Archive for September, 2009

Should parents indulge in training their teens to drive?

Edward Furlary : I have two teens a boy and a girl and I am very anxious of their safety while driving and keeping them safe besides the low insurance. I try to teach them driving, is this fine?

Response : Edward, this is absolutely fine and the right thing. Let me tell you the results of an experiment done by State Farm which shows that :

“Compared with teens whose parents were uninvolved, kids who said their parents set clear rules and monitored their whereabouts without being overly controlling had half as many crashes and much better driving habits.

These teens were 71 percent less likely to drive while drunk and 30 percent less likely to use a cell phone while driving than kids with uninvolved parents.

Dr. Niranjan Karnik, a University of Chicago specialist in adolescent mental health, said the research underscores the importance of appropriate parenting and widely enacted graduated licensing laws for teens.

Debby Hendricks of Hatfield, Pa. made her daughters wait until age 17 to get their licenses, and gave them lots of driving practice beforehand.

The girls, aged 17 and 19, also share a family car, and can’t “just grab the keys and leave” without saying where they’re going and with whom, Hendricks said.

So far so good — neither girl has been in an accident, although the younger one, Leslie, has only had her license for a few months.

Leslie considers herself a safe driver, but adds, “I probably do underestimate the risks.”

Parents are requested to spend sometime with their teenagers in teaching them safety, young drivers need to be careful and establish a good record for teen auto insurance quote.

Edward, you are doing a great job. You are making sure that your teens are safe and also that they get cheap teen auto insurance quote. Enjoy your experince with us. It’s wonderful sharing things.

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Eric : Why do you have to pay more for your teen to drive?
Response : The terms of your auto insurance contract or policy between you and your insurer specifically require that you disclose and schedule all household drivers and all regular drivers of your vehicle on your policy. You are also required to notify your Insurer of any change in household drivers during the poliy term such as when a teen begins to drive. This allows the insurance company to properly asses the risk and assign the appropriate premium required to cover those risk.

The policy states that all the those others are covered as an added protection for the policy holder. It is not unusual for circumstances to arise when you may give permission for a non scheduled driver to operate your vehicle whether they are visiting non resident family members and other friends.

Teenagers are young drivers who are just learning to drive. They are considered immature and are known for speeding. In US the number of teenaged drivers, as per the 2003 bulletin are 4.8% of the total drivers. Yet they account for 22.1% of drivers in all accidents. The analysis indicates that teenage drivers are more likely to be at fault and the causes of this are speeding or traffic violations.Thus the insurers have categorized them as a high risk and you are charged more for the teen or young drivers.

So the language is not designed to allow the concealment of high risk teen drivers. Such concealment or non-disclosre of a known driver is considered a well known form of Insurance Fraud and can Void all policy coverages.
However, the internet has made it easy to obtain cheap teen auto insurance quote online.

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By Lindsey Tanner
September 28, 2009

It is a big concern to the insurance industries for maintaining low teen auto insurance quote. Parents beware: Giving in to teens’ demands for their own cars can have dangerous consequences, new research suggests.

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Teenagers with their own cars or free use of one are much more likely to get in crashes than those who share a car. And crashes are much less common among teens whose parents set clear driving safety rules.

The findings are in two studies by researchers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and funded by State Farm Insurance Co. They are in the October issue of Pediatrics.

The researchers say the findings can help parents keep their kids from becoming a grim statistic: Traffic crashes are the leading cause of death for U.S. teens, killing more than 5,000 each year.

Getting a driver’s license and car are often viewed as rite of passage for U.S. teens, and many parents underestimate the risks.

More than 7,000 people nationwide were killed in crashes involving teen drivers in 2007, government data show. More than 3,000 of these deaths were teen drivers, and more than 250,000 teen drivers were injured.

“With teen drivers, you have to recognize that it’s a public health issue,” said Dr. Jeffrey Weiss, a Phoenix pediatrician who co-wrote an American Academy of Pediatrics report on teen drivers.

