COLUMBUS, Ohio — Oct. 15 through Oct. 21 is National Teen Driver Safety Week.
According to the National Road Safety Foundation, a nonprofit raising awareness about safe driving, car crashes are the number one killer of teens.
The organization said between January and June 2023, 608 people have died on Ohio roads.
Two dozen of those who died were teen drivers.
The NRSF says a lot of that has to do with the fact that teens are inexperienced drivers who can get distracted by their phone or friends in the car.
The organization aims to encourage parents to start addressing this safe driving conversation by being good role models.
“When [children] see you get in, they see when you buckle up,” NRSF Director of Operations, Michelle Anderson said.
“They see when you power down your devices and that you're paying attention and that you both have both hands on the wheel when you're driving. They're seeing those things, and when they see that, that's what they're going to replicate when they become a driver."
Learning state laws for drivers is another step parents can take with their teen drivers.
That means finding out what the risks are for speeding, providing oneself with enough stop time while driving and understanding that drivers, essentially, have a two-ton weapon at their disposal.
Anderson also encourages parents to give their kids the courage speak up if they are in the car with a distracted driver.
"If you see someone driving recklessly, or if you see them texting or using their phone, tell them, 'hey, I'll be your designated texter,” she said.
“[Say,] ‘I'll be your secretary for the day while we're in the vehicle, and I'll make your phone calls for you and I'll take your phone calls for you."
Anderson says if people speak whoever is driving recklessly in love and show them how serious they are, the driver will likely change their behavior.
If they don’t she advised asking the driver to safely pull over.
The NRSF has a free downloadable or mailable Passport to Safe Driving on their website that contains a lot of helpful information for parents and teens to approach this conversation together.