New program to help parents teach teenagers safe driving habits

The Department of Licensing has partnered with Safe Roads Alliance to launch a new program sponsored by State Farm^® that provides parents and guardians with a simple, easy-to-follow plan designed to help teens develop safe driving habits.

“Young drivers in Washington State, between the ages of 16 and 19 years old, are more than twice as likely to crash as drivers in other age groups due to inexperience,” said Pat Kohler, DOL Director. “Parents play a critical role in their children’s education and this guide encourages parents to expose teenagers to a variety of enhanced supervised driving experiences to help them become knowledgeable and safe drivers.”

The Parent’s Supervised Driving Program guide is packed with information and lessons on driving basics, parental pointers, and licensing qualifications that are helpful to parents of new drivers. The program is supplemented by the RoadReady^® mobile app, which can easily and accurately track the required supervised driving time of 50 hours, including 10 hours of night driving. Last year, 76,500 Washington teens sought instruction (learner’s) permits, and the Department wanted to provide parents with a resource geared toward skill development and expanding the conditions and time teens drive with their parents prior to driving independently.

The program focuses on the role of the parent in the teen driver education process and encourages parents and teens to drive together in a variety of weather conditions and unfamiliar settings, city and heavy traffic routes, and various times of day.  According to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and State Farm study, Driving Through the Eyes of Teens, teen drivers whose parents are highly involved in the teen driver education process were half as likely to get in a car crash, 71 percent less likely to drive intoxicated, 30 percent less likely to use a cell phone while driving, and twice as likely to wear seatbelts.

“Getting a driver’s license is such a special moment in a teen’s life, but it often causes increased anxiety for parents,” said Ed Gold, State Farm Marketing Director. “Research tells us the single most important thing parents can do to help their teens stay safe on the road is to allow as much supervised practice behind the wheel as possible. Driving with a parent builds a new driver’s confidence and we hope this new resource will help parents and teens make the most of this time together.”

The free program guide is available at driver licensing offices around the state. It is also available on the DOL website at: http://www.dol.wa.gov/driverslicense/docs/parentguide.pdf  The RoadReady mobile app is available at the App Store.