Nearly every week on the local news I see where a teenage driver is killed or seriously injured in an auto accident.  Often times these accidents are single vehicles accidents, which could indicate that the driver was distracted and not paying full attention.  As a father of teenagers my heart aches for the loss of life and the pain the families must be going through.

While parents can’t always be with their teens when they are driving, I believe that most teens want to honor their parents in spite of what our culture may be telling us.  A great and simple tool that a parent can use is a simple, but direct conversation.  Make it clear to the teen that their seat belts must be worn at all times.  Texting and driving is never allowed, nor is any other type of distracted driving.  Don’t forget you are the parent and you are still the primary authority figure in their life, and you have the power to suspend their driving privileges if they do not obey your rules for driving.

Here are some interesting facts about texting and driving.

• Texting and driving makes a driver 23 Times more likely to crash
• 11 Teens die everyday in the US as a result of texting and driving
• 13% of drivers age 18 to 20 involved in an accident admit to texting or talking on their phone at the time of the crash.

As I stated earlier, you are still the primary authority figure in your teens life and they instinctively mimic what you do.  This means that you must set a great example for all of your children when it comes to your driving habits.  Simple things like buckling up every time you drive, could mean the different between life and death if your teen is ever in a serious accident.  Turning off your phone and minimizing your distractions while driving will send a more powerful message to your children than anything that you can say.

For more information take a 3 minutes and check out the video below and share it with your teen drivers.