Parents fear little more than something bad happening to their children. As a result, we imbed in their little minds, repeating over and over, the mantra, “Be careful!”
We remind them, over and over, to look both ways when crossing the street. We make them wear helmets when bike riding and snow skiing (something we, likely, never did ourselves). We’re fanatical about seat belts.
And when these precious creatures turn 16, do we teach them how to handle the two tons of steel they’ll soon command at, literally, break-neck speeds? Too few teens get to participate in a highway safety course like those offered by Russell Racing, at nearby Infineon Raceway, or even experience “panic braking” until they really are in a panic.
As drivers, the competence of those with whom we share the roads concerns us, and as some of our own children prepare to get their licenses, we are now doubly concerned. That’s why the following column in the current Autoweek magazine moved us. Perhaps it will you, too.
Many parents remain shockingly clueless about the magnitude of the risk for teen drivers. They give in much too easily to pressure from teens to obtain a driver’s license on or near their 16th birthday. Likewise, many allow their kids to breeze through the perfunctory steps that pass for driving instruction in this country, then blithely hand over the keys to the family vehicle, or buy one for their young driver right away — often something flashy, top-heavy, or too powerful.
What is so puzzling is how strong this situation counters typical parental behavior for the first 16 years of child’s life. During that time parents eagerly spring for all kinds of instruction: piano lessons, dancing lesions, skating lessons and so forth. They cart the kids endlessly back and forth to such sessions, spending hundreds of hours and lots of money.
No parent would pay for only six piano lessons and then expect a child to perform at a concert. And no parent would send a child to six swimming lessons then demand a championship athletic performance.
So why is it, when it counts the most – when it becomes a matter of life and death – that so many shrink from their responsibility to instruct, supervise and protect their children? Why do they settle for only six hours of driver training behind the wheel?
Most states have [like California] at least imposed graduated licensing programs which strengthen some of the requirements for beginning drivers and have resulted in decreased fatality rates, but those laws go only so far.
Given the situation and the dangers, responsible parents have no choice. They must do for the beginning drivers what they have done during earlier phases of their children’s development. They must assume responsibility to supervise a safe and complete driving instruction program.
— by Phil Berardelli,
reprinted with permission from Autoweek, Sept. 4, 2006
