Parents play a crucial role in the licensing of their sons and daughters. They make decisions about the timing of licensure, teach driving skills, impose rules about driving privileges, and control access to vehicles. Parents now carry out these tasks in the context of graduated licensing (GDL), which extends the learner phase and requires that a minimum number of hours of supervised driving be done, and establishes night and passenger restrictions in the initial license phase. GDL empowers parents by giving them a set of sensible rules designed to protect young beginners while they are learning. However, it is important that parents know the rules, understand and appreciate their rationale, and know that they may need to supplement them with their own rules. In general, parents need to understand the dangers involved in teen driving, and that their close involvement is necessary not only in the initial supervisory phase, but in the high risk period right after initial licensure and beyond. It is also important that parents have an understanding of best practices in teaching their teen to drive, recognizing that their own driving behavior - for better or worse - has been a model for their teen for many years. Parents clearly have a vested interest in protecting their children from motor vehicle injuries. However, there is great variation in the knowledge and actions of parents during the licensing process that can have safety effects, and many parents are deficient in these areas. Research has shown that many parents do not know the graduated licensing rules in their state and/or do not understand the reason for them. Since it is well known that parents are the chief enforcers of GDL rules, the importance of their knowing and buying in to them is obvious. Studies also have indicated that many parents do not appreciate the high risks involved in teen driving, why they exist, and the extreme risk involved in some driving situations, such as when teens transport other teens. In addition, many parents are unsure about the best techniques and practices for supervising the initial driving of their teens. There are instructional and advisory materials for dealing with all of these topics, but merely providing parents with these materials has been found to be insufficient. Parent orientation sessions on how to handle the licensing process are available in some areas, but their availability is limited and the sessions are optional. In August, 2008, Connecticut became the first state to require a parent or legal guardian of a 16- or 17-year-old to complete a two-hour training course before a driver’s license could be obtained. The course was designed to cover risk factors in teen driving, the learning-to-drive process, the Connecticut GDL law and its rationale, and the parental role in driving supervision, involvement in the licensing process, and in supporting the GDL law. To determine reactions to and evaluations of this course, a telephone survey was conducted of participating parents in its first year of existence. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting