Your car can either be a means of transporting you from Point A to Point B, or it can be a lethal weapon.Which it is depends almost entirely on YOU!Many people make bad decisions while driving, but you can protect yourself and your family by making good ones, keeping your eyes open, and teaching your children to do the same.
The roads are dangerous places, especially for young drivers between the ages of 15 and 25. A combination of inexperience, carelessness, over-stimulation, show-boating, and irresponsible choices related to alcohol and drugs lead to more accidents for this age group than any other. How you train your young driver to behave on the road may, in fact, save his or her life.
Beyond the basics of the driver’s handbook is the simple education that comes from experience. We must all learn the value of a cautious eye. Saving your life may be as simple as learning three simple concepts:
1.Use your eyes–always keep your eyes on the road and your focus on driving.
2.Listen with your ears–keep distractions to a minimum so that you can hear a horn blast or a police siren warning you of danger ahead.
3.Use all three mirrors–always gage the surrounding traffic by using all three mirrors, especially when making lane changes and merging.
It can be boiled down to this: stay alert and be willing to get out of the way when someone else makes bad driving decisions. After all, it is better to arrive late than to not arrive at all!
Parents beware! Your teens and young adults need to hear the basic truths:one bad decision could leave them permanently maimed.Because young adults often feel a sense of immortality, they can tempt fate by driving at unsafe speeds, joyriding, and participating in dangerous road-rage behaviors. The truth of the permanent consequences of unsafe driving really must sink in for them to be safe on the road.
Here’s your chance to teach them something truly practical. My father taught me to drive defensively. After all, even if you do everything right, you are not the only car on the road and the consequences of carelessness can lasta very long time!
