With the start of school closer than you think, your newly licensed teenagers will be back on the road in no time. Gone are the days of minivan carpools and shuttling your kids around to activities. Your teen is now driving to and from school, clubs, and sports every day on their own. Even though this frees up the weekdays, your peace of mind may be suffering. If you are the parent of a teenage driver, you might have already dealt with a windshield repair in Chicago, maybe two. Frank’s Auto Glass has identified a possible cause and solution to help you prevent this from happening again.

Teenage Driving Style

We know teens have the tendency to be rough on cars. Speeding, “optional” stop signs, and lax signaling attempts all make teenagers difficult to be on the road with. Maybe the most frustrating quality in a young driver, however, is tailgating. No matter where they’re headed, they’re constantly in a hurry. This can pose a problem for the state of your windshield.

Tailgating and Windshields

The windshield, one of the most noticeable and breakable parts of your car, is vulnerable to damage from reckless driving like tailgating. Tailgating leaves the driver at risk of not responding fast enough to a sudden stop in traffic, as well as windshield chips, cracks, or even shatters from stray rocks and debris being kicked up from the car in front of them. In fact, most windshield chips are caused by flying rocks from other cars, and getting closer to them by tailgating only increases this likelihood.

What You Can Do

First try telling your teenager not to tailgate and give them this reason. However, given the typical teenager’s questionable track record for listening to their parents, we know this may not be effective. If they roll their eyes and assure you they’ll be able to stop in time, our best advice is to let them know that if their car ever needs windshield repair in Chicago, they’ll be the ones paying for it.