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What age-group of drivers is most likely to smash the family car? It's no secret… your insurance company knows it… law enforcement knows it… and those nice folks in the hospital ER know it. Your teen driver! So what can you do?
Compared with adult drivers, teen drivers have much higher rates of fatal and nonfatal crashes, even when teens drive much less than adults. Based on crashes of all severities, a 16 to 19 year old is four times as likely to crash, compared to a driver 20 and older. The risk is highest for 16 year olds.
Is it possible to crash-proof your kids? Should you run out and buy a 1960's land-yacht? Do you keep them from driving a car? Let's be reasonable.
Having raised four kids and having dealt with this issue, I've learned some things. And I've been a Volvonut for a long time and I've owned more than 10 of them, so I got to try out some ideas using Volvos that I'll share with you.
Most people know that Volvos are and have been very safe cars to drive for a long time. Volvo has employed a lot of well-educated engineers, who have come up with a some great safety features. Here are just a few important safety features that were introduced by Volvo.
1944 Laminated windscreen
1959 Three-point seat belts
1960 Padded instrument panel
1966 Twin-circuit triangular braking system
1966 Crumple zones
1967 Seat belts in the rear
1968 Head restraints in front
1969 Three-point inertia-reel seat belts in the front
1972 Three-point seat belts in the rear
1972 Child-proof door locks
1973 Energy-absorbing steering column
1974 Energy-absorbing bumpers
1974 Gas tank relocated for enhanced safety
1984 Anti-locking brakes
1986 Brake lights at eye level
1986 Three-point seat belt in the middle of the rear seat
2002 ROPS (Roll-Over Protection System) for SUV (XC90)
2006 Proximity collision warning with automated brake support
2007 Lane Departure Warning
So is safety the chief concern here? Are there other factors when trying to pick out a car for a young driver? Of course there are... economics will play a part too. But first, a little more about safety….
Is Safe Boring?
Many drivers think safe means boring. This will be especially true for young, trendy drivers who already know everything. The idea of a Volvo as a first car was not even close to the top of any list my teens had in mind. So, will a Volvo be a boring car for a teen? Maybe, but keep in mind safe cars are NOT boring to auto insurance companies who base their rates, in part, on the safety of the cars and their occupants.
Is there that much difference in real-world insurance costs?
Newer vehicles generally cost more to insure than older ones because it's more expensive to fix them when they go bump. The difference can be surprising. For older Volvos in particular, I have found auto insurance rates to be much, much less when compared to a new car.
As boring as Volvos might seem to some (mostly to those who haven't owned one), you might be surprised to know there is presently quite a following among younger drivers, that I never saw when I was pushing Volvo 240s and 740s on my kids. The internet is full of places where Volvos are getting a great review by younger people, so if you go the same route, you might have an easier sell than I did.
Valuable Lessons in Responsibility
Since auto insurance costs can be so significant, especially for a young driver, I tried an idea that I though might help. Since it became apparent that locking my teens in a closet until they became adults wouldn't work, I sat them down and explained something to them.
As each teen approached that magical driving age, I told them I would buy them (or hand down) a nice used Volvo. This gift, however, came with conditions. One such condition was that they would learn to pay a bill. The teen would know well in advance that their portion of paying for a car was the monthly insurance bill (having it billed monthly made it easier to understand than twice a year). Each teen readily agreed (maybe because getting a car was all they could see in their starry eyes). This agreement was reinforced with the understanding that I was counting on them to be responsible and that a default in their insurance payment would result in their car being parked. They also understood that if they became irresponsible and smashed the car, the increased insurance cost would directly affect their lifestyle.
I found this agreement worked quite well. And as they grew older, I found they had developed other positive attributes, such as an increased sense of fiscal responsibility and learning to plan ahead. These were lessons in maturity, which I found were putting them years ahead of their friends who didn't have to pay an insurance bill.
Is Big Safe?
When it comes time to decide on a car for your teen, what factors will you use? As mentioned, your decision might be based on several needs, such as Safety, Reliability, Economy, Safety, and Safety. But your teen might have his or her own ideas. Their goal might be, for instance; Style, Power, Music, Style and Style… anything else be damned. Who wins? Well, you of course, since you're the one with the cash.
Should we consider that a larger vehicle just might make the difference in a collision between serious injury or walking away unhurt? Between life and death? Will a little extra metal make the difference? You might consider a car that isn't so small your kids will automatically lose if they get into a crash, especially if they get t-boned by a larger vehicle. Hopefully, your decision isn't based on mere cost. But if crash-test ratings will be something you'll consider, keep this in mind.... Very small cars are being awarded very high crash-test scores. How is this possible? It's possible because those small cars you see with "five star" ratings are only being judged in how well they protect your kids in a crash with a similar sized vehicle.
Keeping the above information in mind, you might be interested in what the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has to offer. They publish some interesting test results that might be useful. This data, however, may be more relative to newer cars, since most of the easy to find data at IIHS is for currently made cars, not so much for older cars. Searching through archives is possible, but it may offer mixed results.
If you're now thinking you should just go BIG and get an SUV, it may not be such a good idea for a teen driver either. Even if an SUV shows a lower fatality rating, such a vehicle might be quite a handful to an inexperienced driver in an emergency -- most SUVs are required to carry a label on the visor warning that "abrupt maneuvers" should be avoided."
A Volvo SUV might be an exception, since from their beginning, Volvo SUVs have been equipped with Volvo's Roll Stability Control. The RSC uses a sophisticated gyro sensor to identify every SUV owner's greatest fear, a potential rollover situation. If the RSC senses such an event, it becomes active and literally takes control of the gas and brakes, applying them in such a way to avert a rollover and keep you driving straight. But maybe you're super-human and you think you can maintain control just as well. I'm here to tell you that unless you've figured out how to apply your brakes so that any one of your four wheels can brake independently of the others, you won't be able to do what this system can. I've seen it in action during severe testing and it works amazingly well.
Making an Impression in their Mushy Little Brains
There are lots of stories about teaching kids to drive. One I like to share is how I made them earn the privilege of driving FORWARD. That's right. Once they had a learner's permit in hand, my kids spent a considerable amount of time driving in reverse. Not on the streets, though. I would take them to empty parking lots and carefully instruct them on reverse driving techniques, explaining how most low-speed accidents happened while backing. I made them pay attention by finding obstacles they maneuvered around or by directing them to back into parking spaces, while staying evenly between the lines and stopping just shy of the bump-stops. After a few hours of backing everywhere they went, they were better at it than most experienced drivers.
Speed Kills
Common sense tells us that when cars go fast, crashes tend to go up. Here's a question to ponder: If your teen's car is better handling than others, or more powerful, or generally more capable of dealing with risky maneuvers without losing control, will that encourage your kids to take ever more risks? I'm not sure if there's an easy answer, but I do believe some restraint needs to be administered to achieve a good balance between, for instance; a rocket ship and a slug-mobile.
Since I already knew Volvos had pretty good handling from the start and I believe in good handling and good brakes, I always liked making them better for my teens by adding larger anti-sway bars, sport springs, high-performance shocks and better brake pads from places like iPd. As for the speed and power department... I like that too, but I'm no idiot. I was a teen driver and if my parents knew 10% of the land speed records I set in their cars, I'd still be grounded.
The solution I chose:
My teens were given non-turbo 240 and 740 Volvos, which meant they could still get on the freeway without being embarrassed, but they would never win a drag race. All my teens survived with only a few bumps…. and so did I. Whew!
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