The facts are sobering. Teens not only have the highest crash rates of any age group, but also car crashes are the #1 cause of death and injury to teens.
The good news is that research shows there are specific things parents and teens can do to lower this risk, based on an understanding of what causes teens to crash.
The vast majority (75%) of serious teen driver crashes are due to “critical errors.” Three errors account for nearly half of all these crashes:
Lack of Scanning – which is critical to detecting and responding to hazards
Going too fast – for the road conditions
Distraction – from something inside or outside the vehicle
Newly licensed teens have significant skill deficits that make them much more likely to crash compared with more experienced drivers. For teens, the most common types of crashes involve left turns, rear-end events, and running off the road.
Knowing all of this, the best prevention is practice, practice, practice! But not just any type of practice. The TeenDrivingPlan is an evidence-based tool that guides parent-supervised driving lessons in 6 key driving environments, and includes specific driving goals for each environment. There’s even a Goal Guide and Logging and Rating Tool so parents can keep their lesson plans on track. highlights which skills to work on in each environment.
A car is an expensive – and potentially lethal – piece of equipment. Knowing how to operate it safely is key. No teen should get get in the driver’s seat before they’ve read the vehicle’s owners manual. Lost the paper copy of the manual? No problem! Most manuals are available free online.
Driveway Activity: With the motor on and the car in park in your driveway, have the teen sit in the driver’s seat and quiz them on what they learned from reading the manual. They should be able to show you that they understand the meaning of various warning lights & gauges on the dashboard, know how to access the gas tank, and can turn on/off various features like the lights, hazards, windshield wipers, defroster, etc. They should also know how to make the adjustments discussed below to the driver’s seating area.
Click below to learn how to adjust the various parts of the driver’s environment.
Forward, back, up, and down: Everyone knows that the driver’s seat can move forward & back – but many don’t know that a lot of driver’s seats can also move up & down. For shorter drivers, raising the seat up can enable the driver to see out over the hood of the car.
Sit up straight: Sit as upright as is comfortably possible – never more reclined than about 25 degrees. The vehicle’s seat back is an integral part of your restraint (the seat belt doesn’t work if you are sitting really reclined). The more reclined you sit, the more you are likely to slide down during a crash – which causes massive leg and spinal cord injuries – or up and out of the belt entirely in a rear end crash.
Reach the pedals: You don’t need your whole foot on the pedal. Just the ball of the foot is fine – and for shorter drivers try having them put just their toes on the pedals, which can allow them to sit further back from the steering wheel. Proper shoes are important. Teens should not wear flip flops or other shoes that could easily slip off or allow the pedal to get stuck between the driver’s toes and the shoe.
Shoulder belt adjustment: Many shoulder belts – especially those in the front seat – can be adjusted up or down to accommodate people of different heights. The shoulder belt should rest between your neck and your shoulder in order to properly restrain your chest in a crash.
Shoulder Belts are NOT “behind the back” or “under the arm” belts. Wearing the shoulder belt in the wrong way significantly increases the risk for brain, spinal cord, chest, and belly injuries.
Lap belt adjustment: Make sure the lap belt is low and flat on the tops of the thighs – this way it will rest on the strong hip bones during a crash, and not on the soft belly.
Snug it up: After buckling up, always pull upwards on the shoulder belt to remove slack from the lap belt.
Raise it up: The head restraint is a key safety feature designed to reduce the risk of whiplash injuries. Move it up so that it comes up to at least the top of the ears (which lines up with the base of the skull), but ideally to the top of your head.
Move it forward: Some head restraints can adjust forward/back, often by tilting or pushing a button on the side of the head restraint. Keep the head restraint as close as comfort allows, and never more than 3 inches from the back of your head when sitting normally.
This may not be how you learned to adjust your side mirrors. In fact, many adults don’t adjust theirs properly, and as a result leave significant blindspots. Check out this fabulous guide from Car Talk on a new way to set your side mirrors.
Rear view mirror: Adjust so you can see out the entire rear window moving only your eyes NOT your head to use this mirror. Tall drivers may want to flip the rear view mirror upside down as it usually raises the bottom edge of the mirror which can alleviate a major blind spot for taller drivers.
