Parents of teenage drivers may not be doing their part to protect their children who get behind the wheel, a survey shows.
In the survey — commissioned by Insurance.com — of 500 parents of teen drivers, 29 percent of parents tolerate cell phone use by their teens while driving.
The survey also found that one-third of parents allow the teens to drive with underage passengers and 30 percent allow them to drive at night.
The survey said that, without parents enforcing the safe operation of motor vehicles, 57 percent of teens are more likely to speed, 43 percent are more likely to drive while under the influence and 87 percent are more likely to break driving curfew.
Junior drivers in Pennsylvania, those under 18, are restricted from driving from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m., unless commuting from a place of employment or volunteer service.
The Insurance.com survey comes out at a time when younger drivers are at greatest risk of having an accident, safety officials say.
Research shows that in the 100 days following Memorial Day, the number of people killed in car crashes involving teen drivers dramatically increases — the majority of which involve distractions behind the wheel, according to AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.
“Every day during the summer driving season, an average of 10 people die as a result of injuries from a crash involving a teen driver,” said Jurek Grabowski, research director for the AAA Foundation. “This new research shows that distraction continues to be one of the leading causes of crashes for teen drivers.”
The AAA Foundation and the University of Iowa found that 60 percent of crashes involving teen drivers were caused by distractions behind the wheel such as texting and checking email, a practice that 50 percent of surveyed teens admitted to doing.
Research by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute has shown that texting while driving increases the risk of a crash by 23 times.
On average, every year 1,022 people die in crashes involving teenage drivers, and during what AAA calls the “100 Deadliest Days” — the period between Memorial Day and Labor Day — the number of deaths from crashes increases 16 percent per day compared with the rest of the year.
The study analyzed the moments leading up to a crash by viewing 2,200 videos captured from dash cameras and showed that 15 percent were caused by passenger distractions, 12 percent were caused from cell phone operation and 11 percent were caused by distractions inside the vehicle.
But safety is not the only reason parents should monitor their child’s driving habits.
On average, when a 16-year-old boy is added to a parent’s insurance policy, the premium will increase 176 percent. A teenage girl will increase the premium 129 percent.
The increase in rates reflect the impact that teen drivers have on the roads. In the coming months, parents should pay special attention to how much time their children spend on the road.
There are a few ways to curb the rise in insurance cost and parents should take advantage of some of the teen-driver discounts. Reduced rates can be awarded for completing a driver-training course, owning a car with increased safety features and for getting good grades in school.
