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October is teen driver safety month. To give importance to the said event, the Automobile Club of Southern California is urging parents of teenage drivers as well as soon-to-be drivers to improve their teens’ safety by employing tips from AAA’s new list of “Ten Things Parents Can Do to Keep Their Teen Driver Safe”. AAA is exerting all its efforts to promote the list as part of its annual national Teen Driver Safety Week which will run form October 15 to 20. For the past years statistics have shown that automobile crashes are the leading cause of death among teens.

According to Kathy Downing, the Manager of the Auto Club’s Driver Services, "Parents can have a tremendous impact on their teens' safety. Teen Driver Safety Week provides an opportunity for parents to focus on teen driver safety and take practical steps that can reduce teen driver crashes. AAA created a list of ten things parents can do to help keep their teen drivers safe all year long."

Here are the Ten Things Parents Can Do to Keep Their Teen Driver Safe:

•    Try to know and understand your teens—meaning not because your neighbor’s 16 year old son or daughter is driving their own car, your teenager who is of the same age should also do the same. Remember not all teens having the same age means that they are equally matured and responsible to take on driving. Let us not forget that driving is not a game it is risky and dangerous which may lead to death.

•    Be a positive influence and role model—as the old adage goes children lives by their parents example so be careful on your actions especially when your are driving always observe road courtesy. Be a defensive driver. The research from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety has found out that teens that are involved in collisions and tickets are likely to have parents with similar driving records. The same goes with teens that are collision and ticket-free, they have parents with the same clean driving records.

•    Choose a driving school—it is always best to get driving instructions from the experts. However be choosy, select only those driving schools that feature a high degree of interaction and instructors with more than the minimum amount of state-mandated training are recommended. It is also important to choose a driving school that encourages parents’ participation.

•    Practice, practice…and more practice—it is very important that after the driving school parents would follow up on the driving progress of their teens. It is also highly recommended for parents to supervise their teens on their early driving experience.

•    Keep teen drivers free of teen passengers and if possible don’t let them drive at night—basing on research conducted on teen fatalities, it was found out that teen passengers can increase pressure on teen drivers to drag race or to speed up more than the usual leading to crashing accidents. And with regards to driving at night, research also shows that teen crash rates are high at night and often occurs between 9 pm and midnight.

•    Make sure that you teens have enough sleep—this does not only encourage growth but also keep them well rested and therefore more alert when driving. Lack of sleep can affect vision, hand-eye coordination, reaction time and judgment. If you feel that your teen is exhausted better be the one to drive them to school or to anywhere they would like to go.

•    Driving distractions were also found out to be the cause of teen driver fatalities--and by distractions it includes cell phones and text messaging. The estate of California has recently banned cell phone use by new teen drivers and for parents also it is recommended to impose this as a strict rule.

•    Create a parent-teen driving agreement—it is important to set rules, conditions, restrictions, and consequences of teens’ driving in a written form. This will give the impression that you are serious about them following the agreement or they will lose the privilege to drive. Also in cases when teens broke family driving rules these should be used as an opportunity for learning and discussion. And of course if your teen has practiced proper driving behavior they should also be rewarded with additional liberties.

•    Schedule each week for family discussion and review—It is vital to let your teens know just how involved you are and how concern you are on their driving. Set a time each week to tackle issues and concerns while reviewing the teen’s driving performance and chart driving progress.

•    Buy a safe vehicle for your teens—meaning vehicles that are loaded with safety features such as front and side airbags, anti-lock brakes and stability control systems. The type of vehicle you purchase is vital to your teen’s safety since it may help to reduce or aggravate injuries or damages in times of accidents.

For more information simply visit www.aaa.com.