The 2006 report encourages parents to highlight the seriousness of driving privileges by requiring teens to sign driving contracts promising to abide by safety rules.

The new research shows that kind of hands-on approach pays off.

“Families need to know that driving is different” from other steps toward independence,said Dr. Flaura Koplin Winston, the study’s lead author. “Just at the time their teen is pulling away, they need to get back involved to spare them heartache.”

The research is based on a nationally representative survey of more than 5,500 teens in grades nine through 11. Students at 68 high schools answered questionnaires in 2006.

More than 2,000 students who reported driving on their own were the focus of one study; 70 percent said they had their own cars or were the main drivers of cars they used.

Winston said it’s alarming that so many kids have their own cars or feel that they have free use of one. She said that freedom can lead to “a sense of entitlement about driving” that may make them less cautious.

Among these “main” drivers, 25 percent had been involved in crashes, versus just 10 percent of teens who shared driving access. Winston said the lower crash rate doesn’t reflect less driving time, but is likely due to having to ask for the car keys, which helps parents monitor their kids’ driving.

It is indeed a challenge for the parents to give a car and but to teach their teens to ensure the safety while driving and get them cheap teen auto insurance quote. Check it out.

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I was involved in a car accident which happened in Charlotte, NC on March 29, 2003. Car lost control, went off road into ditch, ramped out of ditch into a tree, then rolled a few times. The driver a 18 years old lad and my friend was not wearing his seatbelt and was thrown from the car at impact with the tree. I, the passenger, wearing my seatbelt, was pinned inside of the car. The Fire Dep’t had to use the Jaws of Life to get me out. The driver was paralyzed from the chest down, I fractured 5 vertabrae, broke 2 ribs and suffered bruising on the brain.
Brain. B.
Charlotte, NC
Accident like this are one of the reasons why teen auto insurance rates are very high. The young drivers tend to be easily distracted by others and loose their concentration. This is the reason why they have to be more careful and stay away from distractions.
Another key feature of this is not wearing the seat belt. Had the driver worn the seat belt he would not have been paralysed.
It is a great tragedy that a little lapse can lead to such grave consequences. Teenagers need to learn their lessons of safety. Drive carefully and drive safely. You save your own self and also save your hard earned money by qualifying for cheap teen auto insurance.

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Jackie Talyor : I am a new driver and this will be my first-time driving in the winters? Can you help me for safe auto driving and auto insurance?
Response: In addition to driving without cruise control activated and keeping gas tank levels at least half full, GMAC Insurance and Road Safe America compiled the following checklist to help keep people safe and prepared for driving in freezing temperatures:
1.Create a Safety Kit. Be prepared with safety essentials in your car, including extra windshield wiper fluid, warm gloves and a hat, flashlight, remote jump starter, tire gauge, safety flares and a blanket.
2.Give Your Vehicle a Check Up. Avoid unnecessary accidents by taking a few minutes to check your vehicle before heading out:
Use a small tire gauge to check your tires, as cold weather will lower their pressure.
Make sure taillights, headlights, blinkers and the horn are in good working order.
3.Play it Safe in the Dark. With shopping season in high gear, heavy traffic is more common, and nightfall comes earlier. When driving at night:
Avoid using any light inside your vehicle.
Use edge lines and center lines of the roadway as guides.
If street lights cause glare, dim your dashboard lights and use your sun visor.
4.Prevent Glare. Snowfall and other precipitation can serve up severe road glare:
Be prepared with a pair of sunglasses.
Avoid foggy blotches on your windows by cleaning the inside of your windshield regularly.
Consider using winter wiper blades designed to handle heavier road debris and snow.
5. Buckle Your Bundles. Loose gifts can be dangerous distractions, and according to a thesurvey, less than half of drivers (43 percent) secure their packages on the floor or buckle them down. Avoid projectile presents by driving slower and securing gifts in the backseat or placing them on the floor.

Once you drive safely and do not have car accidents your auto insurance rate will be low and cheap. Review you car insurance coverage from time to time. I am sure you will do well. All the best.

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