Sometimes it can be tough being a teenager. You have all these expectations heaped on you – get good grades, be responsible, mind your parents… But what if your parents are not exercising any control over your behavior? Results from the latest Teens Today study show that driving accidents are way down in the teenage category as compared to twenty-five years ago. That sounds great on the surface but the reality of it is that those teenagers who are causing the crashes are not being governed adequately by their parents.

These crash-causing teens are practicing reckless behavior like driving while drunk or under the influence of drugs. Others are being just plain careless by not practicing safe driving conduct. Ask any teenager who drives and acts responsibly why they have not been in an accident. The answer is their parents impose consequences for their negative actions and behavior. It is as simple as that! They screw up whether it is a scratch on the bumper or a speeding ticket and chances are that the parents will take their car keys away for a period of time. What better way for us to learn than by cutting off our source of independence!

We all grumble about our parents from time to time. But let’s face it – some of them just aren’t as involved in our lives as they should be. We all have heard that old saying about kids wanting discipline. Well, in this case, while teenagers may not say they want it, they need it to stay on the straight and narrow. Parents – we should not have to learn the hard way about drinking and driving or bad driving practices like sending text messages or eating while driving.

Teenagers should be learning by the example their parents set. What’s even worse about this whole thing is that sometimes, parents are in the car when their kids are displaying that bad behavior like speeding, talking on the cell phone or fiddling with the CD player. The parents should make their kid pull over because they were not practicing safe driving behavior. Instead, many of them just let it go, teaching those teenagers that it is ok to continue those destructive behaviors.

Come on bad teenage drivers! You are giving the rest of us a bad name. Clean up your act and treat driving a car like the privilege that it is. And that is exactly what driving should be to a teenager – a privilege. Listen up parents! Be the grownup and take away the car keys if you have to … it is definitely better to have a mad teenager than a dead one.