{"id":28247,"date":"2015-04-22T14:23:47","date_gmt":"2015-04-22T21:23:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsider.com\/?p=28247"},"modified":"2019-07-24T15:00:02","modified_gmt":"2019-07-24T22:00:02","slug":"talking-to-your-kids-about-distracted-driving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uhaul.com\/blog\/2015\/04\/22\/talking-to-your-kids-about-distracted-driving\/","title":{"rendered":"Talking to Your Kids about Distracted Driving"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_28251\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/movinginsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/DistractedDriving.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-28251\" class=\"wp-image-28251 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/movinginsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/DistractedDriving.jpg\" alt=\"Distracted Driving\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.uhaul.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/DistractedDriving.jpg 640w, https:\/\/www.uhaul.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/DistractedDriving-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-28251\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Talking to Your Kids about Distracted Driving<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Protecting our\u00a0children is always a parent\u2019s highest priority, but figuring out a way to keep them safe isn&#8217;t always so simple. In today\u2019s society, where, social media and staying connected to one another is so relevant, how do we teach them that their safety is of the utmost importance? Posting the most recent selfie or responding to that text message right away may seem like the most important thing in the world to a teenager, but to a parent, it could be their worst nightmare.<\/p>\n<p>Having any kind of \u201ctalk\u201d with your children can be an awkward conversation for all parties, especially if it\u2019s something that\u2019s never applied to your life before. Perhaps your teen just received their driver\u2019s license or maybe they carpool to school with a friend or neighbor? In any situation, talking to your kids about distracted driving is a must-have conversation.<\/p>\n<h3>Lead by Example<\/h3>\n<p>The easiest\u2014and possibly the most effective\u2014way to protect your child against the dangers of distracted driving is leading by example. Make an effort to behave the way you would want your child to if they were behind the wheel. Put your phone away. Keep the volume on the radio at a moderate level. Wear your seat belt. In many aspects of life, we teach our children through our own behavior. Not only would you want your child to remain safe, but you want to make sure to protect yourself, as well.<\/p>\n<h3>Inform<\/h3>\n<p>Inform them. Of course, you don\u2019t want to terrify your child, but they do need to understand the dangers of distracted driving. \u00a0This <a href=\"http:\/\/myuhaulstory.com\/distracted-driving\/?utm_campaign=uhaulsm&amp;utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=pr&amp;utm_content=20150422-talkingtoyourkidsabout\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">free course<\/a> can equip you with the necessary tools to educate your family. Statistics are also a great way to do this.<\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.distraction.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">www.Distraction.gov<\/a>,\u00a0the US Government\u2019s Official Website for Distracted Driving, traffic crashes are the number one cause of death for American teens.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>3,154 people were killed in distracted driving related accidents in 2013<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>As of December 2013, over 153 billion text messages were sent per month<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Drivers under the age of 20 are the most likely to drive while distracted<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Get Personal<\/h4>\n<p>Teenagers tend to listen better when you relate to them on a more personal level. Unfortunately there are countless stories from parents who have lost children because of distracted driving, including <a href=\"https:\/\/movinginsider.com\/category\/driving-safety\/distracted-driving-driving-safety\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">these stories<\/a> of relatives\u00a0who&#8217;ve lose their loved ones. Telling their stories\u2014while sad\u2014can make an impact on the choices your child makes while driving.<\/p>\n<h4>Get the Entire Family Involved<\/h4>\n<p>You don\u2019t want your children to feel suffocated or as though you\u2019re singling them out. A great way to get the entire family involved is by committing to drive distraction-free. You can take a <a title=\"Distracted Driving Pledge\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsider.com\/distracted-driving-pledge\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pledge<\/a> and promise one another to always drive safe. This way, everyone can be held accountable for their actions. You can also <a title=\"Test Your Knowledge\" href=\"http:\/\/myuhaulstory.com\/distracted-driving\/test-your-knowledge\/?utm_campaign=uhaulsm&amp;utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=pr&amp;utm_content=20150422-talkingtoyourkidsabout\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">test<\/a> your knowledge to see how prepared your family is.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>What tips and suggestions do you have for parents? Share it with us in the comments section below!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Protecting our\u00a0children is always a parent\u2019s highest priority, but figuring out a way to keep them safe isn&#8217;t always so simple. In today\u2019s society, where, social media and staying connected to one another is so relevant, how do we teach them that their safety is of the utmost importance? Posting the most recent selfie or [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":198,"featured_media":28251,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[547,546],"tags":[523,52,174],"class_list":["post-28247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-distracted-driving-driving-safety","category-driving-safety","tag-distracted-driving","tag-driving","tag-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uhaul.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uhaul.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uhaul.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uhaul.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/198"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uhaul.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28247"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.uhaul.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51107,"href":"https:\/\/www.uhaul.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28247\/revisions\/51107"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uhaul.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uhaul.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uhaul.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uhaul.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}