FREEDOM! SWEET SWEET FREEDOM! Or so your newly licensed teen thinks! Here’s the thing, I want my teen to be independent just as much as she does, well almost as much as she does, but I also want to make sure she is safe and sound and making good decisions. I know that I have to cut the umbilical at some point, but it’s hard to do when she’s asking for the keys and all you can see is a sweet 4-year-old with red hair and skinned knees walking out to the car. While I don’t want to be a helicopter mom, I do want to lay down some new driver ground rules to try to keep her safe. I’ve listed a few of my rules I enforce and hope they will be helpful to you too.

1. Focus on the Road!

While the advances in technology have been extremely beneficial in many ways, technology also serves as a distraction that can prove to be very dangerous. In fact, distraction is a major factor in teen car crashes. Research done by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety showed that 6 out of 10 teen crashes involve driver distraction. That number alone is enough to want to cut up my daughter’s license.

2. Limit the number of passengers in the car

Much like the issue with technology, having large groups of friends in the car with them while they drive provides added distractions. Talk to your teen about why it’s important to limit the number of friends they have in the car with them and how they should handle a situation when multiple people are pressuring them for a ride. Some states have legal restrictions on the number and type of passenger a new driver can have in their vehicle during their first and second years of driving, so look up the laws in your state.

3. Set clear consequences for traffic tickets

When it comes to having a teen, in general, making the lines plain and clear is extremely important. This remains true with driving rules. If your child knows the exact consequence for things like traffic tickets, there will, in theory, be less conflict between you and your child and they will be less likely to want to inflict those consequences upon themselves. Make sure they know how traffic violations affect their driving record and their future driving, outside of the consequences you create.

4. Make buckling up a must

Really stress the importance of buckling up. It can literally be the difference between life and death, so make sure that your teen is buckling up every time they drive.

5. Say “no” to drinking and driving
Talk to your teen about the real dangers of driving under the influence or of getting in the car with someone who’s been drinking. While I certainly don’t condone underage drinking, I want my daughter to get home alive, and not attempt to drive while under the influence for the sake of hiding it from me. For every parent, this issue is a bit touchy and each will handle it differently, but for me, I try to stress a “no questions asked” system. If my daughter needs to get home I will not hound her with questions, I won’t yell, I will just pick her up and get her home safely.

6. Limit driving at night
Driving at night is riskier than daytime driving for all drivers, and even more so for new drivers. A whopping 53% of teen crash fatalities occur between 6PM and 6AM, notes Teens in the Driver Seat, which is one reason many states set nighttime restrictions for new drivers. Low visibility and glare from oncoming headlights make it difficult for any driver to see at night, regardless of their level of experience.

“Measuring Changes in Teenage Driver Crash Characteristics During the Early Months of Driving.” Measuring Changes in Teenage Driver Crash Characteristics During the Early Months of Driving | AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, www.aaafoundation.org/measuring-changes-teenage-driver-crash-characteristics-during-early-months-driving.