Not So Fast

Parenting Your Teen Through the Dangers of Driving

Tim Hollister, Pam Shadel Fischer

• Publisher: Chicago Review Press
• Year: 2025
• eBook ISBN: 9780897336772
• Edition: 3
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Automotive Transportation & Engineering
• Index: Technology & Engineering

 

"This concise, practical, and potentially life-saving book should be required reading for every parent before their teen gets behind the wheel." — Publishers Weekly
Newly updated with the latest information that takes into account the post-pandemic changes and rising crash rates, Not So Fast third edition provides advice to parents, guardians, and other adults who supervise teen drivers about the critical decisions that must be made before getting behind the wheel of a car.
This book helps empower and guide parents of the more than three million teens obtaining new driver's licenses annually in the United States. Authors Tim Hollister—a parent and safe driver advocate—and Pam Shadel Fischer—a highly experienced transportation safety professional—have been guiding parents of teen drivers for over a decade with this factual and easily applied advice. They prove that supervision before driving is every bit as important to lowering crash rates as teaching teens how to turn at a busy intersection. Parents will learn priceless information for teaching teenagers how to evaluate the circumstances of every driving trip, how to be able to say "no" when necessary, how to prepare a "flight plan" for each drive, and how to put safety before convenience.
Parents will also benefit by learning the real dangers and risks in teen driving and the limits of driver training programs and will thus become more informed and proactive in their supervisory role.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• Contents
• Foreword
• Authors’ Note
• Introduction: “Not So Fast, Young Man/Lady”
• 1 Tim’s Story
• 2 Pam’s Story
• 3 Why There Is No Such Thing as a Safe Teen Driver
• 4 Baseline Dangers and Higher-Risk Factors
• 5 “My Kid Is Very Responsible!”
• 6 What Driver’s Ed Is and Isn’t
• 7 The ABCs of GDL (Graduated Driver Licensing)
• 8 When Should a Teen Start Driving?
• 9 Acting Like an Air Traffic Controller
• 10 Negotiating and Enforcing a Parent-Teen Driving Agreement
• 11 The Difference Between Purposeful Driving and Joyriding
• 12 Getting a Teen to Acknowledge the Risks
• 13 The Ceremony of the Keys
• 14 The Unappreciated Danger of Passengers, Even Siblings
• 15 Managing Nighttime Driving
• 16 Supervising the Brand-New Driver
• 17 Traffic Citations as Teachable Moments
• 18 Car Buying and Sharing and Vehicle Costs
• 19 Distracted Driving: Texting, “Connected Cars,” GPS, and Earbuds
• 20 Driving Impaired by Alcohol and Other Drugs
• 21 Drowsy Driving and Sleep Deprivation
• 22 What Schools Can Do
• 23 Vehicle Safety Features Do Not Replace an Engaged Driver
• 24 Vehicle Identification Stickers
• 25 Defensive Driver Education as a Supplement
• 26 Non-English- Speaking , Co-Parenting, and Single-Parent Households
• 27 Supervising Other People’s Teens
• 28 In Summary: Tips from Tim and Pam
• Afterword: A Plea to Parents
• Teen Driving Resources
• Model Parent-Teen Driving Agreement
• Acknowledgments
• Index
• About the Authors