A Parent-Teen Agreement as an Adjunct to Current GDL Laws: Parent and Driver Education

Background: Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for teens, and a majority of the crashes in which teens are killed involve a teenage driver. Identifying and implementing effective methods of reducing crash rates among teenagers has been challenging. We conducted a qualitative examination of the thoughts and attitudes of parents of teens who were learning to drive and driver education instructors about the best approach to combining two effective teen driver crash risk-reduction programs: Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) and a parent directed program called Checkpoints that helps parents develop a parent-teen driving agreement with their teenage child and monitor his/her driving. Methods: Four focus groups were conducted (n=11 parents, 73% female, 64% Caucasian, 27% African-American, 9% Latino; n=16 driver education instructors, 75% male, 81% Caucasian, 6% each African-American, Latino and Other). Digital recordings of the group interviews were transcribed and analyzed using an open, focused coding process with constant comparison. Results: Parents and instructors acknowledged the benefit of including Checkpoints as part of GDL, including the directive nature of the agreement, suggestions for effective safety restrictions, a framework for developing a parent-teen agreement, and direction in establishing consequences for violation of the agreement. Barriers to implementation included absence of State-level requirements related to an agreement, program delivery that would motivate compliance, and time and cost constraints. Conclusions: Parents and driver education instructors generally supported including Checkpoints in the GDL process. Motivation for parents to would be required for effective implementation.