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Child Accidents including: Pedestrian, School, Burns, Sports & Falls
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Children Injured in Car Accidents
Child Accidents including: Pedestrian, School, Burns, Sports & Falls
Teen Safety
Teen Prom Safety Promise
Teen Safety
Child Accidents including: Pedestrian, School, Burns, Sports & Falls
Children's Medical Malpractice
Safety Contracts With Kids
Children Injured in Car Accidents
General
Child Accidents including: Pedestrian, School, Burns, Sports & Falls
Children Injured in Car Accidents
- Mother Forgives Negligent Operator following Death of 3 Minor Children
- Two Preschool Children Killed in Delivery Van BackOver Accident
- Tragic Backover Accidents
General
Children Injured in Car Accidents
Children's Medical Malpractice
Child Accidents including: Pedestrian, School, Burns, Sports & Falls
Parent-Teen Driving Agreement
Our seventeen-year old son is about to buy a car. Well, really, someone is giving him a car but he has agreed to pay for most related expenses. As with most teenagers, he has gone to great lengths to prove that the additional car makes economic sense and can only benefit our family. He has also laid out a careful plan as to how he will pay for the commitments he has made to us for the car. There are several initial reactions. What could happen if he was to cause a serious accident? What amount of insurance is enough? Would our house be at risk? How do we protect ourselves as parents and protect our teens, but allow them the privilege of driving a car, which is a necessary step towards independence and maturity? One way that has proven effective is to come up with a Parent-Teen Driving Agreement, which controls the risk of teen driving and clarifies expectations for your son or daughter that provide a road to responsibility. Here are some examples of items you might want to include in an agreement.
These agreements may set down non-negotiable rules where violation results in the indefinite suspension of driving privileges. These rules typically include talking on a cell phone, driving under the influence, allowing someone else to drive the car, and racing or thrill seeking. Violating any of these serious rules revokes the driving privilege of your teen indefinitely.
The agreement could also include more general rules setting curfew and restrictions on the number of passengers in the car if your son or daughter is legally able to transport passengers. The agreement specifies the number of days that driving privileges will be suspended.
The agreement may also contain courtesies and considerations for others who may use the car. The failure to take basic responsibility may result in a suspension of driving privileges. Examples of expected courtesies could include promising not to eat, drink or smoke in the car, keeping parents up to date with destinations, and avoiding unnecessary side trips. Then, if someone in the parent network reports that she saw your son at the mall and your son told you he was at Friendly’s, this would result in a loss of driving privileges.
The agreement can also outline how expenses will be paid, or may link grades or effort at school to the number of times per week that a teen is allowed to drive. The agreement may outline the penalties should your child get pulled over for a traffic violation. It may also spell out who is responsible for damage to the car.
You might ask why go through the trouble of making this written agreement when a parent can simply revoke driving privileges at any time. The answer is that the rules are set in stone and beyond a teen’s favorite past time: debate. As important, it conveys to the teen the responsibility that he has to himself and others. We hope that this will lead our teenagers down a path towards maturity and independence. For an excellent download of a typical Parent-Teen Agreement, go to www.aaaexchange.com.
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Tony Sheffy | Sheffy, Mazzaccaro, DePaolo & DeNigris, LLP
166 North Main Street
Southington, CT 06489
Phone: 860-620-9460
Fax: 860-620-9348
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