If you’re a parent, you know the feeling. You’re daughter or son has just received his/her driver’s license and is now legal to drive. While this is a joyous time for them, it doesn’t have to be you’re worst nightmare. Being aware of these facts and informing our teens of the dangers of the road may be half the battle.

I stumbled across an article from autoinsurancetips.com that had some startling facts about teen drivers here in the Bay Sate.

• Teens receive the highest number of traffic violation in the state
• MA teens are involved in more fatal night time crashes than any other group of drivers
• MA teens (16&17) are 4x more likely get in a crash

Parents need to be aware of the facts and teens need to be educated. It’s hard to think of the repercussions of speeding when you’re late to meet your friends for 9:05 movie. But traffic violations raise a driver’s SDIP, and higher SDIP’s mean higher policy premiums.

However, despite being considered higher risk drivers, there are ways to lower their premiums.

• Driver Education- Having teens enroll in driver’s education classes is a way to reduce insurance costs. Teens that have completed this training are considered to be safer drivers.
• GPA- Teens with a high Grade Point Average are considered more responsible and therefore offer discounts to the driver
• The vehicle- While your teen would probably love to drive a new luxury car, they may not love the higher premium. Older cars are typically less expensive to insure

Teens get a bad rap with insurance companies. Talk with your teen about the responsibilities they take on when getting behind the wheel. And who knows, in 2020, teens here in the Bay state could be the group 4x LESS likely to get in a crash.