Seven tips to promote safe teen driving

April 26--The good news about teen driving is vehicle-related deaths have decreased 51 percent for 15- to-19-year-olds since 1999, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Still, motor vehicle fatalities are the leading cause of death among teenagers, accounting for one-third of all teen deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Some 4,000 drivers between the ages of 15 and 20 are involved in fatal crashes every year. The reasons for the spike in teen driving accidents are everything from not wearing seat belts to inexperience in bad weather and night driving.

Education is as important as experience, but what is the best way for teens to safely get experience behind the wheel?

While many states, including Illinois, have put into place graduated driver licensing to more closely limit and govern how free new teen drivers are to drive on their own, parents need more help than just these laws to keep their teens safe.

Some parents wield a hammer when it comes to regulating access to a car for their teenager. Others are just happy to reduce chauffeuring duties to soccer games, play rehearsals and dance class. Most families fall somewhere in between. No matter what kind of parenting is being done, though, parents can take fairly simple steps, like communicating with their teen drivers and investing in basic technology to decrease the likelihood that their child will become one of the grim statistics of teen driving.

1. Early to bed

Illinois graduated driver licensing sets curfews for 16- to 17-year-old drivers at 10 p.m. on weekdays and 11 p.m. on weekends. Accidents increase the later the hour.

2. Fewer passengers, fewer distractions

An Illinois graduated drivers license limits passengers for the driver's first year of licensing to one person under 20 unless it is a family member. Parents can set their own more restrictive passenger rules of just one additional passenger. In all cases, passengers are limited to the number of available seat belts.

3. Do as I do

Make sure to model the behavior as a driver that you want your teen driver to emulate. "Driver education begins the day a child seat is turned around to face front. ... Always be the driver you want your teen to be," says Tina Sayer, principal engineer for Toyota's Collaborative Safety Research Center.

Explain how you drive, especially as they approach permit age: Point out stuff like giving big trucks more space because it takes them longer to brake; teach them how to scan the road ahead and anticipate troublesome situations. When driving in snow or rain, narrate the things you are doing to allow for the different driving conditions. Let them take the wheel in snow and rain many times with you riding along before you let them drive solo.

4. Consider outside help

Teens are often loath to listen, and would rather find their own way. Having them trained by a professional driving instructor who has the benefit of not being their parent is often a good idea and can even make a nice gift since it will move them closer to safe, approved driving.

Automakers sometimes host touring safety programs. Toyota has a traveling drive simulator that it takes to auto shows and promotional events as part of its TeenDrive365 safety campaign.

The National Safety Council sponsors "Alive at 25" defensive driving courses around the country. The four-hour classroom sessions complement driver education programs.

Auto insurers such as State Farm offer simulators on their websites to practice safe driving skills.

Parents can also set up a system such as License+ from Automatic. The teen chooses a trusted experienced driver (parent, older sibling, relative, family friend) to act as a remote coach to discuss driving data such as sudden braking or rapid acceleration, or to praise smooth acceleration or night driving pinged to the coach's smartphone. After 100 hours, the teen driver can earn a reward, such as a badge from the app, or more significantly, more driving time behind the wheel of the coach's car.

5. Learn and earn

Employing technology that blocks texting while driving or informs parents where their teen driver is does not add up to treating your teen like a criminal. Consider it part of the process of earning driving independence. Automakers and insurance companies offer such systems. OnStar Family Link is available on General Motors vehicles through the OnStar emergency communications system. Family Link is a service that allows vehicle owners to see the location of their vehicle on an online map. Travelers Insurance IntelliDrive is a plug-in device that records the location and driving history of a vehicle, including how well the car is driven. Policyholders earn discounts up to 30 percent based on their mileage and driving skills.

6. Tires are your friends

It's a rite of passage to pass down a used family car to the new driver. Make sure the tires are up to date -- that it has snow tires if not up to date all-season tires with an all-wheel-drive car. Out of date or balding all-season tires on a rear-drive, or even front-drive car in snow, can be a horrible danger, points out www.teendriving.com. "Teens who will be driving an older car should consider having a new set of good tires put on," advises the site. And make sure they know how to use a tire gauge. Reacting to a dangerous driving event is far more treacherous if even one tire is 5 to 10 pounds underinflated.

7. Back off and calm down

The teaching shouldn't stop after your teen gets a license. Let the teenager drive when you are together. If they he or she is making mistakes, don't scold, says Melissa Crumish, a teen driving expert who writes for DMV.org, a DMV-help site not affiliated with any state department of motor vehicles. Instead, gently ask the teen to pull over, so you can calmly discuss how to do something better and safer. Scolding while in motion is a bad idea and can be distracting. "If you sense tension with your teen, end the driving session," says Crumish.

Check out the safest used car list for teens produced annually by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

David Kiley is an automotive freelance writer.

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