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SALT LAKE CITY — A new AAA study suggests the top three driving mistakes teenagers make are speeding, distraction and poor visual screening.
Teenage drivers have been involved in almost 14,000 fatal crashes in the last five years, and speeding was involved in more than 4,200 of those crashes, AAA reported.
In the study, driving instructors said speeding, distraction and poor visual screening were the top three mistakes teens make while learning to drive. The instructors also said parents are currently worse at preparing their teenagers to drive than they were 10 years ago. More than 140 driving instructors were interviewed for the survey, “Skills of Novice Teen Drivers,” according to AAA.
AAA defined speeding as, “traveling over posted speed limits or too fast for road conditions,” distraction as, “interacting with a cellphone, talking with passengers or looking at other subjects in the vehicle” and poor visual scanning as, “driving with tunnel vision and not properly scanning the road for risks or hazards.”
“The combination of inexperience and risk-taking can be deadly. Nearly two-thirds of the people killed or injured in teen driver crashes are people other than the teen,” AAA Utah spokeswoman Rolayne Fairclough said in a statement. “It is vitally important that parents understand the common mistakes teens make and take the time to help their teens learn how to stay safer on the road when they are learning to drive.”
Driving instructors said oftentimes, parents’ driving behavior sets a bad example for their kids. It’s common for drivers between the ages of 35 and 55 to report dangerous behaviors while driving, according to a recent report from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.
AAA reported that 77 percent of drivers between the ages of 35 and 55 reported talking on a cellphone while they drove, and 68 percent of teenagers reported the same thing. Forty-six percent of the adults reported driving 15 miles per hour over the speed limit on freeways, and 45 percent of teens admitted to the same thing.
PARENTS- Keep Your Teen Safe Behind the Wheel! #TeenDriverSafetyWeekpic.twitter.com/i0BYxRFfxb
— AAA (@AAAnews) October 12, 2016
“Parents play a major role in keeping their teens safe on the road,” Fairclough said. “Most teens learn driving skills and behaviors from their parents. It is up to parents to set a good example behind the wheel. It may save their child’s life.” Teens have reported fewer crashes and violations when they are under more strict driving limits set by parents, according to former research from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.
AAA released the following tips for parents to stay actively involved while their teens are learning to drive:
• Have conversations early and regularly about the dangers of speeding and distraction.
• Take the time to practice driving with their teen in a variety of conditions.
• Adopt and enforcing a parent-teen driving agreement that sets family rules for the road.
• Lead by example and minimizing distractions and speeding when they are driving.
“AAA also recommends that teens preparing for the responsibility of driving enroll in a driver education program that teaches how to avoid driver distraction, as well as other driving and safety skills,” according to AAA. “Resources to help parents choose a class and learn how to coach their teen through the learning-to-drive process can be found at AAA’s award-winning website TeenDriving.AAA.com."
