A teen driving rules worksheet

Writing your family's driving rules down makes the expectations and limits clear to everyone. Work out the rules with your teen, including the risks to avoid and what happens if a rule is broken. Talking about safety often, practicing together and setting an example all help too, and parents who stay involved can help reduce risky driving. This worksheet is a place to write it all down.

What's in it

• The driver, with the start date and the next review date.
• Our rules, one row for each of the eight danger zones for teen drivers, with a line for your rule and one for notes.
• Practice drives, a log of each supervised drive, how long it lasted and who was in the car.
• If a rule is broken, what happens and how a privilege comes back.
• Privileges added as experience grows, with the date each one starts.
• A Before you send box with four checks.

How to fill it in

Sit down with your teen and go through the rules row by row. The eight danger zones behind most teen crashes are inexperience, teen passengers, driving at night, not wearing a seat belt, distraction, drowsiness, reckless driving and impaired driving. The worksheet has a row for each.

Write your family's rule beside each one. Clear rules are simple and specific, such as always wearing a seat belt, or not driving with other teen or young adult passengers. At least half of the drivers and passengers aged 16 to 19 killed in passenger vehicle crashes in 2020 weren't wearing a seat belt.

For inexperience, the practice log is the rule. Supervised practice in different conditions, at night, in rain and on the highway, helps a new driver make good decisions. Write down each drive, where you went and what you practiced.

Agree ahead of time on what happens if a rule is broken, and write it in. Then write how a privilege comes back, so your teen knows the way.

Keeping it current

Keep the worksheet where everyone can see it, such as on the fridge, so the rules are there to point to when a question comes up. Update it as your teen gains experience and earns more privileges. Each new privilege goes in the last table with its date, and the next review date goes at the top. Distracted driving and the phone covers the phone row in more detail.