Being late to your destination is better than not arriving at all.
We often hear about teens getting into a car crash
because they were texting while driving. We’ve seen the heart-breaking public
service announcements about a teen’s last text before dying in a crash.
Teens get such a bad rap for texting and driving, yet I
see so many adults who are driving while trying to dial a phone number, text,
put on makeup, reach down to the backseat floor to retrieve a toy, hold their
pet … often with small children in the backseat. What are we teaching our
children and teens about distracted driving?
So many of us are multi-taskers by nature. Everyone is
busy, and some of us are in our car way more often that we would like to be.
It’s tempting to want to pop off a quick text message to let someone
know you are running late. It’s easy to make a fast phone call to the
doctor’s office from the car to ask a question you might forget about by the
time you get home. And we have to check in with work, don’t we?
According to Distraction.gov,
the official U.S. government website for distracted driving, “Distracted driving is any activity that diverts attention from driving, including talking or texting on your phone, eating and drinking, talking to people in your vehicle, fiddling with the stereo, entertainment or navigation system — anything that takes your attention away from the task of safe driving.”
You can download a parent-teen driving contract from the CDC here.
According to the latest data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which is from 2023, nearly six young drivers between 15 and 20 years old are killed in car crashes every day. That adds up to more than 2,000 teenagers lost each year, in addition to many more who are seriously injured in crashes.
READ MORE: 5 ways to protect your automotive investment
Set a good example
So how do you keep your teenager from texting and driving
or talking on their cell phone while driving? For starters, you have to be a
good example. A teenager recently told me her mother drives with her knee while
applying lipstick and talking on the phone at the same time. Maybe being a bad
example will make this teenager go the opposite way; maybe not. One mom I know
says, “Oh I’m horrible ... I text but with my voice app more now ... I always
put on makeup in the car. It’s a horrible habit I have … I’m a terrible
example; in fact, I have talked to them a lot about what I do they shouldn’t.”
Realize that being late to your destination is better
than not arriving at all due to causing an accident because you had to do
last-minute things in your car instead of at home. Thinking, “I can just call
or text my friend back while I’m driving the kids to dance class” could be
deadly and is something you can make a note about and do later.
Consider downloading a safe driving app to keep track of your child's driving habits. Some even offer accident alerts. If it turns out your child is practicing distracted driving, decide on the
consequences, such as taking away driving or other privileges.
Kerrie McLoughlin is a mom of 5 and author of "Fun,
Frugal and Green Christmas".