What parents can do to keep their teenage drivers safe

New York

SO your teenager needs a car. Or maybe you need the teenager to have a car so you can get out of the chauffeuring business.

But not a new car, right? No youngster needs that. Still, it has to be safe, with all the latest safety equipment so if the driver does get careless, possibly as a result of texting, the car's electronics will step in to help avoid a crash.

In 2013, the most recent year for which statistics were available, 2,839 teenage drivers in the US were involved in crashes in which they or others died, according to the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. In those accidents, 294 of the drivers were distracted and 45 were using mobile phones.

If those distracted-driving numbers seem low, it's because there's a decent chance that they are. Dead drivers can't tell accident investigators what happened, and those who survive may not admit that their eyes wer…