Side Mirrors: Lean your head all the way to the left so it touches the driver’s window. From that position, set your left side-view mirror so you can see the back corner of your car. Now lean the same distance the other way, and set your right side-view mirror the same way. Even if the vehicle has blindspot monitoring technology, mirrors are still very important as many of the technologies do not recognize motorcycles or other non-vehicle objects in the blindspot.
Did you know that your steering column is adjustable (even in a really old car)!
Up/Down: Point the steering wheel upwards – so the airbag will protect your head too! Make sure the steering wheel does not block the driver’s view of the dashboard, especially the spedometer.
Forward/Back: When holding the steering wheel, your hands should be at 9 and 3 with a slight bend at the elbows. Adjust the steering wheel so that it is as far as possible from your chest.
Cars are replaceable, kids are not. 16-19 year olds have the highest crash rate of any age group. Your teen’s best chance of survival is in a vehicle that both a. offers great protection in a crash AND b. has great crash prevention technology so many of the crashes are avoided altogether.
Size Matters: Small cars (under ~3K lbs.) carry significantly increased risk and should be avoided. There’s a reason why wrestlers are grouped by weight; its not a fair fight when one person is significantly heavier. Same with a car crash – the physics is never in your favor if you are the smaller, lighter car in the crash!
Best Safety Ratings: Pick a vehicle that earns a Top Safety Pick from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. If you are looking for a used vehicle, IIHS also has a great list to help narrow down your search by safety and price.
Avoid High Horsepower: One of the 3 most common reasons for teen crashes is going faster than road conditions permit. High horsepower vehicles increase the temptation for teens to speed.
Electronic Stability Control (ESC) is a Must. ESC helps a driver maintain control of the vehicle on curves and slippery roads, and has has been required in all vehicles since 2012 (it’s also available in many older cars too). ESC is credited with saving more lives than seat belts because it reduces by half the risk of a single-vehicle fatal crash.
Crash Prevention and other Driver Assist Technologies: Every driver can benefit from some assistance – teens especially, as they don’t have as much experience! A growing number of vehicles since 2014 have Automatic Emergency Braking where the vehicle will brake if it senses you are about to crash into something – shown to decrease by half the number of crashes these cars get in. Backup cameras, blindspot monitoring, lane departure warning, rear cross traffic alert, pedestrian detection – these are just some of the driver assistance technologies that can prevent crashes and save lives.
****Go in order… as the skills needed build on each other and get more complex as you go.****
Click here for goals, activities, common errors, hazards, and signs the learner gets it for your practice in the parking lot.
Skills to Practice (click on each skill to open a quick video explaining more about each skill and how to practice it).
Introduction to Lane Positioning
Hazards: Pedestrians, cars backing out, cars not following the rules, uncontrolled intersections, bikes.
Click here for goals, activities, common errors, hazards, and signs the learner gets it for your practice on residential streets.
Skills to Practice (click on each skill to open a quick video explaining more about each skill and how to practice it).
Hazards: Kids, Pets, Bikes, Cars backing up out of driveways
Click here for goals, activities, common errors, hazards, and signs the learner gets it for your practice on intermediate roads.
Skills to Practice (click on each skill to open a quick video explaining more about each skill and how to practice it).
Higher Speed Management and Preparedness
Right-of-Way Controlled Intersections
Hazards: Blindspots, Lane Changing, Others’ Blindspots, Emergency Vehicles, Bikes
Click here for goals, activities, common errors, hazards, and signs the learner gets it for your practice on highways.
Skills to Practice (click on each skill to open a quick video explaining more about each skill and how to practice it).
Entering & Exiting Parking Lots
Hazards: Cars opening doors, Cars pulling out of parallel parking spots, Pedestrians, Double Parked Cars/Trucks, Cars backing up out of driveways, Intersections, Distracted Drivers
Click here for goals, activities, common errors, hazards, and signs the learner gets it for your practice on highways.
Skills to Practice (click on each skill to open a quick video explaining more about each skill and how to practice it).
Disruptions in Highway Traffic
Anticipating Others’ Behavior on Highways
Hazards: Blind Spots, On/Off Ramps, Merging, Wandering Animals
Click here for goals, activities, common errors, hazards, and signs the learner gets it for your practice on country roads.
Skills to Practice (click on each skill to open a quick video explaining more about each skill and how to practice it).
Passing or Yielding to Other Vehicles
Hazards: Animals, Oncoming traffic crossing the center line, Blind curves, Traveling down hills