Teen Driver Safety

The leading cause of death among teens - car accidents

Just like buying a new car, there is no Undo button.

Now let's turn our attention to the post sale side of teen car buying, the teen driver safety side. A new car in the hands of an inexperienced teen who does not understand the laws of nature is a lethal weapon. It's a very important responsibility that must be taken seriously, or people will die. It's amazing how every day we turn on the TV and hear of a couple of teens who die in a drag race, or crashed into a tree on the way home from a party, or even during lunch hour at school while partying and speeding where they should not be. Take a look at our car crash photo gallery, Download Software, maybe it will sober you up when you see what can happen when you are not a careful driver.

You would think after all these years and deaths, that our teens would have gotten the message, but there is a never ending supply of young people who think they are invincible, and that it could never happen to them. But it can happen to them, to their friends, to anyone at anytime. It happens every week at a high school somewhere.

It's heart breaking here in South Florida, that every where we go, we keep seeing all these makeshift graves setup after a few teens die in a crash. It's not just one or two here and there, they are sprinkled all over the place, in clusters of 2, 3 and 4! They place these giant lollipop signs that say "Drive Safely" all along the roadside, to indicate where people have died in wrecks. It's real gut wrenching to see them around Christmas, when the parents of those killed go decorate the lollipop signs with Christmas flowers and ornaments, and leave gifts. There are way too many of these grave sites, and we must stop this proliferation now. That is under direct control of you the young driver. There's one spot in Boca Raton where more than 8 teens have died in a few crashes because someone got careless, I think 5 of them died in one crash, and they often speed without wearing seatbelts. If only they would wear their seatbelts, they all probably would have lived.

Our state roads are becoming one big cemetery, and it's all our responsibility to prevent this cancer from growing. This responsibility is ours to impart wisdom to these young adults, but the ultimate responsibility resides with the drivers that are causing the wrecks. We must motivate these young drivers to prevent these accidents and deaths for occurring. Every time passengers get into your car, picture yourself at their funeral apologizing to their mother how it wasn't really your fault their baby is dead after getting into your car and dying in a wreck that could have been prevented, and you get to keep on living and have a normal life. Then while you are moving on and enjoying your normal life, you leave behind you a wake of devastation and family members who never heal, and whose lives now become empty with their loss.

Just think for a moment how much human effort went into bringing your young friend into this world and raising them up before you wipe it out in 1/100th of a second. Their mother labored for 9 months, planned for the baby, spent months preparing the home for the baby, spent thousands of dollars over the years to feed, change diapers, clothe the baby, raise the young child, worry over them, gave up half their life and schedule to fit around their kid's life, than it all gets wiped out in an instant. You really don't want to be responsible for that type of tragic loss.

Vehicle Maintenance costs

Welcome to the party pal! There's more costs to car ownership online vehicle than just your monthly payment. Many people overlook this other large expense of car ownership, and instead focus on just the monthly payments of their car loan. But you also have other expensive obligations to your vehicle, which you now become slave to. Assume your insurance is $2400 annually, your monthly obligation adds $200 on top of your car loan. You better be ready for that. You can expect your monthly gas bill to be about $60. You should assume your tires will need replacing once a year at $160 per tire or $640 annually, and maybe more for a wheel alignment. Then there's the twice a year oil changes, and you must allow for one medium sized repair every year. Add all those up, calculate your average monthly expense, and add it to your car loan and see if you can afford it. I bet you won't be able to afford it. If you cannot work all those costs into your budget, then you need to buy a cheaper used car to allow for your maintenance costs. This nails a lot of people who don't leave room in their budget for ALL ownership costs. Don't bite off more than you can chew, don't try to maximize your monthly payment without leaving room for maintenance items, car insurance, and unexpected repairs.

You should get Underinsured or Uninsured Motorist Coverage

One of my personal favorites. I think EVERYONE should have this coverage, because it protects us from all the loser morons out there who refuse to insure their cars. Here in Florida, uninsured drivers is worse than a problem, it's a plague. I know so many people who got burnt royally because of uninsured drivers. In Florida you have to show proof of insurance to renew your tags. But many people just take out a policy, send in proof to the state, then let the policy lapse after a month, and then the policy gets canceled. If I was king, the insurance companies would notify the state, who would then send a tow truck to impound these losers' cars, and they don't get them back until they renew the insurance, and pay the towing fees on top of that. Underinsured Motorist coverage pays for your injuries up to the policy limit when the other driver either has no insurance, or their lame coverage can't pay for you injuries or property damage. This coverage usually includes hit and run drivers as well.

Insurance rates for teens especially are very costly, often in the $5000 range

You can expect to be heavily blindsided by insurance costs if you are high school teenager looking to buy a new car. Just try to get a quote on a Mustang, and if they don't laugh you out of their office, you'll see numbers like $5000. In fact, car insurance rates are usually higher on 2 doors cars than on 4 door cars, usually because of the sportier status of 2 door cars. They know you are likely to race. This is why you see a lot of younger kids buying these little 4 door cars for the lower insurance rates, then rigging them up to the hilt to make them go faster. Insurance rates also depend on what part of town you live in, your local population and how many miles you drive annually. You can shop around your auto insurance rates at sites like Comparison Market, GEICO and Progressive Auto Insurance. Your insurance rates may drop a bit if you have an alarm on the car, or if you keep it in your garage. You must include car insurance in your annual cost budget to see if you can afford to keep driving the car you bought. You cannot go without car insurance, it is illegal, and disrespectful to others on the road, who are relying on you having insurance should you cause a wreck. See if you can get in on your parent's auto insurance, of if there is an umbrella policy protecting the house and all cars. Either way, make sure you get full coverage including with high coverage amounts car loans.