Parenting the Teenage Driver: A Model Contract
Introduction
More teenagers die due to motor vehicle accidents than any other single cause. Apart from the risk of death is the risk of injury to the teen driver, passengers, and others. Driving can also become a financial burden to the family, a burden which can become a crisis in the event of an accident
-
Motor vehicle accidents (MVAs) are the leading cause of death in people age 16 to 20. MVAs account for about 1/3 of deaths of people in this age group.
-
People aged 16 to 20 have the highest fatality rate due to MVAs of any other age group.
-
People aged 16 to 20 make up only 5% of drivers and only 3% of all miles driven by all drivers. And yet they are involved in 15% of traffic deaths.
-
About 5000 teenagers of driving age die in automobile accidents every year.
-
For every teenager killed, about 100 have injuries that are not fatal. MVAs are the leading cause of disability related to head and spinal cord injuries.
-
17-year old drivers are 6 times as likely to have an MVA as are people in the general population of drivers.
-
16-year old drivers are 20 times as likely to have an MVA.
Guidelines for use
Why do a driving contract?
-
Motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death in young people
-
Teenagers are less experienced, more impulsive, less developed judges of situations.
-
Your teenage driver is in danger of killing or maiming himself or herself or other innocent people.
-
If you don't do a contract, you will likely be vague in your rules and directions about driving.
-
The contract signals the teenager that driving is a serious and potentially deadly activity.
The first step in this process is important and often the most difficult. It is that you reflect carefully on the problem and firmly resolve to do all you can reasonably do to prevent this from happening.
Establish with the teenager, in advance, your firm determination to reach an agreement prior to their driving. You must be willing to state (and mean) that you will not allow the teen to drive until an agreement is reached and signed. State this...and then be willing to ride out the storm of teenage protest.
Use this agreement as a a starting point and revise it for you and your teenager. You should make changes to personalize this agreement!
If possible, if two parents are involved, parents should reach an agreement about the contract before it discussed with the teenager.
DO NOT ALLOW A TEENAGER TO DRIVE INDEPENDENTLY UNTIL THE AGREEMENT IS NEGOTIATED, WRITTEN, REVISED, AND SIGNED! DON'T LET YOUR TEEN DRIVE WITHOUT AN AGREEMENT. HANG TOUGH!! It may be wise to negotiate some of the details of some of the points. If your teen makes a reasonable counteroffer, consider it. BUT INSIST ON AN AGREEMENT IN WRITING.
Sign it, provide a copy to the teenager. Set a date to revise it after a period of time during which the teen drives. Schedule the review date and put it on the calendar. On this review date, go through it and change the agreement a little (or a lot) based on experience. Make it stricter if the teen's behavior with the car warrants that. Make it a bit more lenient, perhaps, if the teen is doing well. START WITH A FAIRLY STRICT CONTRACT.
Download the Model Contract below:
 Word Format |
 PDF Format |
You can find more information on parenting teen drivers at Dale Wisely's web site - http://www.parentingteendrivers.com/