Thrifty Thursday: Teach Your Teens to Carpool
Thursday July 2, 2009
When teens start paying for their own gas, they will begin to start seeing the value in carpooling with a group of their friends, instead of driving everywhere alone. Suggest that your teen and his friends meet at one friend’s house for their Friday night excursions and only one or two does the driving - depending on how many teens are going. Switch off to give the responsibility of driving, and cost of the gas, to a different teen each week. Your teen will be saving at least $2.75 for every gallon of gas used and contributing their fair share when it is their turn. Sounds like a win-win situation to me.
On a side note: Stress that too many people in the car is not a good idea. Safety first!
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BEWARE OF THIS TIP… it might be veeeeery dangerous.
Correct Judgment is the last thing to integrate on teens, and actually it´s development will be completed more or less at 22 or more years depending on teen.
If judgment has not been totally fulfilled, chances or a car accidente increases many times in direct proportion of the amount of teens in the car.
Maybe you will save some dollars on the fuel cost, but beware that this saving might have a huge price tag if anything happens…
This is a horrible idea! Passengers increase the crash risk of teen drivers! They are distracting and they lead to peer pressure. Teens are 15 percent more likely to speed with passengers in the car and far more likely to crash.
This “tip” goes to show just how unaware people are of the epidemic afflicting our teenagers. Car crashes are the leading cause of death among teens. Ignorance to this problem, and suggestions that teens take part in dangerous activities such as carpooling, add to the problem. Many parents don’t know the risks, they need to educate themselves of the problems so they can help their teens be responsible drivers and survive their first few years on the road.
Paying more for gas is far better than losing your child to a crash. So tell them to drive alone.
I’ll agree that teens who are just getting their license should not have friends in their car. That is the basis of the graduated license laws. But by 17 and a half – 18, the age that teens are considered experienced drivers by law in most states, this is a good time to ease them into driving with friends. They are not going to drive alone forever, you can not control them forever.
There is a time to hold on to them and a time to let go. You’ll need to make the call with your own teen and gauge their level of responsible driving. I prefer to let go in small steps, while I’m here to guide them.
I absolutely agree with Manuel and Lauren!! When I read the “tip” I couldn’t believe it. That is the worst advice to give. One family that my son is friends with – 17 year old daughter killed in a car accident “carpooling” with a friend. Another family’s teen son has already been in two car accidents, both cars totaled. Another teen friend drove at 120 miles/hr with a friend “carpooling” with him; and another teen friend went through a red light with a teen friend “carpooling” with him. My teens are NOT ALLOWED
Teresa, they were not ‘carpooling’ they were ‘joy riding’. There is a big difference. Frantic parenting does not lead to safer teens.