Teenagers may act like they know it all, but when it comes to driving, a recent study shows they know less than they think.
About 2,200 teens from 21 U.S. high schools were queried about vehicle handling, driving safety, and drunken or distracted driving through the IKnowEverything program. The results were released in a study by the Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility as part of National Teen Driver Safety Week, which ends Saturday. The study was funded through a collaboration between the foundation and several other driver safety organizations.
The No. 1 cause of teenage deaths in the U.S. is car crashes, according to a 2013 study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. And more than 50 percent of teenage drivers have admitted texting while driving, according to the foundation study.
Not all teen driving behavior is dangerous. The teens who were surveyed overwhelmingly said they always wear a seat belt and tell others riding in the car with them to buckle up, too. They got high marks for knowing what distracted driving is, and they could correctly identify unsafe driving habits.
But when questioned about how they deal with complicated driving scenarios or what they would do if a friend tried to drink and drive, the teenagers said they didn’t know how to handle those encounters.
And more than half of those surveyed said that while they believed they were prepared to drive, they were still nervous about actually getting behind the wheel.
To improve teenage driving safety, experts say, parents need to spend more time teaching their children how to drive and how to deal with various roadway situations.
Parents should also educate themselves about basic traffic laws to teach their teenage drivers, said Kara Macek, spokeswoman for the Governors Highway Safety Association.
“Parents have to step up to the plate and can even go above and beyond the law to teach their children safety,” Macek said.
