How are you teaching your teens to be safe, responsible drivers?

To whom it may concern, If you look at the state of New Hampshire, Seat belt laws, you will find that all drivers 18 and under are required to wear seal belts at all times. Adults are able to make there own decisions. Readers Digest should not report without getting all the facts. This is a great state that is trying to get it's residents to buckle up. As a parent of 8 children, two already driving and 1 starting to learn, I have tought them to buckle up before starting the vehicle reguardless of the law. Parents have the primary responsibility to teach their children to respect all life and use all available tools to do this. So Readers Digest, putting your comments on paper about New Hampshire "not having any seat belt laws" should be corrected, and stated as worded in the "DMV" laws for our great state. Thank you Paul Donovan

Starting this year, Illinois has put new law in place that limit the amount of passengers in a new driver's vehicle to one for the first year. This is on top of a nine month period of having a permit. This adds up to nearly two years before a teen can drive more than two people in their vehicle, meaning that by then, most teens will be getting ready for graduation. Having both these new privileges of driving as well as adulthood seem to be a dangerous mix in my mind. All the teens will be having parties and since they were never able to get used to minor distractions that all drivers face before hand, there will surely be a higher chance of them crashing. They'll be excited for these new freedoms as well as hyped up from the parties which will blend with the fact that they never experienced this new driving environment with multiple friends in their vehicle. In my mind, this is a recipe for disaster. I'm sure the state is just trying to protect tens, but in the long run, how is it going to prepare them for ten different new things flying at them at once once they finish the graduated license program? Not only that, but with many teens getting their license, and none of them able to drive multiple passengers, there will be more cars with teens driving because they can't carpool. This will lead to teens having to follow each other, hic could create dangerous situations as well as highten multiple car crashes because teens will be messing around with each other in seperate cars. Overall, I find these new laws to be safe in the short run, but in the long run, they will backfire and cause more accidents because teens don't experience a major maturing period between the ages of 16 and 18, they just become more excited for their new-found freedoms and when many freedoms combine at the same time, many teens will think that they were given special powers with these freedoms and cause many more problems than if they got used to driving before a major turning point in life.

I've been driving for only 2 years now and I'm very proud to say that I've had no accidents so far. In addition to taking driver's ed at my high school, I've also taken the Smith System driver's course. It regulates driving for tractor trailors that haul gasoline and other chemicals. My parents and everyone else who taught me to drive were very influential and stressed the importance of using your lights at all times, turn signals, and practicing defensive driving. The first three things your eyes see are light, motion, and color. I am absolutely terrified of riding in the car with the majority of my friends. I prefer to drive just because I know that I have more knowledge and can ensure my safety, as well as theirs, to the best of my ability when it comes to driving. My friends drive too fast or are reckless. At one of our final class of '08 meetings, our principal bluntly said that our "driving sucks." I must totally agree with him. It does. Another factor that some people do not know is that all cars that are meant to be driven in America get the best fuel mileage between 55 and 65 mph. For teens who pay for their own gas, which they should, it is an easy point to stress. I really think that the best thing that we can do to prevent accidents involving teen drivers is to really spend time with them when they're behind the wheel. They need to focus and be told not only what they're doing right and wrong, but what other drivers around them are doing right and wrong. Distractions such as cell phones and radios and iPods should not be permitted. I don't even get my phone out of my purse when I'm in the car. The list to make teen driving safer goes on and on. I think the best way to change driving habits overall is to start with yourself. Your children will observe and hopefully retain some of their knowledge when it's their turn behind the wheel.

New driving laws won't change a thing except for the age wen teens die: eighteen instead of sixteen. The reason kids in states that do this aren't dying while driving when they're sixteen is because they AREN"T driving when they're sixteen. I remember my high school years and as a fourty two year old man I'm glad i could go on my first date at sixteen. Would you really have kids wait untill they're eighteen for they're first date? Or even waiting untill then to hang out with the guys (or girls) somewhere. It isn't right. These laws would also infringe parental rights. The parents know when they're kid should be driving, not the state. These laws should be rejected and removed where they are already.

My parents made me take driving lessons in addition to driving instructions through school. It really helped me out and I think I'm a better driver for it.