Talking to Your Child about Impaired Driving

According to SAMHSA, "About one in four teen car crashes involves an underage drinking driver." Whether your teen has a drink, rides with a friend who has been drinking, or encounters a drunk driver on the road, it is important to warn them of the dangers of impaired driving. Instead of waiting for the perfect moment, take everyday opportunities to start conversations about the importance of safety.

Life is busy, and your child likely has a number of things going on in his or her life. But you can take advantage of the moments in between school, work, extracurriculars, and hanging out with friends to talk to have important conversations. At the dinner table, you can start a dialogue with the whole family about safety on the road. It might start by sharing a statistic or a recent news story involving a drunk driver. If family dinners are few and far between, any time you are in the car with your child can be a time to explain how alcohol slows reaction times and can result in serious car crashes. If your child asks to go out with some friends or ride with someone to an event, you can remind them to make sure the driver is sober and be on the watch for impaired drivers on the road when they come home.

An important part of talking about impaired driving is creating an exit plan. This means helping your teen create a plan to avoid driving or riding with someone else if they are unsure whether it is safe. You can suggest that they text you a code word or have a taxi or Uber take them home. Remind them of their exit strategy any time they go out with friends. Make impaired driving a regular topic of conversation in your home.

However you choose to talk to your child about impaired driving, it is important to be clear about your expectations while also conveying that you have these conversations because you care about them. Rather than a single conversation, create opportunities to discuss this subject on a regular basis. Don't stress. Conversations are meant to be engaging dialogues between you and your child rather than lectures given to instill fear. Let your children know that you care about their safety and that you're there for them if they ever find themselves in an unsafe situation.