Road Safety for Teens
I remember a situation when I was a teen where my sister came rushing in late at night, slammed the door, and told my parents that there was a car in the driveway that had followed her home. She hadn’t realized the car was even there until she had gotten out of her own car, thus the rush to get in the door. We placed a call to the police and then watched through the window. There was no visible activity in the car, and we couldn’t see a driver. Once the police arrived, they informed us that the driver was still in the car, passed out. He was very intoxicated. Who knows how the story might have ended had he not been so drunk he passed out.
I had shared the above story with my girls as an example of why they need to be aware of what is going on around them when they are driving, but the other night when one of the girls came home and said she felt like someone had been following her while she drove I realized I had not done enough to let them know what to do if they felt they were being followed. So I gave them some advice about specific actions to take, and then I did a little searching on the internet for more tips. I thought I’d share them here so other parents can pass them on.
First, be careful when heading to your car, particularly at night. Don’t be distracted by cell phones or music. Get someone to walk you to your car if possible. And be ready to enter the car as you walk…keys out before you head out of the building. Peek in the windows to be sure no one is in the car. And once in, quickly lock the doors.
If you feel like someone is following you once you hit the road, pull over into a well-lit, well-populated parking lot. If you still feel uncomfortable, you can make a cell-phone call from there. If you are near to a police station or fire station, that’s a good place to pull in as well. If you arrive home and feel like someone has followed you, call to someone inside to safely assist you.
Here’s hoping your teens have safe travels.
Do you have any other advice for road safety?
Agree with all of the above tips. Our kids think they are invincible! “It won’t happen to them”! One of the biggest risk our current teens face is the distraction factor – the cell phone, Facebook updates (which must be checked every couple of minutes!), which all keeps them from staying properly focused on what is going on right around them!!
I agree about the distractions. There’s plenty of time to check for messages and facebook updates when you’ve safely reached your destination.
[...] while back I shared a few safety tips for teen drivers in a blog post. That post was a reaction to a scary situation that occurred when Lexie was driving late at [...]