Parents underestimate teenage car carnage, warns study - Most parents are clueless about the chances of their teenage children coming to grief when they are driving or being driven by friends.
Even though 74 per cent of accidental teenage deaths occur on the roads, parents believe that their children are at greater risk from factors that in reality present less of a danger.
When 18,500 members were polled by the AA, 31 per cent of parents considered that drugs posed the greatest risk to their children, followed by drinking (25 per cent), gun and knife crime (25 per cent), smoking (four per cent) and sex (one per cent). Only 11 per cent considered that travelling in a car was a serious threat to their child's safety.
Male drivers under 30 are more likely to be involved in a speed-related collision than one where speed isn't a factor
Parents need to be aware of the risks taken by teenage drivers and take appropriate action to minimise those risks."
AA research shows that in fact more 16-19-year-olds died as passengers (94) than as drivers (79) last year, reinforcing the point, says the motoring organisation, that teenagers and their parents should "vet" the drivers and the cars that they intend to travel in.
A 2010 Department for Transport study - "The Characteristics of Speed-related Collisions" - found that male drivers under 30 - particularly those under 21 - were more likely to be involved in a speeding-related collision than in one where speed wasn't a factor.
The AA is urging parents to look for signs that their children could be driving into danger. It says parents should keep an eye on how, when and where the car is being driven, who their teenagers are driving with, signs of bad driving such as damaged tyres or scratched paintwork and how driving is discussed among friends. ( telegraph.co.uk )
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