Follow These Safety Guidelines to Keep Your New Teen Driver Safe

Getting a driver’s license is one step in a teenager’s path toward becoming an adult. For parents, it can be convenient not to have to drive our teens everywhere that they need to go, but it can also be a source of worry. These worries are valid ones because teens tend to be riskier drivers. However, you can take steps to help your child not to be the cause or victim of an accident.

Ways to Prevent Your Teen From Being Injured in a Car Accident

Teenagers are more likely to be involved in a car accident due to inexperience, being distracted by their cell phones, too many passengers, speeding, and other distractions. While you cannot control their actions when you are not with them, there are steps that you can take to keep your teens safe. These include the following:

• Wear your seat belt every time that you get into your vehicle and insist that your teen and any other passengers do the same.
• Have a zero-tolerance family policy about drinking and driving. Lead by the example of never doing this yourself.
• Limit the number of passengers that your teen can have in the vehicle with him since an increased number of passengers increases the risk of an accident. In Virginia, a teen under 18 years old is limited to driving with one passenger under the age of 21 years old unless a licensed parent or other adult is in the vehicle for the first year that he is driving.
• Do not allow your teen to use his cell phone while driving. In Virginia, it is illegal to use any cell phone when driving—even if it is not a handheld device.
• Be certain that your teen gets sufficient supervised practice driving during nighttime hours before letting him drive alone at night. The danger of causing an accident increases during the nighttime hours.

Even if your teen driver follows these guidelines and is a safe driver, he could still be the victim of a car accident caused by a negligent driver. Our experienced car accident attorneys are here to help your teen obtain the compensation that he deserves for his injuries. Call our office to schedule a free consultation to learn more about your teen’s legal options.