Douglasville Auto Insurance | Is your Teen Getting Ready to Drive?

It’s a rite of passage in most teen’s lives – learning to drive and getting that long-awaited driver’s license. While every kid dreams of this day, it’s often a day that most parents dread. It’s scary stuff! One minute, you are waving to them as they hesitantly walk into kindergarten on the first day of school, to waving to them as they pull out of the driveway… behind the wheel! This is a crucial time to start establishing good driving habits with your teen to ensure they are making good choices and can handle the responsibility that comes with driving on their own. Here are a few things you should about with your teenager before they start driving without you:

1. It CAN happen to you! We’re not saying that all young people feel this way, but a lot of teenagers have a sense of invincibility. As grownups, we know that life can change in the blink of an eye, and as scary as they may be to talk about with your kids, it is important that they know, too, that their choices behind the wheel can have consequences. Accidents happen every day and can be avoided for the most part if you are following the rules of the road, making good choices and staying alert. Even when you do everything right, an accident can occur due to someone else not paying attention. You don’t want them to be scared to drive, but a healthy respect of the responsibility will go a long way.
2. Texting and driving: This is a big one. When you are texting, even if you just look down for a couple of seconds at a time, those are vital seconds that you are looking away from the road. What if someone walked out in front of you, thinking you would slow down? Or, what if you think you are continuing to drive straight, but crossed into oncoming traffic? These are things that happen all the time and can be easily avoided. There is no text that is more important than your life or others on the road. Talk to your teen about ignoring that chirp of their phone until the car is in park!
3. Friends in the car: Obviously, every teen is different. Some are just more mature than others, that’s just how it is. When you have a teen driving and they have one or two friends in the vehicle with them, this is doubling or tripling the distractions. You know your child better than anyone – if you know that they would be able to handle the extra distraction or if you know their friends will not be a hindrance to your teen’s driving ability, then great! If you think your teen may have a hard time concentrating with extra people in the car, it may be a good idea to keep the friends OUT of the car until they have gained more experience behind the wheel.

Those were just a few of the tips we have for those with teens starting to drive. If you are a parent that has a teen driving, stop by our Facebook page and share with us some of the topics you have discussed with your child.

For more information about Sleek & Williamson Insurance, give us a call at (770) 489-2403 or contact us online.