5 Ways to Get Your Teen to Drive Better

Every parent goes through the five stages of grief once they realize their precious teenage son or daughter is about to start driving. When faced with the image of your one-time newborn sitting behind the wheel and making life and death decisions with their driving, it is natural to experience an onslaught of difficult emotions that can adversely affect the way you react to the situation. But the best way to deal with your concerns over your teen driver is to try to influence their behavior behind the wheel in a reasonable manner. Here are four tips to help you give your teen the tools and incentive to drive better.

Be an example: If you do all the things you ask your kids not to do behind the wheel, you can’t expect them to take you seriously. It doesn’t matter that you are a more experienced driver than they are, teenagers don’t always reason on those terms. Instead, lead by example and observe all the same rules that you want them to follow. Doing so will help them respect you and your rules more and will encourage them to follow those rules even when you aren’t around.

Reward good behavior: Safe driving should not need any more rewards than the reward of being accident-free, but with teens you do sometimes have to offer incentives in order to help them avoid making costly mistakes. Reward your teen in small ways when they act appropriately and exercise good decision making skills behind the wheel. Some teens also respond well to rewards systems that allows them to anticipate a certain reward if they avoid accidents and bad driving behavior for a pre-determined amount of time.

Educate your teen: It’s not always enough to tell your teen driver not to do something, sometimes you also need to teach them why they shouldn’t do it. That often makes a greater difference than just telling them to avoid X, Y or Z. So find teaching materials that show your teen why certain activities and decisions don’t mix well with driving.

Give consequences: Just as good behavior should be rewarded, bad behavior should have consequences. Let your teen know before they take the keys what consequences they will face for certain behavior. But remember, consequences only work when you stick by them, so be sure you are prepared to enforce them.

Encourage your teen to make A’s and B’s in school: Most Chicago car insurance companies offer a nice discount for teens who keep at least a B average in high school or college. College kids typically need to take at least twelve credit hours to be eligible for the discount
If you treat your teen’s driving privileges as a privilege and work to communicate with them through positive feedback and consequences, you can influence your teen’s driving without drama, resistance or stress.

Make sure your Chicago Auto Insurance agent is there for you in the event of an accident. Contact us at Oxford Auto Insurance today!