• Know the Risks
    • Teen Driver Risks
      • Distracted Driving
      • Nighttime and Drowsy Driving
      • Speeding and Street Racing
      • Low Safety Belt Use
      • Impaired Driving
    • Teen Passenger Risks
      • Keep the Driver Distraction Free
      • Help Keep the Driver Alert and Awake at Night
      • Know Why Speeding is Dangerous and Reckless
      • Always Wear a Seat Belt
      • Steer Clear of Impaired Drivers
    • Respect the Rig Truck and Bus Safety
      • Big Rig Events
    • Rail Safety
    • Pedestrian & Bicycle Safety
    • External Links and Resources
  • Be Involved
    • Learn How to Start TDS
    • Sign Up Your School / Request Virtual Access
    • Event / Activity Form for All-Star Points
    • @TeensDriverSeat Takeover
    • Be a Teen Influencer
    • Apply to Be a Teen Advisory Board Member
    • Take the Pledge to Keep Our Drive Alive
    • Find Your Regional Representative
  • Take Action
    • Get Activity Ideas
    • Download Activity Items, Posters, and More
    • See and Share Videos
    • #BeTheChange with Tyson Dever
    • Find Speakers and Educators
    • Teens in the Driver Seat in Georgia
    • Teens in the Driver Seat in Colorado
  • Events & Contests
    • Events Calendar
    • All-Star Reward Program
      • Event / Activity Form for All-Star Points
      • TDS All-Stars Leaderboard
      • All-Stars Distractions Unit
      • All-Stars Nighttime Drowsy Driving Unit
      • All-Stars Speeding Unit
      • All-Stars Seat Belts Unit
      • All-Stars Share the Road Unit
      • All-Stars Impaired Unit
    • Big Rig Events
    • Driving the Message Contest
    • Extra Mile Senior Activity
    • Youth Transportation Safety Summit
      • YTS Summit Registration
    • Social Media Teen Influencer
    • SponStar Awards
      • Teacher Discounts
    • Teen Advisory Board
      • Teen Advisory Board Application
    • Track-A-Thon Contest
    • Zero Hero
  • You in the Driver Seat App
  • About Us
    • News
    • Contact Us
    • Where We Are and Your Regional Representative
    • Partners
    • Private Partnering Opportunities
    • Donate
    • History and Recognition
    • 20 Year Report Card
  • Login

Teens in the Driver Seat

A peer-to-peer safe driving program for your school.

Text iDrive to 1-888-825-1346 for TDS and safety text messages.

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

February 9, 2017

Let’s Speak Up to Distractions

by Gabriella Medina

A report by Liberty Mutual found that two-thirds of teens mirrored parents’ distracted driving habits. Teens have been told time and time again not to drive distracted, and research shows parents/guardians could actually be good deterrents to risky driving behavior, but it starts with parents recognizing and changing their poor driving habits.

As you may know, we’re on social media and continue to use it as a way to spread the safe driver message. I’m going to show you some disturbing imagery that proves parents have picked up poor driving habits and unfortunately they’re influencing their inexperienced teen driver. These photos were pulled from Instagram by simply searching the hashtag “#teendriver.”

Warning: Viewer Discretion Is Advised
  • blacked out teen driver – parents distract 2
  • blacked out teen driver – parents distract 3
  • blacked out teen driver – parents distract 4
  • blacked out teen driver – parents distract
  • blacked out teen driver – parents thinks funny

These parents, and many more, are excited and scared that their teen is learning to drive. My guess is they don’t realize (except for that one mom who blinds her daughter with her camera flash) they’re distracting the driver. They could cause a severe crash; not to mention these parents and others set a precedence that passenger distractions and cell phone use are OK in the car.

These parents are doing exactly what we fear—they’re distracting the driver!

Aceable conducted a survey of over 1,200 teens and found that approximately 75 percent reported their parents engage in distracted driving—whether texting, talking on the phone, eating, or grooming/applying makeup. How can we address this problem?

I say, we speak up to distractions. Speak up to your parent when they try to put on makeup while driving, speak up to your friend Snapping a picture of you both while you’re driving, and speak up to your peers so they don’t fall accustomed to their parents’ poor driving habits. Speaking up takes guts—it takes nerve—but I believe you can help make our roads safer by speaking up to distractions.

Use our resources to help:

  • distracted driving statistics,
  • participate in the distracted driving Zero Crazy activity, and
  • parent education and outreach.

Gabriella Medina is an assistant transportation researcher with TTI’s Youth Transportation Safety Program. She’s the social media coordinator for Teens in the Driver Seat. Her interests include government and media relations, social media engagement trends and topics, and data visualization.

 

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)

Article by Gabriella Medina / News / distracted driver, distracted driving, distracted driving awareness, parents Leave a Comment

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

More Ways for Teens to Be Involved

  • Teen Advisory Board
  • Extra Mile! Senior Activity
  • You in the Driver Seat Safe Driving App
  • Teen of the Month
  • Driving the Message Poster & Video Contest
  • Take the Pledge to Keep Our Drive Alive
  • Safe Driving Summit

Copyright © 2023 Texas A&M Transportation Institute

All rights reserved. Privacy Policy.
Comments, suggestions or queries? Contact Us!


Youth Transportation Safety Program
c/o Texas A&M Transportation Institute
1100 NW Loop 410, Ste 605, San Antonio, TX 78213-2255
Ph: (210) 979-9411
Fax: (210) 321-1299

TTI Logo

Texas A&M University System
3135 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843-3135
Ph: (979) 845-9008
Fax: (979) 845-9848

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)