My oldest child just turned 16. Two days after her birthday she passed her driver’s test and had visions of driving everywhere/ anywhere at any time.

Reality was a bit of a shock to her when we informed her it would be some time before she would be allowed to drive without one of us in the car with her.

My child like most teens clearly believes in the “invincibility principle”. That is, she cannot believe that something awful actually happens to people just like her. In all honesty, I have to focus to keep from falling victim to the same principle. After all, she’s smart, mature and very responsible. Obviously, this is denial in it’s most blatant form. Let’s face it, if we were truly steeped in reality, few of us would ever give a set of car keys to our kids. Yet, I routinely speak with parents who are understandably impatient to shift the burden of family shuttle driver to their first in line teen. Just a few days ago a fifteen almost sixteen year old said to me “my mom can’t wait for me to be able to drive my little brother everywhere”. I reminded her that this is unlikely to happen anytime soon due to the prohibition on transporting young passengers for provisional license holders. She shrugged her shoulders as only teenagers can and said “yea it’s illegal but who cares?”

The desire to have the family driving duties shifted to our children is a common theme locally as many of us drive significant distances each day in order to get our children to their various activities. It does get old and who can blame parents for wanting a little slack in their crazy schedules? I submit it’s time for all parents to take this traditional “rite of passage” (driving) more seriously. The statistical data on teen drivers is alarming. It’s imperative we remember it is kids like ours who make up these frightening numbers. Let’s help our teens deal with reality and avoid the alluring game of denial.

If the young lady mentioned earlier drives her little brother anywhere during the provisional license period, her chances of being involved in an accident rises a full 50%. With each young passenger she adds beyond her little brother the risk of an accident rises greater still. Even without the added danger of passengers, teens licensed at sixteen have a 1 in 5 chance of being involved in a serious accident, and 16 year olds are 3x’s more likely to die in a motor vehicle accident than all other drivers. Of the 236 teen drivers who have parking permits at Amador High, roughly 75 are 16. Statistically, this means that 15 of those 75 drivers are likely to be involved in a serious accident. Furthermore, teens until age 19, are a whopping 4x’s more likely to crash than their adult counterparts. For boys the actual death rate in accidents is fully twice that of their female counterparts. Furthermore, roughly 1/3 of teen driver accident fatalities involve an intoxicated teen driver. Clearly the message to avoid drinking and driving has yet to be heard by our youngsters.

Are you thinking of buying a car for your brand new licensed driver? We were, but now plan to wait. Why wait? The first year or 1500 miles driven by a teen are the most dangerous and this danger increases significantly when a teen gains possession of their own car during that inexperienced phase. While I lack data proof, my hunch is the challenging driving conditions in Amador County only increase this risk.

Finally let’s face it, even our most responsible teens, even my own, will become more likely to speed as their confidence behind the wheel rises. Sadly, 1/3 of teen driving fatalities involve excessive speed. Among all causes of teen death what consistently tops the list? You guessed it; vehicle crashes are the number one cause of death across the nation.

Most of us look forward to the freedom we as parents gain when our teen can finally drive. Let’s remember each and every time we hand over the car keys to our kids, teen driving statistics are made up of kids just like our own, and sometimes they are our kids. Let’s have the wisdom and courage to help our teens live long and become responsible adults.