In a few days, federal transportation safety officials will be kicking off National Teen Driver Safety Week, an annual campaign that is dedicated to educating parents and teen drivers about:

  • a teen with keys to the car

    Parents, next week is National Teen Driver Safety Week. Here’s what the NHTSA is encouraging you to discuss with your teen drivers, a Kingston car accident attorney explains.

    The leading causes of teen driver crashes

  • What they can do to reduce the risk of these car accidents and keep teens safe behind the wheel.

Operating with the theme 5 to Drive, this campaign is urging parents to take an active role in teen driver safety by discussing certain safety topics with them before letting them get behind the wheel.

Explaining the point of dedicating the upcoming week to teen driver safety, NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind has stated:

The ‘5 to Drive’ campaign gives parents and teens a simple, straightforward checklist that can help them talk about good driving skills, and most importantly, prevent a tragedy before it happens.

Parents, Here Are the 5 Issues to Discuss with Teen Drivers, the NHTSA Says 

  1. Never drive drunk – Close to 1 in every 3 deadly teen driver crashes involves a drunk teen driver. This is despite the facts that every U.S. state has the legal drinking age set at 21 and many states have zero tolerance laws for teen motorists.
  2. Never text while driving – Cellphone use is the leading distraction for teen drivers, and approximately 11 percent of deadly teen driver crashes are caused by distracted teen motorists. In fact, teens should regard distracted driving to be as life-threatening as drunk driving because, in fact, it is.
  3. Always obey the speed limit – More than 40 percent of all fatal teen driver crashes are caused by teen drivers exceeding the posted speed limit. When teen drivers speed, even the slightest mistakes can end up leading to serious traffic accidents.
  4. Avoid driving with other teens in the same vehicle – This is because having just one other teenager riding in the car can increase the risk of dangerous driving behaviors among teen motorists by about 2.5 times. This risk triples when a few more teens are added to the mix.
  5. Always buckle up – Wearing a seatbelt is the single simplest and most effective thing that anyone can do to reduce the risk of a serious injury (or a deadly one) when an accident occurs.

Do you have a teen driver at home? Will you be discussing these 5 to Drive topics with him or her? Comment on our Facebook & Google+ pages.

Contact a Kingston Car Accident Attorney at Charles N. Rock, P.L.L.C.

Have you or someone you love been injured in an auto wreck that may have been caused by someone else’s negligence? If so, you can turn to Kingston Car Accident Attorney Charles N. Rock for aggressive legal advocacy and effective help obtaining the compensation to which you may be entitled.

To find out more about your best options for moving forward, contact us today to schedule a free, no obligations initial consultation. You can set up this meeting by calling (845) 3831170 or by emailing us using the contact form on this page. To ensure that you have the legal support you need now, Injury Attorney Charles N. Rock can meet you at your home or a hospital when needed.