6 Tips to Scare Your Teenager to Slow Down
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Every parent with kids feels both a sense of fear and relief when their children are able to obtain a license. Fear that they won't be responsible and drive safely, and relief because all of those taxi rides take up a lot of time!
So how do you drive home that driving dangerously can cost
much more than a speeding ticket or a required defensive driving course? Well,
sometimes fear isn't such a bad option.
We're not saying you should stop at the scene of every two
car mash up or ten car pile up and hope for blood and guts so Johnny or Suzy
will slow down and stop fully at stop signs instead of slowly rolling through.
Read Also: Car Insurance: How Much Does It Cost?
But there are some real life lessons that can be shared in
vivid detail in order to get your new (or newly ticketed) driver to slow down.
1. Fines
So what's the probability of getting caught if you speed in
the United States. While it certainly varies from state-to-state and
county-to-county, overall 16.6 percent of ALL DRIVERS get a speeding ticket
each year. That is one in six. Ask your teen how many friends they have to get
across the probability.
States with the Most Tickets Issued
1. Florida 2. Georgia 3. Nevada 4. Texas 5. Alabama 6. Missouri 7. New York 8. North Carolina 9. New Jersey 10. Louisiana 11. Arizona 12. Mississippi 13. California 14. Maryland 15. Iowa 16. Washington 17. Oklahoma 18. South Carolina
19. Indiana 20. Tennessee 21. Illinois 22. Ohio 23. Kansas 24. Michigan 25. Colorado 26. Delaware 27. Minnesota 28. Virginia 29. Massachusetts 30. Pennsylvania 31. Connecticut 32. Arkansas 33. Wisconsin 34. Vermont 35. Kentucky 36. New Hampshire
37. Hawaii 38. Rhode Island 39. Utah 40.
Oregon 41. New Mexico 42. Nebraska 43. Idaho 44. West Virginia 45. Maine 46.
Alaska 47. South Dakota 48. North Dakota 49. Wyoming 50. Montana
Most teenagers have a lot of wants. A car, designer clothes,
going on dates, senior trips, and other rights of passage for up-and-coming
adults.
As with most things in life, most of these wants cost money.
If your teen is ambitious he or she may have a part time job after school or on
the weekends to help pay for these items and to save a little for college or
other future expenses.
Speeding fines can put a huge dent in all of those spending
and savings plans. The average speeding ticket in the United States cost $150 -
$200 - that's AVERAGE. Get caught going more than 10 mph over the limit and it
will likely be more.
In some states, such as Georgia, there are super speeder
laws. Under this law another $200 is tacked onto your local fine if you are
caught going over 75 mpg on a two lane road or over 85 mpg anywhere in Georgia.
2. Higher Insurance Costs
Building on your initial argument about speeding fines you
can now go straight into a discussion about the concept of rising insurance
premiums. Insurance companies are VERY aware of the fact that teen drivers are
high risk drivers as a group.
In years past boys were significantly more of a risk than
girls, but that is no longer the case. Young female drivers are now more likely
to speed than boys. All of this adds up to higher insurance costs. The average
cost of that increased premium? $300 a year.
Premium increases are only one part of the problem, and if
your teen is lucky that is the punishment the insurance carrier will bestow on
them. If they aren't so local the insurance carrier may issue a non-renewal
notice all together.
What is that? At the end of each policy period the insurer
has the option to drop your policy. If your teen is a speeder, in the worst
case scenario, they could end up having to go through your state's assigned
risk pool. This pool is for drivers that insurers refuse to insure.
Your teen would have to commit a pretty awful offense to get
there, but cost wise he or she would be looking at several times the cost of
their current policy and that may end up making the cost of a pair of Nike's a
lot more attractive to you as a parent.
3. Car Repair Costs
Speeding leads to accidents. It's been proven over and over,
time and time again. Beyond the obvious fear of bodily injury and death caused
by car accidents fender benders can be damaging to the wallet.
A simple fender bender, literally only damaging the bumpers,
generally runs from $1000 to $3000 to repair. Plus you have those pesky
insurance premium increases again which will be steep for any teen driver in an
accident - especially one caused by speed or negligence on their part.
Keep this in mind in regard to insurance and repair costs.
Many of us have increased our deductible in an effort to lower your premium - a
totally legitimate cost saving measure. You may, however, wish to reconsider
this if you have a teen driver as they are at a much higher risk for accidents.
As always, if there is an accident, be sure to get multiple
estimates for repairs and ask around about reputation. As the materials for new
cars become more complex due to mile-per-gallon requirements they also take
more skill to fix correctly.
4. Accident Statistics
Accidents are a part of driving for many people at some
point in their lives. Most accidents are not fatal or major. However, teens
should be very aware of the fact that driving is dangerous.
In 2009 according to the US Census Bureau there were 33,808
deaths and 2,217,000 injuries caused by the operation of motor vehicles in the
United States. Those deaths and injuries involved 9,534,000 vehicles. Those are
large numbers.
Out of those 33,808 deaths 10,591 were related to speeding.
More alarming is the fact that most fatal accidents occurred at speeds over 55
mph and the next largest category as 45 mph on non-interstate roads - these are
the roads a teen is most likely to be driving on.
Perhaps more disturbing than speed is the fact that 4,898 of
those crashes were caused by distracted driving - a problem that is extremely
prevalent among teen drivers due to the advent of smartphones and other
electronic devices.
So, the take aways here: tell your teens not to speed and
regardless of how fast they are going they should never touch their phones
while driving.
5. Loss of Driving Privileges
Little is more devastating to a teen with a license than the
shame in having to walk again because Mom and Dad took away the car. With the
advent of modern day technology it is relatively easy, if not mildly creepy, to
track your kid's driving speeds.
So how do you avoid the creep factor? There's an app for
that! Seriously. Check out the SpeedBump app for Android that helps parents
monitor the average speeds of teen drivers. This app isn't a spy app, it
facilitates discussion and monitoring on an open basis.
Teens and parents can sit down and discuss the speed limits
on roads, parents can set acceptable speeds, and they will only be notified
when those speeds are broken.
We don't advocate for this particular app, but it is a great
example of what is available to help parents monitor new teen drivers. With an
app and a daily report it is very easy and objective to set rules for the loss
of driving privileges for your teen.
6. Parents Who Drive Poorly
No, we're not suggesting you go out, max out your engine,
and impart the dangers of speed on your teenager by scaring them to death with
Mario Andretti style turns and rubber burning.
The point here is that it is next to impossible to tell a
teenager (or anyone for whom you are an authority figure for that matter) to
behave one way while they watch you dismiss your own demands for your own
personal behavior.
The point? Behave the way you expect your teenager to behave
and start behaving that way long before they go to get their permit.
If you set a long term example of safe driving habits and
reasonable speeds you will be much further along in your quest to keep your kid
safe on the road. (*)
