News, Advice, and Tips for Parenting Teenagers

Parents who set clear rules about driving have teenagers who are half as likely to get into car crashes, twice as likely to wear their seatbelts, 70 percent less likely to drive when drunk, and 30 percent less likely to talk on cell phones when they are driving.

Parents who are clear that the teen should follow driving rules because they care about them and not because they are trying to control their children are the most successful, reported Dr. Koplin Winston, the author of the study.

Dr. Winston and her colleagues studied questionnaires answered by more than 5,500 students in grades nine to 11.

About 5,000 teenagers die in automobile accidents every year, making such crashes the leading cause of death for that age group.

This study appeared in the journal Pediatrics.

Labels: driving, safety, automobile accidents

Posted By: Aspen/CRC 0 Comments

Teenagers who own their own cars are more than twice as likely to get into automobile crashes, according to a new study from State Farm Insurance and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

• Researchers studied more than 5,500 teenagers in grades nine through eleven.
• 70 percent of the surveyed teens owned their cars or were the main drivers of their cars.
  
• Among this group, 25 percent had been involved in an automobile crash.
• Among teens who shared a car with someone else in the family, the accident rate was 10 percent.

Dr. Koplin Winston, author of the study, said that teenagers who have to ask for the car keys are more likely to have parents who monitor their driving. Such parents are more likely to ask where their children are going and when they are coming home.

About 5,000 teenagers die in automobile accidents every year, making such crashes the leading cause of death for that age group.

This study appeared in the journal Pediatrics.

Labels: automobile accidents, health risks, death

Posted By: Aspen/CRC 0 Comments