Most teens critical of parents’ driving, survey says

And parents equally critical of their teens

My best years as a driver were achieved during the time before I got behind the wheel of a car. I could second-guess my dad with lightning reflexes and slam down on the imaginary brake pedal before the neural signals to do likewise passed from his tiny adult brain through his primitive nervous system and into his foot. It was all downhill from there.

When I first earned my driver’s licence, I no longer saw myself as a much better driver than my father — perhaps eclipsing him only slightly. Looking back from the present, I can admit that his driving skills were pretty darned good.

A recent survey of teens and parents conducted by Ipsos Canada on behalf of RBC Insurance reveals that parents and teens remain critical each other’s driving habits.

The survey reveals that nine out of 10 parents rate their teens as fairly good drivers. Only 47 per cent of teens rate their father’s driving as extremely good, while a minuscule 29 per cent see their mother as an extremely good driver.

Digging deeper into the data, however, indicates that these overall ratings don’t necessarily reflect the perceived individual driving habits of either group. Almost four in 10 teens say that the most common driving fault displayed by dear old dad is speeding or driving too aggressively. Yet lower-rated moms seem to fare better; only 6 per cent say their mother drives too aggressively and just 11 per cent tag them for speeding. Driving too slowly and not knowing directions while driving seem to be a mother’s worst traffic crimes, according to 16 per cent of teens.

Parents aren’t lightening up on teens either, identifying the most common fault with their teens’ driving as not knowing their route (20 per cent), being too aggressive (12 per cent), speeding (12 per cent), not knowing the rules of the road (nine per cent), and driving too slowly (eight per cent).

About 15 per cent of parents said their teens were distracted drivers. The biggest driving distractions parents observed involved radio or music (25 per cent), having friends in the car (21 per cent) and talking to passengers (14 per cent). Five per cent even admitted their teens are distracted by texting, while two per cent say their kids make phone calls while driving.

“The distraction that caught my eye was the one about teens not knowing their route and directions,” says Natalie Dupuis, senior product manager, Auto, RBC Insurance and mother of a recently minted driver. She says that once parents identify such distractions in teen drivers, they should offer some constructive assistance in overcoming them.

“You need to have those conversations, so that when your teen is getting ready for a trip, ask them exactly where they’re headed and how they’re planning to get there,” she says. “It also helps to go through what may have happened afterward. My own son recently headed downtown on a route we’ve travelled so often that he confidently missed the exit and drove around trying to backtrack on a gas tank that should have been filled earlier. We listened to his version of what happened — and then separately listened to his girlfriend’s take on it. It’s a good opportunity to go over some of the things he might have done differently.”

Dupuis also identifies music as a driving distraction that could affect her son, but notes that these distractions represent a concern to all drivers.

A 2007 study by the Insurance Bureau of Canada bears that out, concluding that even though experienced drivers demonstrated superior skills when compared to novice drivers, they were equally distracted by cellphone and CDplayer interaction.

“The first reaction of the most seasoned and experienced drivers faced with driving through a really bad snowstorm or rainstorm, is to turn off the music in the car so they can fully concentrate,” Dupuis says. “That tells you a lot.”

The survey also found that parents are increasingly involved in teaching their teens how to drive. More than one-third of parents said they were taught to drive by an outside instructor only; just 16 per cent of teens were taught solely by an instructor. Of parents who instructed their teens, about 84 per cent agree that the lessons encouraged them to turn a critical eye to their own driving habits.

Dupuis notes that the 1,000 teenagers who participated in the survey were not the progeny of the 1,001 parents who responded.

“We didn’t want there to be the slightest chance that either group would soften their criticisms out of fear of what their mom or dad would say if they caught them,” she says.