Parents warn their teenagers about the dangers of risk driving habits, but data shows that many parents engage in the same dangerous driving behavior that they warn their children against.
According to study conducted by Liberty Mutual Insurance and Students Against Destructive Decisions, parents admitted to talking on a cell phone while driving (86 percent), speeding (80 percent), texting (40 percent), driving after consuming alcohol (34 percent) and driving without a safety belt (21 percent).
The study included focus groups in Philadelphia and Dallas, a national survey of more than 2,500 11th- and 12th-graders, and a survey of 1,000 parents of high school-aged drivers.
Safety & Health Magazine reports that most teens (83 percent) reported that their parents engage in unsafe driving behaviors with them in the car, sometimes at higher rates than their parents adm
itted. In fact, 58 percent of teens polled said that they have witnessed their parents texting while driving, and 41 percent have seen their parents drive without a safety belt. What’s more, nearly half of teens (41 percent) said their parents continue unsafe habits even after the teens ask them to stop.
It is incredibly important for parents to not just tell their children how to drive safety, but to show them how to drive safely. As we recently reported, a report from Safe Kids Worldwide revealed that one out of four teens does not wear a safety belt every time riding in a car and, each year, approximately 2,500 teens die in car accidents, making it the primary cause of death for teenagers, according to Safe Kids Worldwide.
Distracted driving is also a common problem for teen drivers. Thirty-nine percent of teens surveyed said they had been a passenger in a car with a teen driver who was texting, and 28 percent reported riding in a car with a parent who was texting.
Safe Kids Worldwide offers the following suggestions to help families improve teen driving habits and enhance passenger safety:
• Buckle up on every ride, every time.
• Talk with teens about how to speak up if a driver (of any age) is not being safe.
• Be a role model in all of your driving habits.
