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Abstract
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Preliminary findings from a national study of teen drivers (ages 16
to 18) and parents of teen drivers, conducted jointly by UMTRI and Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc., show a significant correlation between parent and teen behaviors behind the wheel.
RESULTS suggest that parents play a significant role in modeling risky behav- ior on the road.
UMTRI and Toyota
researchers surveyed
more than 2,600 newly
licensed U.S. drivers ages 16 to 18 and nearly 3,000 parents of drivers in this age group, including 400 pairs of teens and parents from the same households, during August and September 2012. They found that parents who more frequently engage in distracted driving behaviors have teens who engage in distracting behaviors more frequently than other young drivers.
A key finding, however, is that what teens think their parents do while driving has a greater impact on teen behavior than what report they do. For example, if a teen's parent reports dealing with passenger issues while driving, the teen is twice as likely to do the same. But if a teen thinks his or her parent deals with passenger issues while driving, the teen is five times more likely to do so them- selves.
Likewise, if a teen's parent reports looking for something in the vehicle while driving or reports eating or drink- ing while driving, the teen is twice as likely to do the same, but is four timesparents actually more likely if he or she thinks his or her parent looks for something in the vehicle while driving and three times more likely to eat or drink behind the wheel.
Keywords: Driver distraction;
Language: en |