Parental Influence on Safe Teen Driving
Teenagers’ car accident cases are becoming common, not only in American but also globally. According to a study conducted by Corinne Peek-Asa, Joseph E Cavanaugh, Jingzhen Yang, Vidya Chande, Tracy Young, and Marizen Ramirez in Steering Teens Safe: A Randomized Trial of a Parent-Based Intervention to Improve Safe Teen Driving, “Approximately 30% of fatal crashes that involve a teen driver lead to death or serious injury to occupants of other vehicles involved in the crash”(1). Teenagers reckless decision regarding road rules and driving affects both the teenagers and the close to them. To combat and reduce road accident fatality cases, Virginia State Legislature should foster a checkpoint program obliges parents to be present when their child obtains their license. This program will be beneficial to the child and parents, whereby the parents will be updated on the new driving rules. In contrast, children will learn firsthand about the dangers associated with not following road rules and regulations.
Road regulation and laws have rapidly changed due to the increased fatalities of drivers. For instance, the hand replacement for drivers has shifted from ’10 and 2′ to 8 and 4′ in the past year. The majority of parents are oblivious of the new road changes regarding street signs and road laws because they had no opportunity to study them. If parents participate in a checkpoint program with their children, they will have an opportunity to learn those rules and apply them in the future. Moreover, when parents follow these rules, they will be able to answer their children’s questions about driving and set a good example if they utilize those rules.
Previous studies conducted in which parents are constantly updated in their teen’s driving showed that the risk was significantly reduced, and the more the parents knew about their child’s actions and whereabouts. B G Simons-Morton, J L Hartos, and W A Leaf stated in Promoting Parental Management of Teen Driving that, “For the majority of incidents, parents were not aware that their teens drove under the influence, rode with other drinking drivers, were distracted by passengers while driving, did not wear seat belts, drove aggressively, or ran stop signs/ traffic lights” (25). How can accidents be prevented if there is no supervision? The checkpoint program requires that from the time the teen obtains their permit to a year after, the parent will monitor them with an evaluation sent to the state every two months. Understanding that parents most likely have a hectic life juggling work, children, etc. The program allows an extensive grace period of a week to submit the teen’s evaluation. The majority of teenagers live in the mindset that “nothing bad will happen to me.” Without constant supervision from the parents and state, these teenagers would have no motivation to follow regulations and the laws created for them, simply because of the notion that they are invincible. The checkpoint program gives them the perspective that there are more direct and immediate consequences, i.e., losing their license.
Lastly, the checkpoint program will provide a certain level of accountability from the parents to the teens. As stated before, most of the accidents that occur are caused by something the parents had no idea was going on. Parents have the responsibility to set rules and guidelines for their teens, and this program will help them do exactly that. Hartos and colleagues’ survey reported that an alarming amount of adolescents were allowed to have as many passengers as they wanted and were allowed to be out as late as they wanted. Only 55% of teens reported any restriction on their driving (25). This statistic is alarming, considering that teen driving risk is directly related to parental monitoring and restrictions on driving restrictions. Curfew and passengers are not the only causes of such horrific accidents. Texting, drinking, phone calls, and drugs are also widely known as causes for teenage driving fatalities. The checkpoint program provides videos for parents showing the devastating effects of what can happen when a teen drinks and drives, or texts and drives. These videos appeal to emotion and aim to put a sense of fear into their minds so that they feel the need to keep a closer look at their children.
Conclusion,
Car accidents are the leading cause of teenage death in America. This issue is becoming a common trend. . In Virginia states alone, car accidents are the main causes of teenagers’ death. It’s prudent for the Virginia state and the American government to prevent this rapid issue. A checkpoint program would be essential since most parents would be updated on the new road rules and become more involved in their children’s driving process; since they will be accountable for their safety. Parents getting engaged in this program would protect their kids from an unnecessary accident and gradually reduce teenagers’ car accident fatality.