Daniel V. McGehee

Ph.D., Professor and Director, University of Iowa--National Advanced Driving Simulator, Industrial and Systems Engineering, Emergency Medicine, Public Health and Public Policy

What tips do you have for parents of teen drivers?

The most important thing that parents of teen drivers can do is drive, drive, and drive with their teens. And in all conditions. When there is a thunderstorm, snow, ice—the most challenging conditions, that is when you should be out there. We see too many tragic crashes that occur when a young driver experiences a unique situation. You want to be there to practice in those conditions. Remember, driving is the single most dangerous thing you let our kids do.

Teens also model their parent’s behaviors, good and bad. If you do not want your kids to text and drive, don’t do it yourself. Wear your seatbelt in the front and back seat, refrain to use the phone at all.

What tips do you have for minimizing the costs (insurance, etc.) associated with having a teen driver in the household?

Talk about driving all the time. Don’t be complacent once they start driving independently. Get good grades, don’t crash, or get tickets.

Though the ongoing pandemic context has limited the number of miles traveled, traffic deaths have seen an 8% increase in 2020 over 2019 and speed seems to be the top factor causing them. Taking into account that the proportion of fatal crashes that involved speeding was higher for teenage drivers (43%) than for any other age groups, should parents be concerned about the safety of their teen drivers? 

Parents should be greatly concerned. Put simply, speed kills.

What should policymakers do to increase the safety of teen drivers?

Adopt graduated driver’s license systems. They are extremely effective.

Read the entire article: https://wallethub.com/edu/best-worst-states-for-teen-drivers/4598