What Kind Of Parent Lets Their Teenager Go On A Road Trip?

Q: My daughter just graduated from high school, and now she and her friends are planning a multi-day road trip to celebrate. I’m not sure how smart or safe it is to let four teenagers drive together for several days. I’m trying to figure out if letting her go makes me a good parent or a bad parent.

A: I am reasonably qualified to answer a question about traffic safety. I’m certainly not qualified to determine if you’re a good or bad parent, so I can’t help you there. However, the fact that you’re asking the question has me leaning toward the former.

I can imagine the questions you’re asking yourself, because several years ago I was asking myself the same ones as my son departed on a road trip with some recently graduated friends. Based on that statement, you might think I’m going to recommend that you let your daughter go on the trip. But I’m smarter than that; I’m not going to tell another parent what’s right for their kid.

Instead, let’s consider the facts. Yep, this is the part where I tell you how bad young drivers are. Drivers age 16-25 make up about 13 percent of all drivers, but they’re involved in 30 percent of all fatal crashes in Washington. Part of that is lack of experience; until we can get skills implanted in our brains like they did to Neo in The Matrix, there’s going to be a chunk of time when a driver just isn’t that good at it yet. And part of it is brain development; the bit of our brain that helps us with decision-making isn’t fully developed until we’re around 25 years old. Combine a lack of experience with poor judgment and you get the outcomes we see in the traffic data.

But the data aren’t evenly distributed. Just because it looks bad for young drivers in general doesn’t mean it has to be that way for your kid. She can increase her safety by avoiding high-risk behaviors, like the ones listed here:

• Impairment: Sixty-one percent of young driver fatal crashes involve impairment.
• Speeding: Speed is a factor in 45 percent of young driver fatal crashes, compared to 30 percent for all drivers.
• Seatbelts: Seatbelt use is lower among young drivers than adult drivers. Thirty-five percent of young drivers killed in crashes were not belted.
• Distraction: Young drivers make up the highest proportion of distracted drivers in fatal crashes.

Even though young drivers engage in high-risk behaviors more frequently than adult drivers, it’s not like “everybody’s doing it.” Most young drivers make smart driving decisions most of the time. As an example, a national study found that 87 percent of young drivers wear their seatbelt compared to 90 percent of adult drivers. Yes, young drivers wear seatbelts less, but the vast majority still wears them.

In addition to, “Am I a good parent?” here are some questions you may want to ask yourself: Does your daughter wear a seatbelt, drive the speed limit, avoid distractions, never drive impaired, and make sure that the people she shares the driving with do the same? Have you’ve given her plenty of time to practice driving with you in the car giving feedback? Does she consistently make smart choices?

How you answer these questions is a good indicator of how ready your daughter is for that road trip. And if you can answer them easily, that’s another good sign. When parents are actively involved in their child’s driving, their kids are less likely to engage in risky behaviors or get in a crash.