Teaching Your Teen To Drive Safely

Your child has become a teenager, and more than that, one that is getting a license to drive. If this is your situation, there are a few tips you can practice to help keep your teen safe.

To start, enroll your teen in driver education, if it is available in your community. Having your teen take drivers education is invaluable and it allows somebody else to teach them to drive, which could be worth more than its weight in gold for both you and your teen. If you don’t find a drivers education course in your town, you can still help your teen with some preemptive driving tips.

In America, the high rate of teen driving accidents and fatalities is due to 16 year olds being thrown behind the wheel without any experience or knowledge. Instead of counting on a few weeks or months of "driver's ed" to get your teen ready for the road, take it upon yourself (or get your spouse or another mature adult with good driving skills) to start the process much earlier, around age 14 or so.

Next, remember to educate your teen about the basics of driving such as not following other cars too closely, practicing proper merging techniques, using their turn signals and maintaining situational awareness of one's vehicle in relation to the other vehicles on the road by frequently checking side and rearview mirrors. Practicing in empty parking lots is helpful for basic driving lessons as well as learning to park and Parallel Park. If you know somebody who has a vehicle with manual transmission is especially recommend -- as it takes more skill, concentration and coordination.  You can never over prepare your child for driving, the more the better.

When working with your child in teaching them to drive, take the process a little at a time so both you and your teen don’t get overly frustrated. Short trips in familiar areas with little traffic and slow speeds, and more importantly, during the day is helpful. Work into teaching your teen to drive at night later, after they have had some more experience. You probably should even enforce a rule that your teen shouldn’t drive at night or with other teens for at least the first month or two.

Ride with your teen as much as possible to observe how they react to stressful situations and what driving rules they forget so that you can remind them. Some teens pick up driving quickly and have good coordination. Don’t slack on reprimanding your teen driver when it comes to both dangerous habits (such as tailgating and failure to pay attention) as well as any signs of rudeness or discourtesy toward other motorists.

Zero tolerance of immature/irresponsible driving is important with your teen. Restricting your teen for careless or irresponsible driving such as running red lights, drinking or driving, or being dangerous, is important. As a parent, you have the right to set the boundaries and determine whether your child may drive -- or not -- until they are 18 and on their own.

Once your teen gets a few hours under their belt you can begin working with them on emergency maneuvers. If you don’t feel qualified in teaching this, there are specialty schools that will show your teen how to drive on ice, learn how to control a car in a skid control and not to panic brake.

When buying your teen their first car, try to avoid large SUV’s or sports cars. A teen’s first car should be predictable in its handling and easy to drive.  SUV’s for teens can be difficult to steer and sports cars just have too much power for them. Teens like showing off and a sports car would just be too tempting to race.

Last, educate your teen about carrying the proper identification on them and in their car. They will need proof of insurance and registration in most states to drive legally. They will also have to remember to carry their drivers’ license.

Practicing these few simple things will help protect your teen driver from themselves as they learn the very large responsibility of getting on the road.