Safe Teen Driving Blog

Have you ever laughed at commercial vehicles with those dorky "How Am I Driving?" bumper stickers? Now the joke could be on you. For only about $60 per year, the "How's My Teen Driving?" program offered by companies such as ReportMyTeenDriver.com and 5myteen.com will provide your parents with a bumper sticker to place on your car. Like the ones on commercial vehicles, the bumper sticker will have a toll free number. If you drive unsafely and someone sees it and calls you in, you're busted.

Before you rush to block the website from your parents' view, however, consider this: if you're sixteen, you're three times more likely to die in a car crash than an older driver. This is because you're still learning to drive. It takes time to learn to pay attention to your car, the other cars, traffic signals, road conditions, etc. When you're still getting the hang of things, it's easy to accidentally go through a red light or pull out in the path of another car.

Then there's the showing off factor. Nobody mastering a new task can resist showing off a little -- maybe driving faster than you should, or trying to prove to your friends you can still drive safely even if you've been drinking. Perhaps having a "How's My Teen Driving?" bumper sticker on your car will make you drive just a little more safely.

Besides, let's face it. Hearing from your parents after a stupid driving move might seem pretty harsh, but it's not nearly as harsh as ending up in the hospital -- or worse.