Talking with Your Teens About Distracted Driving

According to Next Gen Personal Finance (NGPF), roughly 25% of 16-year-olds and approximately 60% of 18-year-olds had a driver’s license, respectively, in 2021.

The difference between teens getting their driver’s license and driving themselves wherever they want to go today compared to teens doing the same a few generations ago is today’s teens have more distractions when they get behind the wheel.

Teenage Distracted Driving: An Alarming Trend

Distracted driving falls into 1 of 3 categories: visual, manual, or cognitive. Sadly, a significant proportion of young drivers fall victim to most, if not all, of them.

And hyperbole this is not; it is a reality well substantiated in multiple studies, including one published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

It revealed that 9% of drivers aged 15 to 20 involved in a fatal crash were distracted by something or someone while driving.

While talking to occupants in the vehicle, fidgeting with the radio or touchscreen, or rubbernecking are factors in many crashes involving teens, emailing and texting are the primary culprits.

The same CDC study found that roughly 51% to 60% of teens between 17 and 18 report texting or emailing while driving. An estimated 16% to 30% of teens between 14 and 16 reported the same.

The Surprising Consequences of Distracted Driving Among Teenagers

In some cases, people who aren’t driving or riding in a vehicle end up paying the price for distracted driving.

Studies show that 1 in 5 people who died in crashes involving a distracted driver in 2019 were not driving or riding in a vehicle; they were walking or bicycling at the time.

Many people also suffer minor to severe injuries due to another’s distracted driving.

An American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons study found that distracted driving accounted for 70,000 pedestrian injuries in 2010.

The number of young people dying in car accidents has been steadily on the rise in the US and reached 3,058 fatalities in 2021.

What Parents Can Do to Reduce Teen Distracted Driving

There are many things parents can do to reduce distracted driving when it comes to their teenagers, including reminding them to use hands-free features on their smartphones.

Doing so allows them to keep their eyes on the road. With apps such as Google Assistant and other hands-free features built into smartphones, teens can make quick work of the following:

• Making phone calls
• Checking social media
• Sending text messages
• Setting reminders

Of course, built-in smartphone features can only reduce distracted driving by so much. 

Additional things parents should remind teens to do to prevent or minimize distracted driving include:

Not Multitasking

Whether it involves fidgeting with temperature controls, using the touchscreen display, or eating, engaging in such activities while driving can increase the probability of a crash. 

Parents must impress upon teen drivers the importance of doing these things before a trip rather than during one.

Limiting Vehicle Occupancy

Parents should set passenger limits whenever their teenagers take to the open roads.

That’s because traveling with too many passengers can lead to passenger distraction.

In a youth.gov study, researchers found that the more occupants teenagers have in their vehicles, the more likely they are to be involved in a crash.

Signing a Contract

The CDC has a Parent-Teen Driving Agreement document that parents can download and have their teen drivers sign.

It is a contractual agreement outlining specific boundaries and consequences for risky behavior behind the wheel, including distracted driving. 

The goal of the document is to help parents and teens avoid misunderstandings surrounding family driving rules while allowing both to agree on vehicle use and operation and associated consequences for breaking any of those rules.

All in all, distracted driving is dangerous, especially for young and inexperienced teen drivers. 

As parents, we should all remind our children of that.  Doing so could save their life and the lives of others.