Gifting Parents Lead to More Teen Accidents
Accident after 9 hours with a drivers license, originally uploaded by Darshan Shankar
Last Friday, reports of a new study suggested that teenagers driving their own vehicle, were more likely to get into an accident than a teen driving a parents borrowed vehicle. While these types of studies always have hidden factors that coerce the findings, in this case, parental monitoring appears to be one of the most significant factors in a teenagers safe driving habits.
The study was funded by State Farm Insurance, and carried out by the researchers at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. It was based on a national survey of 5,500 teens from 68 high schools, grades nine through 11. In a nutshell, the research suggests that when a teenager is the owner of their own vehicle, they feel a sense of entitlement to driving that can often lead to increased reckless behavior.
For instance, when in their own vehicle, students in the study were more likely to feel entitled to talk on their cell phone or drink alcohol, then when driving a borrowed vehicles with clear guidelines. To put this to statistics, with over 250,000 teenagers injured in accidents every year (5,000 deaths), those who are driving a borrowed vehicle (with rules attached to this privilege) were 30% less likely to use a cell phone and 70% less likely to drink while driving.
What this study should ultimately promote, is parents who will remain a (pardon the pun) “driving force” in their teenagers lives. Parents who do this, have more control over their teenager, are better able to provide clear ground rules, and can monitor their whereabouts more effectively. This is because the teen must first get their parents permission to borrow the car, tell them where they are going, who they will be going with, and what they will do once they get there.
Driving in this scenario is considered a privilege, not an entitlement.
Monitoring teen drivers not only boosts their chances for survival, but the survival of all those who are reading this article. Not to mention the good driving habits this will instill later in life, making today’s teenagers, better adult drivers later on. Enforce those rules parents, nobody else is going to!
Source: Examiner.com
