National Teen Driver Safety Week: El Paso parents urged to talk to your teens
EL PASO, TX (KVIA) – Seven teens die every day from car crashes in the U.S. This week is National Teen Driver Safety Week and experts are urging parents to take an active role in improving teen driver safety.
According to the National Road Safety Foundation, the top contributors of teen driver fatalities include speeding, distractions such as texting, and failure to wear seat belts. In Texas alone, over 4,200 people were killed on the road last year, with teens accounting for 8% of those deaths.
Experts stress the importance of parents acting as role models and showing their children safe driving habits before they even get behind the wheel.
ABC-7 spoke to Michelle Anderson, director of operations for the National Road Safety Foundation who encourages parents to have open conversations with their teens, “Parents need to do is to remind teens that driving is a privilege, it’s not their right,” she said.
Anderson also says parents should be familiar with Texas Graduate Driver laws. In Texas, teen drivers face restrictions, including limits on nighttime driving and the number of passengers they can carry. The state allows teens to begin driver education as early as 14 and obtain a learner's license at 15. “The brain is not fully developed until 25, right,” Anderson said. “So that's that's a little scary. That's a recipe for disaster.”
Distractions are the leading contributors to fatal crashes, “Because they're inexperienced. Any little thing can distract them and take their mind off of the task of driving,” said Anderson.
Experts say teens should practice as much as possible with parents next to them. Some also encourage parents to write up a parent teen driving contract, outlining expectations, to help reinforce safety habits on the road.
