Who are the better drivers: Moms, Dads or teens?
The answer seems to depend upon whom you ask. RBC Insurance put the question to 1,001 Canadian parents and 1,000 teens in a survey conducted in August 2012. The results reflect a widespread belief that Dads and teens are good drivers, despite evidence of questionable driving behaviours.
For example, Canadian parents almost uniformly express confidence that their teens are good drivers, even though a majority would say their teens are engaging in some form of driver distraction, according to the survey commissioned by RBC Insurance.
Ninety per cent of 1,001 Canadian parents polled rate their teens as fairly good drivers, the poll shows, despite the fact that 79% admit their teenagers engage in some form of driver distraction.
Twenty per cent of parents indicated the most common fault with their teens' driving is that teens did not know their route or direction. Driving distracted was a close second at 15%. Other common faults parents mentioned include:
• being too aggressive (12%)
• speeding (12%)
• not knowing the rules of the road (9%); and
• driving too slowly (8%).
And who would teens say is the better driving role model – Mom or Dad?
Forty per cent of 1,000 teens surveyed rated their father as an extremely good driver, whereas only 29% gave their mother such credit.
And yet, almost 38% of teen respondents said the most common fault with their dad's driving is speeding or driving too aggressively. In comparison, only 6% said their Mom's most common fault is driving too aggressively and 11% said it was speeding.
So what are Moms doing on the road that teens find most objectionable?
Sixteen per cent of teens reported that their mothers drive too slowly and don't know their directions when driving.
Parents’ driving behaviours may be of more interest to insurance brokers, now that teens are increasingly learning how to drive from their parents, according to the survey.
The study found that “formal driving lessons are becoming less prevalent, as 35% of parents say they learned from an instructor only, compared to 16% of the teens interviewed,” RBC Insurance noted.
On the plus side, “teaching a teen to drive may improve the parent's driving habits,” RBC added. “Eighty-four per cent of parents agree that teaching their teen to drive has gotten them thinking about their own driving habits.”
