Teen driving safety starts with these 5 conversations

At a glance

• Plan ahead to reduce distractions. Help your teen set directions, choose music and silence phone notifications before driving.
• Talk through situations they may face. Discuss how to handle passenger pressure, choose a safe speed and ask for a ride when they’re too tired or upset to drive.
• Use driving insights to start conversations. Review trip reports together once your teen is safely parked, ask what happened and agree on what to practice next.

Some unsafe driving habits are easy to overlook because they’re familiar: changing the music, glancing at directions or driving when tired. Parents may recognize those habits in themselves, too.

And that’s maybe why it’s easy to miss when your teen is driving like that.

A 2026 C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital poll about teen driving safety found that more than half of parents had seen their teen or young adult do something unsafe behind the wheel. But 96% still rated their child’s driving as average or better than other young drivers. Even parents who had witnessed distracted or impaired driving didn’t rate their kids as worse drivers than parents who hadn’t.

I can see how that happens. Some of these behaviors are so familiar that they barely register. So the conversation about teen driving safety needs an update.

Instead of trying to cover every possible rule at once, start with a few questions that help your teen think through what they really need to do behind the wheel.

1. “What will you get ready before you start driving?”

When my son got his license, we required that his phone switch to driving mode automatically when it connected to the car’s Bluetooth. This limits notifications so apps stop competing for his attention. But the Mott researchers specifically point to things like eating, drinking, personal grooming and multitasking as behaviors that can take attention away from driving.

So the conversation here is to make distraction prevention a routine: Set your driving route, choose your music and turn on settings that silence your phone. And no eating and driving.

2. “What distractions should we both avoid behind the wheel?”

Getting ready before driving helps. So does seeing parents follow the same rules.

Today’s teens have spent their whole lives watching adults drive with technology around them. Dashboard screens, playlists and calls can make the line between using technology and being distracted by it feel pretty blurry.

Parents are also part of the solution. The NHTSA report on distracted driving recommends that parents model the same behaviors they expect from their teens, including putting the phone away and avoiding other distractions.

The point isn’t to make the safety rules negotiable. It’s to get specific about what safe driving looks like for everyone.

3. “What are you going to say if somebody in the car wants you to do something unsafe?”

Our state, Utah, limits who can be in the car with new drivers, so the law set our first boundary for us. That gave my son time to get comfortable behind the wheel before friends became part of the equation.

Many states have restrictions for new drivers, so look up yours before the license arrives.

But knowing the passenger rules is one thing. Saying no to a friend takes practice.

A teen may know they shouldn’t look at a friend’s phone, speed up because a friend is egging them on or change the music in the middle of traffic. But saying no in the moment can be harder. Ask them what they’ll actually say before they get behind the wheel. Practicing the conversation they’ll have with friends can make it easier.

4. “The trip report flagged speeding here. What was going on?”

If you review driving reports together, they can give you a specific moment to discuss.

For example: Speeding was the most common unsafe behavior parents reported in the Mott poll: 41% had seen it. But speeding isn’t only about going over the posted limit. It also means driving too fast for conditions — something new drivers are still learning to judge.

So if you notice speeding after a trip, the first question doesn’t have to be, “Why were you speeding?”

Ask what was happening. Was it traffic? Passing? Keeping pace with other cars? Did they not realize how fast they were going? The answer can tell you more about the skill they need to work on.

5. “If you’re too tired or too upset to drive, what’s your backup plan?”

No app can tell you your teen is exhausted or just had a fight with a friend. So give them an exit before they need one. My rule would be simple:

“If you’re ever too tired or upset to drive safely, call me. I’ll come get you. We can talk about what happened later.”

How can teen driver monitoring help you be their coach?

For our family, this is where Verizon Family Plus comes in. Its Driving Insights feature sends a report after each trip showing things like speeding, hard braking, rapid acceleration and phone use while driving. You can also set a speed alert, see when they arrive or get an alert if there’s a crash.

But the driving data isn’t the parenting. It’s the prompt for a conversation.

A 2026 study found that teens had fewer risky-driving events when driving feedback was paired with coaching for parents on how to talk about it. Feedback alone helped with speeding, but not risky driving overall.

So if a hard-braking alert shows up, instead of “What were you doing?” try asking what was happening.

One tip from Verizon’s team: If an alert comes in, wait until your teen is parked to talk about it. Calling while they’re still driving only creates another distraction. And I’ll offer one more: Talk to your child about monitoring in advance so they know why you’re doing it and how you’ll use the information.

Trust builds a trip at a time

Driving skills grow a little at a time, and so does a parent’s trust. These days, I don’t watch the dot anymore. Arrival alerts and trip reports are enough, but it took several conversations and proof of safe driving to get us to that point.

That’s the part worth remembering: An insight isn’t automatically evidence that your teen did something terrible. Sometimes it’s just showing you the next skill they need to practice.

The expectations around teen driving safety now cover a lot more than what’s on the driving test. Make the expectations clear, model them yourself and keep talking after your teen starts driving alone.

You might even get to stop watching the dot.

Keeping up with the whole family just got easier with Verizon Family Plus.

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