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Being
a child of the 80s, when I think of teens and driving, I picture
an episode of "Who's The Boss?" (ay-oh, oh-ay!) in which
worried father Tony covered his daughter's first car (a yellow
beast of a thing) in giant red reflectors.
At
the time, I cringed with embarrassment at the thought of my parents
following suit (and what teen-ager wouldn't?), but now I understand
Tony's anxiety. After all, parents have a right to freak out at
the prospect of a child getting behind the wheel, don't they?
Well,
apparently parents in 2002 have either really mellowed out or
are just plain naïve. According to a study by Autobytel,
nearly half of the parents who responded expressed confidence
in their own children's driving habits, and only four percent
of those surveyed cited drinking and driving as their top teen
driving worry.
Now
for the wake-up call: Drinking and driving is the number one
killer of young people, and 43 percent of teens who participated
in a recent clinical study said they'd either driven while intoxicated
or ridden in a car with a driver who'd been drinking or using
drugs, Autobytel says.
This
may sound cliché or like a bad 80s-sitcom plot, but make
sure to talk to your kids about the dangers of underage drinking,
especially the ramifications of driving while intoxicated. Another
thing to take into consideration is the safety of the vehicle
your teen drives. Click here
for more information on this subject from Autobytel.
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