age, and is a full-time high school, college or university student (12 hours). The student must be in the upper 20% of his/her class or maintain "B" average.
- Complete Drivers Ed Applies to each youthful operator under 21 years of age where "Satisfactory Evidence" is presented that such operator has successfully completed a driver education course.
- Insist on more supervised driving Studies show that increased number of hours of supervised training improve their recognition and response to driving situations. Waller, P.F.; Olk, M.L.; and Shope, J.T. 2000. Parental views of and experience with Michigan's graduated licensing program. Journal of Safety Research 31:9-15.
- Restrict nighttime driving Nighttime restrictions significantly reduce fatal crash rates and insurance losses. "Driving restrictions beginning at 9 pm cut fatal crashes an estimated 18 percent versus no restrictions. The reduction was 12 percent where 15-17 year-olds' driving was limited after midnight."1
- Limit passengers Passenger restrictions significantly reduce fatal crash rates and insurance losses. "For example, the fatal crash rate of 15-17 year-olds was 21 percent lower when the beginners were prohibited from having any teenage passengers in their cars versus allowing 2 or more. Allowing only 1 passenger reduced the rate by 7 percent."1
- Limit other distractions "Dialing a cell phone made the risk of crash or near-crash event 2.8 times as high as non-distracted driving"2