11 Tips to Encourage Your Teen to Drive Safely

Getting your teen on the road is a daunting prospect for nearly every parent and guardian. While you may not have to drive them around to their activities and friends’ houses like you used to, every parent worries about their teen driving recklessly and getting into an accident. We can’t help ourselves, because we know how far they have to go until they’re a fully functional adult with a developed brain, but we can’t stop them.

Luckily there are some steps we can take to ensure that our teens are as safe as possible on the road. In this article, we will discuss 10 tips to encourage your teen to drive safely.

1. Set an example. When you’re driving with your teen, make sure that you set a good example. Follow all of the rules of the road, don’t drive above the speed limit, never text while driving, and avoid being distracted (and that means not eating french fries or drinking hot coffee while you are driving). Keep the radio off too. Setting a good example for your teen is an effective way of showing them how to drive and what is expected of them while they drive.
2. Know the rules of the road. On and off the road, enforce the rules of the road and why they’re important to follow. Make sure you don’t cut any corners (figuratively and literally) so that your teen knows to follow the rules.
3. Provide plenty of supervised practice. Making sure your teen has plenty of supervised practice on the road is a great way to ensure your teen drives safely. While they are driving, make sure to communicate clearly so that they know what is appropriate. Furthermore, supervised practice on the road will build your teen’s confidence for when they are out on the road by themselves.
4. Encourage enrolling in driving school. Encouraging your teen to attend driving school and pay attention during their driver education courses is a great way to encourage safe driving. Driving school will arm your teen with the information they need to drive safely on the road and properly understand the rules.
5. Drive during varying weather conditions. Driving during varying weather conditions will ensure that your teen can drive during any time of the night or day and rain or shine. Driving during the rain or snowy weather is very different than driving on dry, sunny days, so make sure your teen has supervised practice during varying weather conditions so they will know how to drive safely when you are not there.
6. Talk about expectations and what isn’t allowed. Communicate clearly about what you expect from your teen and what isn’t allowed.
7. Set limits. Setting limits is important when your teen is learning to drive. Set a curfew if they are going out at night, and feel free to set limits on how many people they ca
   n have in the car, as well as where they can go when they are driving.
8. Increase the time and distance you allow your teen to drive. As your teen becomes more comfortable behind the wheel and gets more experience, ease up on your limits a little bit so that they can have more experience driving longer distances.
9. Stress the importance of sleep and sobriety. Make sure that your teen understands the importance of getting a good night’s rest before driving early in the morning or late at night the next day. If they have a lot of driving ahead of them, make sure you tell them about the dangers of driving when you are lacking sleep. Driving sober is also imperative! So make sure you communicate clearly the dangers of driving under the influence.
10. Get a car with safety technology. Some cars are rated safer than others and some come with more safety technology, such as blind spot warning technology, automated braking, and forward collision avoidance technology. Know the important safety features to look for when shopping for a car for your teen, and make sure they understand what they are and how they function.
11. Use GPS tracking for teens. Last but not least, GPS teen tracking can provide you with alerts, including speeding alerts, harsh braking alerts, and even out-of-boundary alerts — all of which can encourage your teen to drive safely.

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