Teen's Role
Your teen is ready to drive solo, and with that freedom comes responsibility.
Make sure your teen understands the many responsibilities involved in operating a vehicle, which include:
- Focusing on safe driving by obeying the speed limit, always wearing a safety belt, not driving when fatigued and avoiding distractions and aggressive driving.
- Checking in with you prior to every trip to give you the destination, route and time expected home. If your teen wants to drive with a passenger, you must provide permission first.
- Making smart decisions about being a passenger, such as asking your permission before riding with a new teen driver, avoiding riding in cars with multiple teen passengers, never riding with distracted, drinking or drugged drivers and always wearing a safety belt.
- Calling you for a ride if there is any concern regarding safety.
- Knowing how to appropriately respond to peer pressure.
- Being responsible for any passengers in the vehicle to ensure they buckle up, ride without distracting the driver and so forth.
- Continuing to practice driving with you, especially before trying an unfamiliar driving situation like rush-hour traffic, city driving, narrow country roads, night driving or poor weather.
- Keeping the car clean and full of gas, among other family rules.
- Abiding by your family’s parent-teen driving agreement.
A Word about SAFE
A cooperative effort sponsored by AAA Kansas and the Kansas Department of Transportation to increase restraint compliance through positive rewards and strong enforcement messages
- If the driver is belted … the child is belted 92% of the time.
- If the driver is NOT belted … the child is belted only 23% of the time.
"Recently, I was dispatched to the scene of a rollover crash with one occupant. The vehicle was still resting on its top when I arrived. The driver was sitting alongside the roadway being helped by a passerby. I could see obvious injuries to her arm as there was blood around the elbow and hand. I recognized her as a 17-year-old who attends high school with my daughter. I asked, 'Were you wearing your seatbelt?' She looked at me and said, 'You know I was, Sandy, I attended your Seatbelts are For Everyone class.' I followed the ambulance to the hospital and waited until her mom arrived. Mom told me she always wears her seatbelt now, and she makes sure everybody else does, too. Had she not been wearing her seatbelt, this teen would have suffered serious injuries or died." — Sheriff Sandy Horton, Crawford County, Kansas
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Additional resources:
- StartSmart: Drowsy Driving - Teens are at high risk for drowsy-driving related crashes. Find out more...
- Becoming the New Driver - Designed for teens, this brochure outlines tips and responsibilities of being a safe driver.
