Your teenagers are a wonder. Your son comprehends logarithms and trigonometry. Your daughter's reflexes on the soccer field are nothing short of amazing. He understands your computer better than you do, and she can explain the difference between socialism and communism. Both of them are intelligent, coordinated, and perceptive. What’s more, researchers have shown that teens consistently match their elders when it comes to risk assessment; your teens are just as capable as you of recognizing what constitutes danger.

Why, then, are they four times as likely as you to crash their cars?

The answer to that question is surprising; a comprehensive new study suggests that much common knowledge about teens and cars is wrong. For example, many adults believe that high teen crash rates result from substance abuse. In fact, alcohol and other drugs played a part in only 25% of crashes. Another widely held but false belief is that teens lack the traffic experience to anticipate and make timely corrections for problems on the road—yet their actual tested performance in driving simulators is scarcely different from that of adult drivers.

Something else is going on.

Simply put, your teen’s brain is still under construction. In particular, the impulse-control circuits will not be complete until your child is well into his twenties. Furthermore, teens are wired to take more risks in the presence of their peers, and it is a fact that majorities of teen passengers would not ask a friend to slow down, even if they knew they were in danger.

When we recently asked our students what advice they would give to a friend who was afraid to speak up, one of them pointed out that teens care a lot about what their friends think, but that in this situation, that goes both ways. He was saying that the need for “cool” belongs to the driver as much as to the passenger, and that there must be a way to say that danger is just not cool. Exactly.

3 Ways to Help Your Teen Stay Safe

1. Many parents find it helpful to get a signed agreement with their teens. The process of filling out the form provides a chance to solve problems before they arise, and the formality of the documents underlines the gravity of the new responsibility. At their best, these contracts make it simple to gradually match the young driver’s privileges with her growing expertise and maturity. For one example, visit our website (www.goswerve.com).

2.Be sure that your teens have thought through how to deal with a friend who is driving dangerously. A few suggestions from our students:

• "Talk about your feelings so they know it’s not a personal attack. They can’t exactly argue with what you are feeling."
• "Use some humor . . . roll your eyes and say that you totally think it’s way better to crash and hurt somebody than be uncool . . ."
• "Just know that your friend who is driving crazy only wants to impress you. Tell him you’d be a lot more impressed if he’d slow down or stop tailgating or whatever it is."

3.As driving is one of your teens’ first steps to adulthood, have them share in the responsibilities with regards to your vehicles. Have them wash the car, do general maintenance, fill it with gas (have them pay from time to time), and understand and even pay for their own insurance.