Parents have good reason to be concerned when their teen gets behind the wheel. Young, inexperienced drivers are the most crash-prone drivers on the road, and motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for teens in America.
Parental involvement is a key component in the development of safe young drivers, and as part of National Teen Driver Safety Week, NHTSA offers the following advice to parents and caregivers of teen drivers:
Talk to your teen about alcohol – In 2010, 22 percent of the young drivers involved in fatal crashes were drinking. All states have 21-year-old minimum-drinking-age laws. Talk to your teen about the risks of both drinking and driving, and of riding with an impaired driver. (Use MADD’s Power of Parents® handbook to help get the conversation started.)
Learn and follow your state graduated driver licensing (GDL) laws – GDL systems have been shown to reduce teen crashes. All states have three-stage GDL programs (learner's permit, intermediate or provisional license, full licensure). During the process, restrictions are put in place so young drivers can gain critical driving experience in lower-risk situations and a gradual introduction to more complex tasks through controlled exposure to high-risk situations.
Encourage your teen to always buckle up – Wearing a seat belt is the most effective protection for drivers and passengers in the event of a crash. In 2010, three out of five 16- to 20-year-old occupants killed in passenger vehicles were not wearing seatbelts.
Create and sign a parent-teen driving contract – A parent-teen driving contract sets ground rules and creates and explains the consequences of breaking those rules. This ensures teen accountability, ownership of expectations and an understanding that driving is a privilege that can be revoked.
Limit teen passengers and night driving – A NHTSA analysis found teen drivers were two-and-a-half times more likely to engage in one or more potentially risky behaviors when driving with one teenage peer compared to when driving alone. That risk increased with multiple passengers. In 2010, 1,326 passengers in young drivers' vehicles were killed in crashes involving young drivers. Most nighttime fatal crashes of young drivers occur between 9 p.m. and midnight. NHTSA recommends a maximum of one passenger in the car with your teen at all times (no passengers if required by your state GDL law) and nighttime driving restrictions starting no later than 10 p.m.
Prohibit the use of electronic devices while driving – Driving while talking on the phone or while texting is risky for all drivers, but especially for teens. In 2010, 368 teen drivers ages 15 to 19 involved in fatal crashes were distracted, accounting for 13 percent of all distracted driving fatalities.
We all know that teens’ parents and friends can have a big influence on their decisions about drinking, but did you know that their friends’ parents can also have a big impact?
A report recently published in the online edition of the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine suggests that mothers who are authoritative (that is, they balance nurturing and responsiveness with setting and holding their kids accountable for high expectations) with their teen children also influence the behavior of their teens' friends.
The study found that if an adolescent had a friend with an authoritative mother, that adolescent was 40% less likely to drink to the point of drunkenness and 38% less likely to binge drink than an adolescent who had a friend with a neglectful mother.
The indirect positive effects of authoritative parenting in reducing behaviors associated with underage drinking emphasizes our need to provide the Power of Parents® handbook and workshops to as many parents as possible. The Power of Parents program provides important tools for parents to help prevent underage drinking in not only their own teens, but also their teens’ friends through authoritative (also known as positive) style parenting.
During MADD’s National Conference a couple weeks ago, I had the privilege to spend time with Leo and Janice McCarthy. Leo has been honored as a 2012 Top 10 CNN Hero for starting Mariah's Challenge in honor of their 14-year-old daughter, Mariah, who was killed by a drunk driver as she was walking home.
I also got to see Melissa Stegner, who entered my life at MADD's Teen Influencer Summit this summer, and so eloquently spoke at our conference. Her quiet graciousness complements her fortitude and passion in speaking out against drinking and driving, as well as underage drinking. She describes herself as shy, but musters the strength to work at this prevention because her father and older brother were killed by a drunk driver.
It’s the time of year that every school-age kid dreads—the end of summer, which means… back to school. While finishing up last-minute summer projects and gathering the necessary supplies for the school year is likely keeping your family busy enough, MADD would like to suggest one more item to add to your back to school checklist: talking with your kids about alcohol.
The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASAColumbia™) recently released their 17th annual “back-to-school survey” to track attitudes of teens and those, like parents, who influence them. They surveyed 1,003 kids ages 12 to 17 with questions about school, family, social networking, their friends’ and classmates’ substance use, and their access to tobacco, alcohol, and illegal and prescription drugs.
As we expected, the results of this survey support the need for MADD’s Power of Parents™program. The program, sponsored by Nationwide Insurance, relies on research showing that parents have the power to influence their teen’s decisions about alcohol by setting expectations with your teens about alcohol use. Some key findings of the CASAColumbia survey include:
Parental expectations, particularly expressing strong disapproval of teen substance use, can be a decisive factor in a teen’s decision to drink alcohol.
Teens who say their parents would not be extremely upset if they found out they drank alcohol are almost four times more likely to have drunk alcohol (58% vs. 15%).
Teens who say their parents would not be extremely upset if their parents found out that they drink are ten times more likely to say it’s OK for teens their age to get drunk than teens who say their parents would be extremely upset (22% v. 2%).
We hope that this information will give all parents and caregivers the push they need to talk with their kids about alcohol to help keep them safe, as they head back to school. MADD has tools available that can help with this difficult discussion. Use our Power of Parents handbook to talk with you teens about not drinking alcohol until they are 21 and never getting in the car with someone who has been drinking, or visit the parent section of our website to get more tips and expert resources for talking with your kids about alcohol.
Summer can be a dangerous time both on America’s roadways, and for teens on summer vacation. That’s why we are working hard this summer to stop the preventable deaths and injuries resulting from drunk driving and underage drinking. We’ve teamed up with recording artist and former Miss World Canada Sara G and her single “Call Me A Cab,” to create MADD PSAs. These PSAs reminds summer revelers to always designate a sober driver before they go out, as well as additional PSAs letting kids know that drinking underage isn’t cool—it’s dangerous.
We would also like to thank Sara G for donating 29 cents for each download of the single “Call Me A Cab” purchased off of iTunes now through October 31st. Learn more.
Thanks to Sara G and Inasense Records for making our roads safer this summer.
We hope that this information will give all parents and caregivers the push they need to talk with their kids about alcohol to help keep them safe, as they head back to school. MADD has tools available that can help with this difficult discussion. Use our 
Summer can be a dangerous time both on America’s roadways, and for teens on summer vacation. That’s why we are working hard this summer to stop the preventable deaths and injuries resulting from drunk driving and underage drinking. We’ve teamed up with recording artist and former Miss World Canada 