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Teen drivers were involved in almost 14,000 fatal crashes over the past five years, and more than 4,200 of those accidents involved speeding, according to AAA.
A survey of driving instructors found that speeding is one of the top three mistakes that teen drivers make.
Read more: Drivers with DUIs may pay less for auto insurance than you
In addition, 65% of those instructors said that parents today are worse at preparing their children to drive compared to a decade ago.
“Nearly two-thirds of people injured or killed in a crash involving a teen driver are people other than the teen,” said Bill Van Tassel, AAA’s manager of Driver Training Operations. “Involved parents really can help save lives, so it’s important for parents to coach their teens to slow down, as well as to avoid other common mistakes.”
AAA said previous studies suggest that parents may be setting a bad example through their own behaviors, such as talking on the phone while driving.
“Parents play a major role in keeping our roads safe,” said Jennifer Ryan, director of State Relations for AAA. “Most teens are learning important driving skills from watching their parents and they are picking up bad behaviors along with the good ones. So it’s up to today’s parents to set a good example. It may end up saving their children’s lives.”
So what’s a parent to do? Here are four valuable tips that AAA provided to help parents stay involved in teaching their teens how to drive:
If you have a teen driver, be prepared for sticker shock. Adding a teenager to a married couple’s car insurance policy leads to a 79% higher average annual premium, according to an InsuranceQuotes.com study.
“I believe that you should have your teenager pay some amount, or even all, of the premium for the insurance that they have to have because they’ll tend to be a better driver knowing that they have to pay,” Clark said.
Also, make sure that you have plenty of liability coverage because teenagers tend to have more accidents.
And when it comes time to add a teen driver to your policy, shop around for the best price and best coverage, starting with our list of highly-rated auto insurers.
Read more: Car insurance rates: Geico vs. Progressive vs. Amica vs. State Farm
This post was last modified on March 22, 2017 4:30 pm
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