There’s no getting away from the fact that teenage drivers are over-represented in the statistics dealing with fatal automobile accidents. Many of these accidents are preventable, with speed and alcohol being major factors in the cause of many of these accidents.

When we hear of these tragedies, the media has a habit of parading the latest road safety expert who’ll tell us that if our kids got more drivers education to make them better drivers, then that will reduce the numbers of accidents.

I do not agree that it is lack of education that is the problem and for as long as that remains the consensus, we will never improve teenage driver safety. Let me explain why I think this:

There is no doubt that teenage drivers have far less experience than older established drivers, it couldn’t be otherwise – but that fact alone does not make young people bad drivers.

My personal belief is that the vast majority of our young drivers are fully competent to be driving a car; they have only recently been undertaken thorough drivers education, they have diligently practiced driving and they have patiently improved their driving skills – you have to reach a certain standard to get your drivers license.

Most of our young drivers are courteous on the road, they stop at red lights and stop signs, they signal before they make a turn or change lanes, and in general they obey the laws of the highway without question. In fact you could argue that at this stage they have not yet adopted the sloppy driving habits of many older drivers.

I believe that it’s not bad driving but the bad choices that our young drivers make that is the main cause of many accidents. Peer pressure plays a large part in the ‘bad choices’ that our teenage drivers make, if you think back to when you first started driving, how many of you could honestly say that you drove the same way if your friends were in your car rather than your parents?

If we ever want to make any progress in this area, and improve teenage driver safety, we need to examine why teenagers take risks, and why it is more important for them to impress their friends than to remain safe.

Alternatively we could do worse than to look at countries such as Australia and Ireland where they have much stricter laws governing when a teenager can start driving solo and the times of day they are allowed to drive.

Update

Car Insurance For Teenagers understands that many governments around the world a now looking closely at the systems employed in countries such as Ireland and Australia to see if similar laws that are followed there would have an impact on improved teenage driver safety.

The transition from childhood to adulthood is tough enough for teenagers; they’re dealing with school, relationships and spots amongst many other things, so is it time we started to give them a break when they first start out as a young car driver?

I’d love to answer yes here, and I can honestly say that when I was a teenage driver I desperately wanted things happen more easily, but when I look back on it, all the hassle and financial hardship associated with teenage driving probably did me more good than harm.

There’s no escaping the fact that it is expensive for young drivers to afford to buy a car and arrange car insurance for teenagers, but it kind of has to be like that for a couple of very good reasons.

Imagine as an 18 year old you could easily afford to insure any car you wanted. I can say without any hesitation that my driving history would have began with a Ferrari, it would have impressed the hell out of my friends, made me really popular with girls, and probably have killed me within a month of me owning it!

Safety is the biggest factor we need to contend with when we consider young drivers; as a group they are inexperienced, they drive too fast and they cause more accidents than any other age group (not all of them, but statistically as a group they do). So there is a need for them to serve a driving apprenticeship in a cheap, safe and preferably slow vehicle.

I don’t believe for one second that young drivers are bad drivers, far from it, I just believe they make some poor choices when they are behind the wheel and I will write more about this in my next article.

Also, what sort of life lesson would it have taught me if I’d been allowed to buy a Ferrari as my first car? No need to save to get what I want, no need to set a goal and work towards it and enjoy the satisfaction of achieving it (I have never owned a Ferrari, I grew out of that phase).

I know that when I was a young car driver I would have totally disagreed with every word of this article, but just think what I’d have missed out on!

• The type of vehicle the teenager is looking to insure.

• The teenagers driving history.

• The location of where the driver lives.

• The age of the driver looking for insurance.

• The sex of the driver looking for insurance – Are they male or female?

This article will be looking at the types of vehicle best suited to a new driver, but we will be covering the other four factors in subsequent articles. In order to get the cheapest car insurance for young driver available, it would be advisable work your way through the list to see if you can make any changes.

There’s a real dilemma when it comes to choosing a teen’s first car. On one hand, the teenager would like to buy the coolest car they can find, whether that’s a performance type car or one that’s been heavily modified – this would certainly impress their friends and would probably make them the most popular kid on the block. The parents on the other hand, want everything in a car that is alien to a teenager, low running costs, stability, and above everything else safety!

Whether you’re a parent reading this or a teenager, there’s more than likely going to be an element of negotiation about buying the first car. For parents, you know your teen best, so you are best placed to decide just how sensible they will be when they first start to drive solo. For teenagers, your parents want to hear maturity from you – it will give them more confidence to buy you a car that better suits your needs than theirs. One word of caution though, don’t make promises you have no intention of keeping – if you promise not to speed and you get a speeding ticket straight away, you will lose their trust and may end up losing your car!

If you can afford it, your smartest choice is probably buying a brand new medium sized car. This offers the best balance between safety, image and low running costs (insurance premiums). New cars today are much safer to drive than cars were ten years ago; they are packed with safety features such as airbags, anti-lock braking systems, and driver protection systems. So opting for a new vehicle might turn out to be one of the best decisions you ever make.