Birute Strukcinskiene^a,
Vincentas Giedraitis^b,
Juozas Raistenskis^c,
Arvydas Martinkenas^a,
Vaiva Strukcinskaite^a,
Rimantas Stukas^c,
Serpil Ugur Baysal^d


Highlights

•There are similarities between driving safety of teens and their parents, as reported by teens.
•Driving teenagers report that they discuss road safety behavior with parents.
•Parental involvement is vital for road safety promotion in young drivers.



Keywords
Road safety; Behavior; Teenagers; Parents; Driving



Abstract
The study investigated 401 19-year-olds, who were licensed car drivers in Lithuania. The focus of the survey was on the self-reported road safety behaviors of teenage drivers and their perceptions of their parents’ road safety behaviors, in order to assess behavioral similarities between teenagers and their parents. The survey also investigated whether parents and teenagers discuss issues of driving safely, and whether there is an association between these conversations and driving restrictions.According to teenagers’ reporting, road safety behavior of teenage drivers and their parents often is similar: most of them break the speed limit, drive when feeling fatigued, use a cell phone when driving, and do not fasten the seat belt as a passenger in the back seat. The study indicated that there is a positive moderate correlation between road safety behaviors of teenagers and their parents, as reported by the teenagers. A majority of teenagers report that they discuss road safety factors, driving safely and driving behavior with their parents. Based on teenager reports, the parents, who discuss road safety issues with their children, are more likely to apply restrictions on teenagers’ driving.





Article Outline
1. Introduction
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Participants and data collection
2.2. Measures
2.3. Statistical analyses plan

3. Results
3.1. Self-reported road safety behavior of teenagers
3.2. Road safety behavior of parents, as reported by teenagers
3.3. Correlations between the behaviors of teenage drivers and behaviors of parents, as reported by teenage drivers
3.4. Self-reported road safety knowledge of teenagers
3.5. Discussions of teenagers with their parents on road safety
3.6. Perceptions of teenagers concerning associations of driving restrictions with discussions between teenagers and parents on road safety

4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Acknowledgment
References


Tables
   

Table 1. Self-reported road safety behavior of teenagers.

Table 2. Road safety behavior of parents, as reported by teenage drivers.

Table 3. Discussions of teenagers with their parents on road safety, as reported by teenage drivers.

Table 4. Perceptions of teenagers concerning associations of driving restrictions with discussions between teenagers and parents on road safety.