It would be so easy to retire my taxi cap and allow my kids to take rides from friends. Last night for instance, we drove my son nearly an hour from home for a party on the other side of the county. He had other friends going there and those friends cound drive, but I am happy to be able to drive him where he needs to go.
There is just too much danger in teens driving teens. Even the most responsible teen is unpredictable, excitable, and inexperienced. Even the best teenage driver is prone to accidents. As I like to tell my kids, they are called accdients for a reason. No one means for them to happen. The only way to stop them is through prevention. The best way to prevent teen driving accidents is to prevent them from driving together.
According to car-accidentadvice.com, “regardless of whether or not the driver was drunk, car accident statistics show that many car accidents (81%) were at least partially caused by the driver talking with other passengers in the car… The statistics also show other significant causes of car accidents are listening to or changing the radio stations (involved in 66% of all accidents) to talking on cell phones (25%).”
But don’t you trust me?, they may ask. Well, that’s beside the point. Trust has nothing to do with worry. As parents we will worry about our teens safety when they are behind the wheel. When they are behind the wheel or in a car with another teen, that amount of worry increases exponentially. As a worried parent, I beleive I have that fear for a reason… to keep my child alive and healthy.
By keeping my kids out of their friends cars, I feel like I am protecting much more than my kids. I also feel as if I am making the driving habits of their friends safer as well. My kids would be a distraction to that driver causing him or her to drive poorly and perhaps have an accident and endanger themself.
~If you liked this you should also read my other posts at the home blog, the homeschooling blog, the parents blog, and the frugal blog. You can read my recent posts here.
Can You Be Too Strict with Teens?
Teens Should Not Have Their Own Car