Bad driver? Blame your parents

By: Drivers staff

Date: Tuesday, 16. February 2010

In our recent article "Bad Driving Genes" we reported on research by University of California neurology professor Steven Cramer and his discovery of a gene variant that affects driving behavior.

Now we've uncovered another piece of research from 2003 that explores the same theme.

In this study by two researchers at the University of Helsinki in Finland 174 parent-child pairings were independently given a questionnaire about their driving behavior. The results indicated that the children's behavior had a lot to do with their parents.

The study allowed for differences in lifestyle, demographics and amount of driving. This ties in with other research on the subject and also with a follow-up study indicating that if parents paid more attention to their teen's driving and monitored some restrictions (how many friends in the car, speeding, time of driving, etc.), the teen had fewer problems with behind-the-wheel behavior.

Hint to parents: drive the way you want your teens to drive. Of course that presumes that the parent knows the difference between good driving and bad.

That's a tall order for parents who have never been exposed to education and training in the art of driving. We all think we're good drivers, but that can be a dangerous presumption when it comes to guiding your teen through those perilous first years behind the wheel.

In our resources section we have an excellent GUIDE FOR PARENTS booklet. This was written based on advice and guidance from 30 top instructors with many thousands of hours of experience training both novice and experienced drivers.

The booklet is free and in a format that can be printed out. The comments on the booklet are interesting too. There are over 160 of them from both parents and teenagers.

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All Comments (13)

Showing 1 - 13 comments

Chaii,

I agree with Taleyrand. Pension funds will be raided very soon and rules will be put in place prtevneing investment in anything other than worthless paper assets. We need to reconcile ourselves to the fact that there will soon be no pensions private or so-called gold-plated' Here in the UK, they are limbering up to an announcement that final salary pensions will henceforth be calculated on an average salary basis, not a final salary basis. If we have hyperinflation or even high inflation, average salary will be almost worthless, particularly for teachers coming to the end of their career, since it will mean that years of work will be hugely discounted in real terms. Most people seem to be blissfully unaware of this, sadly, just as they cannot seem to understand the impact of the change in the calculation of inflation, which the government has justified on the grounds that retirees should always shop around for the lowest prices, thus making CPI indexing the more appropriate, they claim. Such tricksters! I wish people would get more angry, like Max.

AdiDriving,

Although I agree, the study was done in Finland where a lot of parents will have legitimatly taught their children. Where as in Ireland and the UK people take driving lessons from a qualified instructor.

TONY,

tHE ONLY TICKET I GOT WAS GOING TO SLOW AT NIGHT AT WHEN NO OTHER CARS AROUND ME

Martin Pearson,

Here in the UK, MOST people learn primarily with a fully qualified instructor rather than their parents.
Martin Pearson

Fitz,

I put somewhere between 60-70k miles on the road a year. No accidents and last ticket was 13 years ago when I was driving 100k. No I am not a truck driver. Am I a good driver, maybe. But see that's the attitude difference because I know that the next time I get into a car I could have the big one and maybe the last. I have taught both of my daughters how to drive, so far successful and safe drivers. The problem is that I have found that the school instructors are bad drivers then the state says the parents have to do their part and if they suck, well there you go. The answer you can instruct at school or as a parent as long as you are certified by the state based on your performance which includes miles. And if you don't driver very much you can't be an instructor.

Driving Instructor,

We all know there are variations between individuals so you would expect variation in responses so stop blaming parents.

nj driver,

I totally agree. That's why we have more and more bad drivers on the road because I saw those bad drivers with their kids in the car. The bad drivers who are parents just don't realize this point. I just saw a man with 3 kids in his car heading to YMCA. HE RUSHED THRU A STOP SIGN WITHOUT PAUSING. It was my turn after I stopped but he WON because he didn't stop. It's too dangerous and rude. Those three kids will copy the bad behaivor and become THREE bad drivers in the future. His license plate is NJ MUL-34G. Keep away from him.

Florida Drug And Alc,

In many states of US, teenagers get their Learners Permit at the age of 16 which results having more teenage drivers in US.Teenagers are most dangerous drivers when compared to young adults and older drivers.Many statistics shows that teenagers met with more accidents and get killed in road mishaps due to DUI.

newbie,

All these gene business is fine but at the end of the day you need to conform to rule and regulation, whicch are there for the benefit of all of us.

Bola,

This article gives credence to the theory of Bandura on the influence of modelling behaviour on children.

Thuso,

This is a very interesting phenomenon. May be the question is "Do we have hope for the future generation if old dogs can't be taught new tricks?"

I think let's try using children in changing parents' driving attitudes. That way the battle can be won in the future generations.

Dan,

It happens a lot. They're acared, so you have to prove you'e not scary.

The GUIDE FOR PARENTS booklet above will definitely help

kerry,

are there any articles about moms delaying driver's licenses?