Here's a new one: A traffic ticket for teens is acquiring the “let ‘em know” status of a report card. After all, if you fail a class, your parents hear about it – and that’s incentive in itself to do better. Now, if you fail to observe traffic laws and are caught, your parents will hear about that, too -- at least they will in Oviedo, Fla.

The reasoning is simple: Accountability works. Hide a mistake and you're more likely to repeat it. Hear about it from your parents and you may be more apt to avoid it in the future.

Teen driving needs guidance

Teens newly empowered by a set of wheels at their command especially need help in getting this message and in getting proper driving habits in gear.

In recent years, as many as 4,544 teens aged 16-19 have died in American traffic accidents, with almost 400,000 suffering injuries which required emergency treatment. Indeed, traffic accidents are the No. 1 cause of teen death, accounting for more than one third of all teen deaths. Wonder how many of those victims had been stopped by police previously for violations, which then went unnoticed by their parents?

According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health, when parents are more involved in their teen's driving, that child has a better chance of survival. With as many as 40 per cent of teens involved in auto crashes, a study shows that parents who impose driving limits such as a night curfew lead to fewer crashes and violations for their children.

Passengers can contribute to accidents

Restricting passengers in the car also can help teens, since friends as passengers can be a major distraction leading to accidents One study showed that traffic violations were four times more likely and car crashes almost seven times more likely when parents had fewer restrictions on teens' driving with friends as passengers. With more restrictions, chances clearly would improve.

Similarly, a word from police to notify parents of their teen's traffic violations certainly can't hurt.

The Atlanta-based Safe Teen Driving Club was set up to assist in this process. It was chartered to "help parents educate, mentor, manage and monitor their teen drivers . . . With the help of parents, teen drivers can enjoy enhanced safety, security and protection."

Besides curfews and other time restrictions, parents can place limits on the geographic areas in which their teens can drive. Parents even can get GPS teen trackers to monitor their child's driving location at all times. Such trackers also can provide a fully detailed driving history for every moment at the wheel over the course of weeks.

How’s your teen’s driving?

As with some commercial vehicles,  "How's My Driving?" stickers also are available, in this case providing phone numbers for other drivers to call and send alerts about teens' poor driving. The driver calls an 866 number, and parents then receive an email with the voice of the driver explaining what they observed.

Of course, not all traffic accidents involving teens are the teen driver's fault. But statistics don't lie, and these indicate that teens not only are at greater risk as drivers, but that their chances improve when parents get more involved. A driving “report card” is just one such step, but it’s a good one.