Insurance Companies Encourage Safer Teenage Driving

Parents everywhere are familiar with the uncertain, slightly sickening feeling they get when they realize their baby will someday be behind the wheel of two or three tons of fast-moving metal and glass. Encouraging good driving habits in teenagers has long been the work of parents, but now private insurance companies want to contribute to the cause as well.

Insurance providers like Safeco, Nationwide and Fireman's Fund Insurance are a few of the companies instituting pricing methods that reward safer, more capable teenage drivers. They do so by offering "significant" discounts to teenage drivers who follow certain safety procedures, like completing an online safety course or installing monitoring technology that allows their parents to keep tabs on them.

When adding a teenager to the family insurance rolls, adults know they’ll have to watch their premiums rocket 50% to 100%, making any reduction in cost welcome.

The government has also tried its hand at reducing teen accidents with methods that range from restricting teens from night driving to capping the number of passengers allowed in the vehicle. If some of these ideas prove statistically successful for the states that enact them, watch for copycat laws to follow.

What would you say is the best method for making teenagers better drivers?

Meanwhile, the Private Sector Helps Teen Safety as Well (Autopia)

Comments

To answer your question, Being involved with the learning process.

Maybe working on a 'project car' together will make the kid apreciate it and be less likely to wreck it.

Also, a competition driving scool could be an outlet for the whole family to improve their skill set. Sure you could argue that you'd never need to learn how to corner like Andretti, and you'd still tell yourself that after you've swerved to avoid the deer in the road.

I think insurance companies should
make sites like www.teenlivedrive.com
available for free.