GEICO Says: Parents Are the Key to Safe Teen Drivers

WASHINGTON--These days, teenagers have a lot to contend with: school, grades, their peers, and also all the inherent risks of being a new driver. According to a new study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), while parents are equipping cars with monitoring devices to monitor their teens’ driving behavior, these devices are no replacement for the involvement of hands-on parents.

GEICO agrees and has created a parent-teen driving contract for families (http://www.geico.com/public/pdf/autosafety/ParentTeenContract.pdf) to use. It gives parents another opportunity to create good driving habits for their teens.

While monitoring devices are one way to help keep tabs on young drivers, parents remain the key factor in teaching teens to drive safely. IIHS points out that parents are the biggest influencers of their kids’ behavior, driving being no exception. “The more involved a parent is in the learning process, the less likely a teen is to be engaged in all the risky behaviors associated with the teen years,” said GEICO assistant vice president, Janice Minshall.

For information on GEICO’s teen safe driving program, please visit http://www.geico.com/information/safety/auto/safety-library/.

GEICO (Government Employees Insurance Company) is the third-largest private passenger auto insurer in the United States based on 2008 market share data as reported by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, March 2009. GEICO provides auto insurance coverage for 9 million policyholders and insures more than 15 million vehicles.

In addition to auto insurance, GEICO offers customers insurance products for their motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), boats, homes, apartments and mobile homes. Commercial auto insurance and personal umbrella protection and life insurance are also available.

As a member of the Berkshire Hathaway group of companies, GEICO is rated A++ for financial strength by A.M. Best Company and ranks at the top of several national customer satisfaction surveys. For more information, go to http://www.geico.com.