Keep your family safe on the road with these 3 simple rules
Are you nervous about your teen getting a drivers license? Do you worry about passing down unsafe driving habits to your kids? Don’t wait until there’s a close call, a ticket, or worse – a crash – to talk about traffic safety with your loved ones.
Family Rules are an easy way to prioritize safety and build safe habits with your loved ones.
Our driving behaviors are shaped by our families and habits we observed as children. When we agree to a set of rules as a unit, we help keep each other safe.
Rule 1: Eyes on the Road, Hands on the Wheel
Do you want your teen driving distracted? Of course not! The best way to keep the phone out of their hands is to commit as a family to keep eyes on the road and hands on the wheel.
Help each other stay accountable by refraining from texting or calling while someone is driving. Explain your reasoning out loud to smaller children (for example, “I can hear Grandma calling but I’ll call her back once we’re stopped”) and most importantly, stick to it. We can’t expect our kids to avoid distracted driving if we do it.
Make a plan for emergencies so no one feels worried about missing something while driving.
“If there is an emergency while I know he’s driving, I’ll call twice in a row to alert him. He’ll pull over somewhere safe and call me back.”
Use technology to help you stay focused.
“We use Android Auto so I can use voice commands to change music or look up directions.”
“I set up my phone to automatically go into Driving Mode, silencing texts or calls, whenever it connects to my car’s Bluetooth.”
Rule 2: The car doesn’t move until everyone is buckled
Establish seat belts as step one to every and any trip. Even if your family is good about seat belts, say this rule aloud before every trip to help it become second nature.
“Whenever we get into the car, I ‘race’ my son to see who can get buckled first.”
Talk to your children about the dangers of unbuckled passengers, and practice situations when they may have to ask someone else to buckle up when you’re not there.
Rule 3: We follow speed limits to stay safe
Higher speeds lead to more severe crashes. Talk with your family about the importance of controlling speeds and discuss strategies to consistently check speed on the road.
“If anyone in my family is running late, we text (before driving) that we’ll be late and will arrive ASAP = As Safe As Possible. We never encourage or support someone trying to ‘make up time’ by speeding.”
“I use adaptive cruise control on the highway to make sure I don’t accidentally speed.”
