Proms, graduations and parties. May and June are a great time for getting together with family and friends to celebrate the accomplishments of our local teenagers as they graduate high school and make their way into the world—whether it’s on to college, into the military or to a job. Westboro Toyota thinks it’s also a good time to remind teenagers about driving safety.
Recently, Toyota, in partnership with Discovery Education, announced the winners of its Toyota Teen Driver Video Challenge and Toyota Teen Driver Educators’ Challenge. Both companies are committed to provided educators, parents and students with comprehensive lesson plans, take-home resources, an interactive game and more to help avoid distractions while driving and stay safe behind the wheel.
Here at Westboro Toyota, we’re glad that Toyota has taken the initiative to assemble programs to educate teens and their parents on driving safety. In fact, Toyota Driving Expectations, a free program that has educated more nearly 20,000 participants since 2004, puts teens and their parents behind the wheel and introduces “real world” obstacles, conditions and distractions in a safe and controlled driving environment—a pretty cool tool that teaches young people the dangers of distracted driving.
To jumpstart your conversation with your teenager about safe driving practices, consider the following:
Teen crash risks are generally attributed to inexperience, having teenage passengers in the vehicle and nighttime driving. That said, devise a short- and long-term agreement that covers your teen’s driving privileges, including curfew, whether or not they may carry other teenage passengers, drive at night and so on.
As a general best practice, in the first one to three months following licensure, make sure they aren’t driving past 9 or 10 pm, carrying any teen passengers or driving more than a couple of miles from home. Consider relaxing the rules accordingly at the six-, nine- and 12-month marks if they've met the objectives you've set. Let your teens demonstrate their responsible driving practices before giving them carte blanche to drive all over creation! Setting clearly defined expectations and consequences for not meeting those goals can be an effective way to keep your kids' heads in the safe-driving game.
After your teen gets his or her license, let him or her drive when you both need to go somewhere. Riding as a passenger is a good way for you to evaluate their everyday driving practices. Giving them this additional on-the-road practice may do wonders for ensuring their future safety.
When you drive, always set a good example for your teen. Obey the rules of the road, e.g., stop fully at stop signs, reserve a safe distance to the vehicle traveling in front of you and don't dial calls on your cell phone or program your GPS while driving. Kids learn from example—giving them positive riding experiences will likely translate into positive driving experiences for them when they’re behind the wheel.
Consider participating in the National Safety Council’s Alive at 25® Parent Program. For a nomimal fee of $24.95, you’ll get 90 days’ worth of access to the program, a two-hour Internet-based course that identifies the risks teen drivers face and helps parents reinforce basic driving skills and good decision making to help their kids become safe, responsible and defensive drivers.
Buckle up. This one should go without saying, but we think it should be said anyway! That goes for everyone in the vehicle.
Visit the National Safety Council for additional tips on talking to your kids about driving, and be safe everyone as you’re celebrating those proms and graduations!
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