Teenage Drivers Dream, Parents Agonize



Posted: Friday, July 20, 2007

by
DMV Florida

Using Driving Privileges as a Positive Influence on Your Teenager

As teenagers approach the age when they can drive they start counting the days. They dream of the places they will go, the friends they’ll pickup, the cool car they will get. For a teenager driving means freedom. Parents are horrified.

It seems like every day you can read a tragic teen-driving story. Car accidents are the leading cause of death for teenagers; teens have the lowest rate of seat belt use; teenagers are more likely to speed than older drivers. What is a parent to do?

Start by making it clear that driving is a privilege not a right. And as the parent you decide if and when your teenager will drive.

According to High School Driver, the state of Florida has a program that connects driving privileges for underage drivers with school attendance and the program looks to be effective. Here’s a quick summary of the program.

Florida Driving Privileges
Drivers under the age of 18 in Florida must attend school or their driving privilege is suspended. This applies to all teens under 18 years old. In Florida you must be 15 years olds to get your learners permit. Once you have had your learner permit for a year – and maintained a clean driving record you can get your drivers license.

School Attendance Requirements
If a student has more than 15 unexcused absences in a 90-day period then their driving privileges are suspended. This applies to teens with a Florida learners permit, a drivers license, and those who are eligible to drive but have not drives license yet. In that case the teen is informed that they cannot get their permit or driver license. In all cases the drivers license suspension stays in effect until the student is 18 years old or they correct their attendance problems.

The statistics reported on High School Driver suggest that connecting school attendance to driving privileges works, 95 percent of the students correct their attendance problems.

Create a Driving Contract
The easiest way to make it clear that driving is a privilege is to create a driving contract. This is a simple contract between parents and their teenager that explains that driving is a privilege and it will be taken away if certain rules are broken. The contract should detail how long the teenager will lose their right to drive for certain violations such as coming home to late, driving without a seatbelt, or transporting other teens without permission.

An example of a teen driving contract is the Ipromise program. For a donation of $10 you can get your contract. Just fill in the blanks, make a few changes and you have a contract with your teen driver.

According to the CDC crash risks for teen drivers are particularly high in the first year of driving. This reinforces the need to make it clear to teenagers before they start driving that driving is a privilege that then can easily lose.
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)
» left by paula
from FLA. 4 years 202 days ago.
Excellent !!!!!
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