Posted on Monday, November 27th, 2017 at 8:53 pm
One of the ultimate gifts a teenager can receive for Christmas is a car. Whether it is a brand new shiny car or an old not-so-shiny vehicle, having their own car is a dream of many teen drivers. However, if you are gifting your teen driver with a vehicle, you are also gifting your teenager with a huge responsibility.
Teen drivers who borrow their parents’ vehicles drive less than teens that have access to a vehicle 24/7. Therefore, your child may not have the experience behind the wheel that he or she needs to handle driving on a daily basis. To help your teen driver stay safe on the road, remember that you have a critical role in teaching your child to be a safe driver.
What Can You Do?
The first thing you need to do is to evaluate your teen’s readiness to handle the responsibility of a vehicle. Owning a vehicle is a responsibility that goes far beyond driving. Does your teen driver understand maintenance schedules? Have you discussed with your teenager what to do in various emergency situations? Can your teen follow your rules for the vehicle in addition to traffic laws?
If your teenager did not complete a quality driver education program, now is the time to enroll your child in a program. Even though a teenager might have been driving for a few months or even a couple of years, completing a safe driver course can help reinforce safe driving behaviors that every driver needs to utilize to reduce the risk of being involved in an accident.
Even though California requires 50 hours of supervised practice driving, that does not mean you should not continue to ride with your teen driver. Fifty hours sounds like a lot of time; however, it is not nearly enough time to encounter a variety of situations that could be potentially dangerous. By riding with your teen driver on a regular basis, you can keep apprised of how your teenager is developing as a driver, and you can continue to educate your child in various driving situations.
Ways that you can set a good example for your teen driver when you are behind the wheel include:
- Always wear your seatbelt and ensure everyone in the vehicle wears a safety belt or uses a safety seat.
- Never use your cell phone while driving or use other electronic device while driving.
- Do not tailgate or drive aggressively.
- Follow the speed limit and all other traffic laws.
- Always use your turn
- Slow down and look for pedestrians at intersections, crosswalks, school zones, and neighborhoods.
Your child learns driving habits from you at a very early age. Begin training your child as a safe driver by practicing safe driving habits now so that when you are ready to give your child a car, he or she is ready for the responsibility.
Call Our Sacramento Personal Injury Attorneys If You Have Been Injured
Has your teen driver been injured in a car accident? It is common to blame the teen driver for the accident, even though the teenager may not have been responsible for the crash. It is easy to assume that a young driver is the one who caused the crash because teen drivers do not have as much experience. However, our attorneys understand that teen drivers deserve the same aggressive representation that any other driver deserves.
For a free legal consultation with a Sacramento personal injury attorney, call Tiemann Law Firm at (916) 999-9000
