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Who Rules The Road ....Moms, Dads Or Teens?
Teens see faults with their parents' driving,
but majority of parents say their teens are good drivers:
RBC Insurance Poll
TORONTO, December 11, 2012 - Although confident in their
driving abilities, many Canadian parents still have serious
concerns when their teens get behind the wheel. According to
a recent RBC Insurance survey, nine-in-10 parents rate their
teens as fairly good drivers, despite the fact that 79 per cent
admit their teenagers engage in some form of driver distraction.
"It's great to see that Canadian parents have confidence
in their teens' driving abilities," said Natalie Dupuis,
senior product manager, Auto, RBC Insurance. "With the
winter driving season upon us, accidents are much more prevalent
and it's critical that everyone, especially new drivers who
have less experience, keep their full attention on the road."
Parents polled by RBC Insurance say that their teen's biggest
driving distraction is the radio or music (25 per cent), followed
by having friends in the car (21 per cent) and talking to
passengers (14 per cent). Five per cent admit their teen is
distracted by texting and two per cent say their children
are making phone calls while driving.
Ruling the road: Moms versus Dads
When it comes to teens' perception of their parents' driving
habits, almost half (47 per cent) rate their father as an
extremely good driver, whereas only 29 per cent would give
their mother this credit. This, despite the fact that almost
four-in-10 (38 per cent) say that the most common fault with
their dad's driving is speeding or driving too aggressively.
In comparison, only six per cent say their mom's most common
fault is driving too aggressively and 11 per cent say it's
speeding. In fact, 16 per cent believe their moms drive too
slowly and don't know their directions when driving.
However, teaching a teen to drive may improve the parent's
driving habits - 84 per cent of parents agree that teaching
their teen to drive has gotten them thinking about their own
driving habits. The study also found that formal driving lessons
are becoming less prevalent, as 35 per cent of parents say
they learned from an instructor only, compared to 16 per cent
of the teens interviewed.
Surprisingly, parents say that the most common fault with
their teens' driving is not knowing their route/direction
(20 per cent), while being distracted was a close second at
15 per cent. Other common faults parents mentioned include:
- being too aggressive (12 per cent)
- speeding (12 per cent)
- not knowing the rules of the road (9 per cent)
- driving too slowly (8 per cent)
Although 15 per cent of teens admit to having had at least
one accident, the survey found generally good driving behaviour
among this segment of the population. The majority of teens,
both young men and women, claim they have not had any parking
tickets (90 per cent), speeding tickets (92 per cent) and/or
accidents (85 per cent).
Based on these findings, what should parents consider when
seeking car insurance for their teen? RBC Insurance offers
these tips:
- Send your kids to driving school.
New drivers will learn valuable driving skills and defensive
driving techniques that will keep them safe and focused
on the road. Also, many insurers, including RBC Insurance,
will credit new drivers with three years of driving experience
if they have completed a certified driver's education course
approved by the Ministry of Transportation.
- Ask about a "student away from home' discount.
Many young drivers don't drive frequently and occasional
drivers have lower premiums. RBC insurance offers up to
50 per cent on premiums for families whose children are
away at school and drive the family car only occasionally.
- Use your flexibility with deductibles and features.
By increasing deductibles, you can lower your premium. Adding
a feature such as an accident forgiveness component lets
drivers cancel out their first accident, meaning the premium
won't increase.
About the RBC Insurance Poll
The RBC Insurance Poll was conducted by Ipsos Reid from August
17-28, 2012. Online interviews were conducted via the Ipsos
I-Say Online Panel, Ipsos Reid's national online panel with
a sample of 1,001 Canadian parents of teenagers and 1000 teenagers.
The results are based on a sample where quota sampling and
weighting are employed to balance demographics and ensure
that the sample's composition reflects that of the actual
Canadian population according to Census data. Quota samples
with weighting from the Ipsos online panel provide results
that are intended to approximate a probability sample. An
unweighted, probability sample of 1,001, with 100 per cent
response rate would have an estimated margin of error of ±3
per cent, 19 times out of 20.
About RBC Insurance
RBC Insurance®, through its operating entities, provides
a wide range of travel, life, health, home, auto, wealth and
reinsurance products and solutions, as well as creditor and
business insurance services, to individual and group clients.
RBC Insurance has more than four million clients globally.
We are one of the largest Canadian bank-owned group of insurance
companies and among the fastest growing insurance organizations
in the country. RBC Insurance employs more than 3,200 employees
around the globe, and is the brand name for the insurance
operating entities of Royal Bank of Canada.
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For more information, please contact:
Margie McNeil,
RBC Insurance, 416 388-3697
Angela Harkey,
RBC Insurance, 905 816-5650
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