Driving in winter weather is a lot different than driving on a beautiful summer day. Adults know that, but often teens lose sight of the fact that they have to behave differently behind the wheel when roads are icy, or snow is on the ground.

Talking to Your Teens about Defensive Driving

It can be hard to teach your teens defensive driving—it’s a little beyond their nature. Defensive driving is a fairly abstract concept as well. Taking the right precautions, going slow and taking the conditions of the road into consideration while driving on hazardous streets are all a big part of knowing what to do when winter weather hits.

Preparing Your Teen’s Car for Winter Driving

Always make sure your teen’s car has proper maintenance. I wanted to teach my girls responsibility, and put them in charge of their car’s respective maintenance needs. However, my husband and I sat down and went over all of the important things they needed to keep up with before we unleashed them with their cars.

We also always made sure that they actually were taking their cars in for regular oil changes, tune-ups and kept their tire pressure at the proper levels. I also taught my girls how to look for car insurance at cheap rates.

Even though insuring the cars were something we did, and made payments on, we felt it was very important for them to know how to search for the best rates. I also always wanted the girls to appreciate the cost of driving, and know that it was a privilege to drive, not a right.

If their grades dropped, they were irresponsible in any part of their lives, or just misbehaved, the keys were taken. Both my husband and I were very adamant that tickets would not be allowed without retribution either.

Teaching Driver Responsibility

Some other important points of defensive driving to drill into your teens before they hit the winter roads are:

• Keep all windows completely cleared of ice and snow
• Drive courteously. Don’t cut or crowd other drivers
• Always give yourself plenty of room to stop
• Don’t leave loose objects lying around: put books and bags in the trunk so they don’t fly around, or end up on the floor where they can get stuck under the pedals
• Always use your blinkers when turning

Most of all, always wear seat belts. They aren’t fun, but they save lives. I also insist that my girls keep their cell phones with them at all times. Not that it’s a problem. They have them all the time anyway, but using the cell phone for any reason at all while driving is strictly forbidden. It only takes a second of not paying attention to end up in an accident in any weather.

It takes a lot of confidence and a little hope to deal with teen driving at any time, but especially in the winter. You’ll get through it, although you may have some sleepless nights. Going over the above winter driving tips with your teens will go a long way to avoiding the dreaded phone calls, or accidents and fender benders.

You don’t have to be a teen to go over the above tips either. Everyone needs to remember how to drive defensively and safely in bad weather. Freezing roads are a seriously dangerous hazard that can cause accidents when they otherwise wouldn’t happen. Always make sure you stay safe, and you have good insurance for those accidents that you can’t avoid.

Insurance is good for other types of driving problems too. I always make sure the policies I get include road assistance and towing. So far, I haven’t had to use them, but I sure feel better knowing it’s available.

Melissa Cameron is the mother of two active girls, and lives with them and her husband in Austin, Texas. She is a freelance writer who engages her readers in interesting topics such as cheap insurance. Cheap rates are part of her healthy and frugal lifestyle subjects. She also writes about parenting and local history for her readers everywhere.

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