Safe-Driving Strategies for Teens (and the rest of us)
By William Van Tassel, PhD
Most teens start off with used small cars. These can be major money savers in that insurance is typically lower, dings and dents don’t devalue the vehicle as much, and the gas savings can be as much as 50% or more compared with full-size sedans. However, small cars also tend to be riskier than larger vehicles, with fatality rates more than twice as high as those of gas guzzlers. Here are some tips to help your teen make small-car driving as safe as possible.
1. Help your teen select the safest small car.
- Side-impact air bags to improve odds of survival if hit from the side.
- Electronic stability control (typically available only on newer cars) to detect when the vehicle is skidding and helps with getting the vehicle under control quickly.
- High crash-test ratings from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). These are available at www.safercar.gov and ratings from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) can be found at www.iihs.org/ ratings.
- Select a brightly colored car like red and yellow. Avoid black, silver and gray.
2. Have your teen turn on the headlights during the day to increase visibility. If the car doesn’t have daytime running lights (low-beam headlights that turn on when the car does), put on the headlights.
3. Teach you teen to wait a bit before entering intersections when the light turns green. A driver in a larger vehicle could be barreling through the other way trying to beat the red light.
4. Your teen should avoid driving in packs with larger vehicles. When possible, they should drop back or speed up slightly to create a bubble of open space. If a vehicle is tailgating your teen, teach them to look for opportunities to pull aside or change lanes to let the aggressive driver pass.
5. A good driver is always thinking ahead. Your teen should be considering in advance what to do if another driver does not properly check for oncoming trafic and pulls into their path. Teach your teen to preselect an “emergency escape” as they drive, an open area into which they could safely maneuver. Wide shoulders usually make the best emergency escapes, so help your teen to develop habits that put them in a lane adjacent to a shoulder, typically the safest lane in which to drive.
Help your teen learn their car’s capabilities. Take them out driving in the snow and ice; an empty school parking lot is a great place to practice. Their small car probably can stop and swerve more quickly than larger vehicles. That maneuverability practice can help them stay in control and out of collisions if they know their car’s capabilities before an emergency occurs.
Reference:
This article was adapted from a paper written by William Van Tassel, PhD for the American Automobile Association. Dr. Van Tassel is the manager of driver training operations at AAA’s national office in Heathrow, Florida. www.aaa.com. He is a member of the Transportation Research Board’s Committee on Operative Regulation and Education and a sports car racer with the Sports Car Club of America.
