The August edition of Reader’s Digest contains an excellent article that hits all the major points parents and teens need to understand about the dangers of teen driving. Even better, there’s an interactive edition of the article at their site. Take a few minutes to see how your state laws and traffic fatality rate stacks up against the rest of the nation.
RD rated each state based on the number of teen deaths, seat belt laws, DUI laws and graduated driver licensing laws. It’s a sad comment that in 2008 we still have 12 states, almost one-fourth of the nation, given an overall rating of “Worst State.” The worst five states in terms of teen driving fatalities are Mississippi, Wyoming, Montana, Alabama and Missouri. Some of those states ranked at the bottom are heavily agricultural or have sparser populations, where parents are not inclined to support legislation that puts a lot of restrictions on new drivers. Others have a preponderance of rural roadways, which tend to be the scene of a disproportionate number of crashes.
Why don’t all our states have a uniform set of laws that limit teen exposure to the riskiest driving situations? Generally, it’s because legislators in those lowest ranked states cannot get support for restrictions that safer states have in place. The article quotes Vermont State Rep. Kathy Lavoie saying “When it comes to an infringement on parental rights, I get nervous.”
What infringement? The “right” of parents to let their kids drive after midnight – when all the research shows a skyrocketing rate of fatalities after 9PM. The “right” of parents to allow a novice driver to carry other minors in the car – when research shows up to 500 percent increase in crash rates with other teens in the car.
I replied to a 42-year old person on the RD forum who said that driving at 16 should be allowed so the kids could experience a “first date” at 16, rather than waiting until they were a bit older. After all, he seemed to reason, why make a teenager wait for his or her first date? The kids deserve all the fun they can have as soon as possible.
I might just be way too conservative – but I don’t think so. To me, keeping our kids safe and alive is the #1 responsibility of every parent. I would no sooner let a 16-year old with just 40-50 hours of driving experience drive another teen around town than I’d let them jump off a bridge just to get the rush of falling. It’s a parenting issue. And IMHO, no one should confuse proper parenting with silly talk about “infringement of parental rights.” Let’s get real and keep our kids alive!
