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Teens Urged to ‘Flip the Script’ on Parents This Teen Driver Safety Week

Four-in-10 parents of teen drivers don’t talk to their kids about safe driving on a regular basis.

That factoid, says survey sponsor Allstate, could be an incentive for teens to “flip the script” and spearhead the conversation with their parents and friends during this week’s National Teen Driver Safety Week (Oct. 21 – Oct. 27).

The survey revealed widespread concerns over distractions and speeding. These issues are especially important for young people. Whether as passengers or drivers, auto collisions are the No. 1 killer of every single age from 16 to 23. Nonetheless, the Allstate survey revealed parents have a largely rose-colored view of their teens behind the wheel: Two-thirds (68 percent) of parents think their teens are safe drivers, and three-in-four believe their kids rarely engage in unsafe behaviors.

“There’s an opportunity here for youth to take charge of this preventable issue, one that’s killing their peers at an unfortunate rate,” said Ken Rosen, Allstate’s chief claims officer.

Rosen urged that teens, instead of being lectured by their parents about safe driving, challenge themselves and their friends to practice roadway safety each and every time they get behind the wheel. “The most effective way to change driving behavior is through the positive influence of the people closest to you,” Rosen said.

Additional survey results:

• Sixty-nine percent of parents who monitor their teen drivers do so through use of a smartphone app. Fifty-nine percent monitor on a daily basis, and 40 percent monitor weekly.
• The highest teen-driver safety concerns were over phone use (64 percent), exceeding the speed limit (50 percent) and being distracted by surroundings (48 percent) or the radio (44 percent)
• Two-thirds (67 percent) of parents think they were safe drivers when they were teens – mirroring the number of parents who think their teen is safe.
• Nine percent of Americans have a teen driver between the ages of 15 and 18.