Getting a learner’s permit is a big moment for a teenager.
For Brian and Esther LaBovick, it was also a reminder that being personal injury attorneys didn’t make teaching their own children to drive any easier.
As parents of three, they went through the same experience many families do: sitting in the passenger seat, teaching their kids to merge and park, repeating the same safety reminders and eventually watching them drive away alone.
But their work at LaBovick Law Group gave them another perspective.
For decades, Brian and Esther LaBovick and the personal injury team at LaBovick Law Group have represented people and families after serious crashes. Their work begins when families are suddenly dealing with injuries, medical care, insurance companies and questions about what happens next.
That experience has given them a close view of how one decision behind the wheel can change far more than a car. It can change a family’s life.
So when it came to their own children, the conversations went beyond learning the rules of the road.
What happens when a friend says, “Just answer the text”?
What if everyone in the car is distracting you?
What if someone you trust offers you a ride but shouldn’t be driving?
Those are decisions teenagers won’t necessarily learn from a driver’s handbook. And eventually, they’ll have to make them without a parent sitting beside them.
That combination of personal and professional experience led Brian and Esther to take something LaBovick Law Group had learned from helping families after crashes and use it in a different way: reaching young drivers before the crash happens.
Safety 4 Life grew from that commitment.
WHY LABOVICK FOCUSES ON DISTRACTED DRIVING
Through their work at LaBovick Law Group, Brian and Esther have seen the consequences that can follow a moment of distraction behind the wheel. Through Safety 4 Life, they’re using that experience to help young drivers understand the responsibility that comes with getting the keys.
Practice More Than Driving
The months after your teen receives a permit give you an unusual opportunity: you’re still in the car.
Use that time for more than correcting turns and reminding them to brake sooner.
Talk about what you see happening around you.
Did you notice what that driver just did?
What would you do if your friend picked up their phone while driving?
What if your friends were distracting you?
These conversations help teenagers practice judgment along with their driving skills.
Because eventually the decisions become more complicated than remembering a traffic rule.
Your teen may have to tell a friend to put the phone down. They may have to refuse a ride. They may have to speak up when everyone else in the car stays quiet.
Those are situations worth talking about while you still have the advantage of sitting beside them.
Give Them a Plan Before They Need One
There’s another lesson Brian and Esther believe parents can help their teenagers learn: what to do when a situation doesn’t feel safe.
Make sure your teen knows they can call you if they don’t have a safe ride home.
Talk about what they should do if the person driving starts texting or driving recklessly.
And consider giving them an easy way out: if they call because they feel unsafe, getting them home comes first. The discussion about what happened can wait.
Having that conversation ahead of time can make a difficult decision easier when your teenager is standing there with friends and trying to figure out what to do.
Why LaBovick Law Group Invests in Prevention
Most families meet a personal injury law firm after something has already gone wrong.
Brian and Esther wanted LaBovick Law Group to have an impact before that moment, too.
That’s why the firm’s commitment to protecting families extends beyond representing clients after serious accidents. LaBovick Law Group is the driving force behind Safety 4 Life, helping bring driver-safety education into local schools and communities.
The work has grown to include crash reenactments, student assemblies, Parent Nights, safety fairs and partnerships with law enforcement, first responders, healthcare organizations and other community groups.
In 2025 alone, Safety 4 Life reported reaching more than 9,000 students through crash reenactments and school-based programs.
For LaBovick Law Group, investing in prevention is closely connected to its legal work. The attorneys see what families face after serious accidents: injuries, medical treatment, insurance issues and a legal process that can feel overwhelming at an already difficult time.
Safety 4 Life gives the firm an opportunity to use that experience earlier, when education and a conversation might help prevent a crash in the first place.
BRIAN & ESTHER LABOVICK
Brian and Esther share why LaBovick Law Group expanded its work beyond helping families after accidents to supporting education that can help prevent them in the first place.
Before the Crash and After
No parent can sit beside their teenager forever.
Eventually, they’re going to pull out of the driveway alone. At that point, parents have to trust the conversations, practice and preparation that happened before that moment.
Brian and Esther have been those parents.
And through LaBovick Law Group, they have also spent decades on the other side of that moment—helping people after serious accidents navigate injuries, insurance issues and the legal process that follows.
That’s what connects LaBovick Law Group’s legal work with the prevention programs it supports through Safety 4 Life.
Before a crash, the firm invests in education that can help families avoid one. When an accident does happen, LaBovick Law Group is there to help injured people and their families understand what comes next and fight for them through the legal process.
That is the idea behind the relationship between LaBovick Law Group and Safety 4 Life:
Preventing and Fighting for You.
Because every teen deserves to come home safe.
