One of my jobs on this blog, occasionally, is to point out advice given to parents of teen drivers that misses the mark. My goal is not to embarrass or criticize any person or company, but sometimes one of the best ways to showcase good advice is to point out bad advice and explain why it’s bad.
I recently came across a list of five tips from a national company about how to keep teen drivers safe during the summer months, when crashes, deaths and injuries are the highest. I will paraphrase, to avoid identifying the authors. In summary, the advice was five items: (1) make sure the car your teen drives has the latest airbags; (2) limit high radio volume, eating, and drinking, in addition to texting and cellphone use; (3) make sure tire pressure and tread, wipers, and fluid levels are maintained; (4) advise your teen to look ten seconds down the road and stay three seconds behind the vehicle ahead; and (5) enroll your teen in a driver’s education program that provides experience with skid control and emergency situations. Why is this advice off the mark?
Yes, it’s always best to have the latest safety technology, but on a list of tips for parents, airbags would not make the top 100. They are impact minimization, not crash avoidance.
Advice about distractions that puts radio volume and eating on the same level with texting?
Fluid levels and tire conditions are important, but again, as advice to parents of teen drivers, does this belong in the top five?
It’s nice to tell teens to look ten seconds down the road, but it is well documented that a major reason that teens crash is that they don’t do this; they focus on the perimeter of their own car, on not hitting anything. Looking down the road at the developing traffic situation takes years of experience. It is not something you can simply tell your teen driver to do.
As to so-called ‘skid schools,” the jury is still out. Experience with skids, high speed turns, obstacles avoidance is good, but in some teens it promotes risky driving — trying skids on real roads instead of controlled conditions.
But my biggest concern with this list is: What about brain development? Passengers? Speeding? Curfews? Alcohol and drug use? Fatigue? A teen driver contract? Zero tolerance for electronic distractions? This list doesn’t even touch on these basic, critical items. It gives parents the false impression that if the car their teen drives has up to date airbags, all will be fine. To the contrary, teen driving is a dangerous activity, and any list of tips for parents that is of value starts with this recognition, and focuses on educating parents about the dangers of driving and heading off the most dangerous situations before they arise.
