By Collin Woodard March 17, 2026 11:25 am EST
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Of course, teens tend to reserve their worst, most dangerous behavior for times their parents aren't around, so maybe only 25% have seen their kids do something dangerous behind the wheel. Except the study found that more than half of parents had witnessed their young drivers exhibiting at least one unsafe driving behavior. At least 44% of respondents said they'd witnessed aggressive driving behaviors such as speeding, tailgating, or road rage, 25% reported seeing distracted driving behaviors such as texting or multitasking, and 17% said they were aware of impaired driving, such as driving while sleepy, emotionally upset, or intoxicated from alcohol or weed.
That's, of course, a problem. As Clark put it in another statement, "Distracted, impaired and aggressive driving are major contributors to crashes. Even behaviors that seem minor, like glancing at a phone or driving while exhausted, can significantly slow reaction time and increase crash risk." You wouldn't think we'd need someone to say that, but clearly we do:
Despite this, 96% of parents said their child's driving is either average or better than that of their peers.
Even parents who've observed distracted or impaired driving tended to give their child good marks for their driving ability.
And shockingly, parents who've witnessed aggressive driving were actually less likely to rate their child as a worse driver compared to peers, the poll found.
"Many parents do not connect risky driving behaviors to being a good driver," Clark said in a statement. And why is that? "Often, parents engage in these same risky driving behaviors and may not view them as dangerous." Ah, there we go. The key to understanding this whole study. Parents aren't worried about their kids crashing and don't punish dangerous driving behaviors because many of them are also dangerous, distracted drivers. If they took their teen's driving habits seriously, that might involve re-examining some of their own habits, and we can't have that now, can we?