Driving safely is a matter of life and death. In fact, car crashes are the leading cause of death for teens and young adults. In this episode, we address what teens and parents can do so that teens can become safe drivers. We discuss how important it is to gain driving experience, provide some tips for how parents to approach teaching their teens how to drive, how state graduated drivers license laws work, some common sense safety rules, and what to do if a teen breaks safe driving rules. We also cover how to choose a safe car for your teen. So come along for the ride, and look forward (or not) to our song wrapping up this episode!
This episode written by Dr. Dean Blumberg and Dr. Lena van der List.
We thank Dr. Laura Kester Pediatric Adolescent Medicine specialist at UC Davis Children's Hospital for reviewing this episode, although Drs. Dean and Lena take full responsibility for any errors or misinformation.
Supplemental material:

* Healthy Children Behind the Wheel: How to Help Your Teen Become a Safe Driver

* Healthy Children A Message to Parents of Teen Drivers

* Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Parents Are the Key campaign

* Healthy Children Graduated Driver Licensing Laws: Information for Parents

* Healthy Children Car Safety Technology: Designed to Keep Teen Drivers Safe

* Healthy Children Parent-Teen Driving Agreement

* American Academy of Pediatrics policy The Teen Driver

To The Stars And Back music and lyrics by Dean Blumberg, performed by Dean Blumberg and Lena Rothstein, music performance coach Tori Steeley, music therapist at UC Davis Child Life and Creative Arts Therapy Department.
Photo from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention