Even after a teen has his or her driver's license, a parent's job isn't over. In fact now it's even more important for parents to protect their young drivers who will be on the road alone for the first time.
It takes time and practice to become a good driver, and parents need to be on hand to help teens build their driving confidence and to continue to supervise their driving.
GEICO recommends that families draw up a parent-teen driving contract to make sure everyone knows what the rules are, and everyone - including parents - agrees to follow them.
FOR TEENS, the most important thing is to develop the right habits right from the start, especially during the first six months of solo driving when teens are at the highest risk for crashes. Those include:
PARENTS need to be accountable also. They need to be the best role models in the family. For parents:
Parents and teens can review the contract each month to see how well everyone is doing.
For a copy of a driving contract form, please go to www.geico.com/information/autosafety/safety-library. Several state and local jurisdictions also provide sample parent-teen driving contracts on their Web site.