DRIVING

 

This blog is about healthy living and enjoying life.  You know this by now.  We are trying to share ideas with one another to help us reach our goals and our potential.  However, once in a while we all can use a kick in the pants, so this post discusses the example we are setting for our children with our driving habits.  Think about this... from the time your children are babies until they start driving at about age 16, you are their driving role model.  They watch what you do and this naturally becomes what they think they should do.  In by-gone days, the only thing to possibly distract a driver was a speedometer and the knobs on the radio.  Today, here are some of the possible distractions (and I'm sure you can think of more): texting, talking on a mobile phone, searching the web on a mobile device, setting a navigational GPS, adjusting the AM/FM radio, fiddling with the CD player, or CD multiple disc changer, or MP3 player, or IPOD with a variety of adapters.  How about loading the DVD player with just the right movie, and of course the ever popular driving with ear buds in or headphones on.

Here is a bit of a very informative article I recently read in a newspaper:

"Do as I say, not as I do": 66 percent of teens believe their parents follow different rules behind the wheel than they set for their young drivers; approximately 90 percent of teens report their parents speed, talk on cell while driving

View all images

BOSTON, Sept. 18, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- A new survey from Liberty Mutual Insurance and SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions) finds an alarming percentage of teens report their parents make poor and risky decisions while driving.  According to more than 1,700 teens surveyed countrywide, dangerous driving behaviors among parents, while their teen is in the car, range from texting or speeding to driving without a seatbelt and even under the influence of alcohol.  Even more concerning, surveyed teens repeat their parents' poor driving habits in nearly equal amounts.
The survey found teens observe their parents exhibiting the following behavior at least occasionally: 91 percent talk on a cell phone while driving, 88 percent speed and 59 percent text message while driving.  With teens reporting nearly half (47 percent) of parents have driven at least occasionally without a seatbelt, 20 percent under the influence of alcohol, and 7 percent under the influence of marijuana, the survey reveals parents may not be the best role models for their teens behind the wheel. This, despite teens reporting in past Liberty Mutual/SADD research that parents are their primary driving influence.
Given the high percentage of teens who report their parents engage in unsafe driving behavior while their teen is in the car, it follows that two-thirds (66 percent) of teen drivers report their parents live by different rules than the ones they expect of their teens.  With so many parents not abiding by their own safe-driving rules of the road, a "do as I say, not as I do" policy may be undermining the parent/teen driving relationship.
"The best teacher for a teen driver is a good parental role model," said Stephen Wallace, senior advisor for policy, research and education at SADD.  "Parents and teens should have an active and ongoing dialogue about safe driving behavior and take the conversation one step further by signing a Parent/Teen Contract.  But parents have to demonstrate good driving behavior from the onset so new drivers understand that safe driving rules apply to everyone equally."
Teen Driving Behavior
The distracted driving behavior reported by teens mirrors the poor driving habits of their parents in nearly equal amounts. Among the more than 1,700 teens surveyed, a high percentage report making poor decisions while driving. In fact, 90 percent of teens report talking on a cell phone while driving and 94 percent of teens speed (at least occasionally), with nearly half (47 percent) of teens speeding often or very often.  Nearly 80 percent of teens report sending text messages while driving, 16 percent have driven after using marijuana, 15 percent have driven under the influence of alcohol and 33 percent report driving without a seatbelt.
The link between the observed and self-reported driving behaviors reveals parents are modeling destructive driving behavior, and their teens follow suit.  The following is a side-by-side comparison of the survey data reported when teens were asked how frequently they engage, and witness their parents engaging, in the following behavior:

Liberty Mutual Insurance/SADD 2012 Teen Driving Survey
	Parental Driving Behavior (observed by teens)	Teen Driving Behavior (self-reported)
Talk on a cell phone while driving	91%	90%
Speed	88%	94%
Text message	59%	78%
Drive without a seatbelt	47%	33%
Drive under the influence of alcohol	20%	15%
Drive under the influence of marijuana	7%	16%

"These findings highlight the need for parents to realize how their teens perceive their actions," said Dave Melton, a driving safety expert with Liberty Mutual Insurance and managing director of global safety.  "Your kids are always observing the decisions you make behind the wheel, and in fact have likely been doing so since they were big enough to see over the dashboard.  You may think you only occasionally read a text at a stop light or take the odd thirty-second phone call, but kids are seeing that in a different way.  Answering your phone once while driving, even if only for a few seconds, legitimizes the action for your children and they will, in turn, see that as acceptable behavior."
Teens Can Impact Parents' Behaviors
The new Liberty Mutual/SADD survey found that few teens will speak up and ask a parent to stop engaging in distracting behaviors while driving.  For example, only 21 percent of teens say they would ask their parents to stop driving while under the influence of alcohol.  However, when teens do speak up, nearly three-quarters (70 percent) report their parents listen and change their poor driving behavior.
Parent/Teen Driving Contract
Liberty Mutual Insurance and SADD encourage parents and teens to consider signing a Parent/Teen Driving Contract.  The Contract is both a conversation-starter about safety issues and a customized agreement that lets you create and uphold family driving rules.  To download a contract, visit www.LibertyMutual.com/TeenDriving.

_______________________

Pretty sobering stuff, huh?  I have tried to set an example of good driving for my kids probably because I had friends killed in car crashes when I was a teenager.  Those incidents had a profound impact on me.  So, on family trips I always say stuff like, "It doesn't matter WHEN we get there, it only matters THAT we get there."  Another of my favorites I use when we pass a vehicle that had been pulled over by a patrol car, "I refuse to give a cop any business, I refuse to Make His Day!"  Our family has been very fortunate.  I've had children driving for eight year now (and another about to start) and between all of them there have been no accidents and only one ticket (for driving 30 in a 25 mph zone).  So here is a TIP FROM A MAN... discipline yourself, set a good example for your children and talk to them often about good driving behavior when you are traveling with them.  You have them captive in the car, so make good use of this golden opportunity.  Come up with your own phrases (or use mine) and repeat them so often that the kids can recite them in their sleep.  It is difficult to enjoy life to its fullest if we are dead or maimed, or if we have hurt someone by our carelessness.  So determine a destination, gather family and friends, open the sunroof, select some tunes and enjoy the ride... safely!

Enjoy life!