Teaching Your Teen to Drive

Teaching Your Teen to Drive

(Review entire guide before starting)

Many parents will allow their child to drive for the first time, when leaving the license bureau after obtaining their permit. This is not advisable, especially for a teen that has never driven a vehicle before. They can easily panic and hit the gas instead of the brake or brake too hard to the point of losing control or causing a rear-end collision.

Just prior to, or immediately after obtaining the permit, the parent should spend time with their child sitting in the car, familiarizing them with all the vehicle controls (head lights, turn signals, horn, moving the shifter lever, hazard lights switch, wipers, air & heat controls and how to adjust the mirrors, seat, steering wheel and cruise control). Have your teen review the car’s owner’s manual, comparing all the instrument (dash) lights and gauges, so they know what each light and gauge means. This is a good time to do a vehicle inspection to check the tires (especially the outer edge of the front tires for tread wear) and check all lights.

Once the teen obtains their permit, take them to a large parking lot during a time of least traffic.

Provide simple and accurate instructions in advance so your teen has time to under-stand and prepare, such as: “Let off the gas and begin to brake,” instead of panic-ridden versions such as: “Slow down! Slow down!” “Stop! Stop! Stop!” Stay calm. Know that new drivers will make mistakes and may be sensitive to parental evaluation. Start and end each session on a positive note. If you need to correct mistakes, take notes and pull over to discuss them without yelling. Reinforce good safety habits with comments such as: “I liked how you slowed down and looked both ways before proceeding at that railroad crossing,” or, “I’m glad that you slowed down and then stopped at that yellow light instead of trying to speed through it.”

Limit driving time for beginning drivers to no more than an hour. Avoid teaching too much, too soon. After all, you have at least 50 hours to spend with them.

Phase #1: Starting, Braking and Steering

Make sure they learn the basic operation of the gas, brake and steering prior to letting them drive on the road. Practice starting and stopping at different speeds in the parking lot. Practice making left and right turns. Have them practice making hand-over-hand turns. Also, while in the parking lot, have them practice pulling into parking spaces. Once that is mastered, then work with them on backing into parking spaces. Backing out of parking spaces can be dangerous due to the limited view of rear support post and other vehicles blocking your view. It is very beneficial for all drivers to back into parking spaces whenever possible to reduce the risk of backing into other vehicles or pedestrians when leaving your parking space, especially at night.

Phase #2: Traffic Law Review

Review state and local traffic laws by asking your teen driver how they would handle a variety of situations such as:

• What to do when an emergency vehicle approaches

• What to do when you see a yield sign

• Approaching a stopped school bus that is loading or unloading children (Ohio law – if the bus is traveling in the opposite direction on a road or street that has 4 or more lanes, you do not have to stop).

If a parent or teen has a question regarding traffic laws or any teaching techniques, feel free to contact Rick Reaver at 419-647-0926.

Phase #3: Driving on lightly traveled rural roads

When venturing out onto rural county roads, have them drive at a suggested speed of about 45 mph until they become comfortable with handling the vehicle. During this beginning stage, it is very important to have them work at keeping the vehicle tracking straight (not wandering from side-to-side). If they struggle with this task, while your teen have their hands at the 10 & 2 positions, the parent can reach over with the left hand and steady the steering wheel and show them how to perform minor steering corrections. Once they start to master this task, they need to start working at glancing at all road signs for information (learning the road names, traffic signs, etc.). In addition, they should be instructed to glance in their rear view mirror about once every 30 seconds. Having a new driver to work at these 3 tasks early will form beneficial habits that will stick with them their entire life. If they don’t develop these habits early on, they never will. In addition to the above tasks, have them make as many turns as possible to improve hand-eye coordination when maneuvering the car.

Phase #4: Light traffic road trip

Prior to this phase, it would be beneficial to make a trip to the county engineer’s office and obtain a county map. This will help your teen to see how the main routes (state routes) are laid out in the county and which ones intersect with others. Have your teen plan a 30-minute road trip at a time of light traffic. You can use these types of trips to incorporate running errands. Include a trip to the gas station to show your new driver how to pump and pay for gas. Phase 5 could be incorporated with this phase as well.

Phase #5: Divided highways (US30 / US33 – not interstate)

Explain to your teen proper merging, changing lanes and passing procedures. Some parents teach their teen to start looking to their left for traffic when they are still near the top of the ramp or partway down. This is not recommended due to the fact that many ramps curve, which can result in your teen going out of their lane. Besides that, since your vehicle speed at that point will be around 30-45 mph, those vehicles will be long gone by the time they get to the “merge” portion of the ramp. As the teen is nearing merge area, apply the left signal. As soon as the ramp starts to become parallel to the highway, immediately start looking in the left mirror to determine where they are going to merge into traffic and decide whether they need to continue to accelerate or let off the gas to allow traffic to pass to drop in behind. At this same time, need to make a ½ second glance over their shoulder to check their blind spot (unless the vehicle is equipped with spot mirrors). Remember, some drivers may force their way out onto the highway or miss seeing you due to not checking their blind spot.

Once established on the highway would be a good time to set the cruise control. Since divided highways typically have less traffic than an interstate, practice exiting and reentering. The more often your teen does this, the more confident (skilled) and relaxed they will become. This will greatly help when it comes time for driving on the interstate.

In addition to exiting and reentering, have your teen stay on the main portion of the highway and work at dealing with traffic that will be merging on. They should practice checking mirrors ahead of time, check for ramp traffic as soon as possible to determine if they will need to change lanes or possibly adjust their speed to allow traffic to merge on. Remember, some drivers may force their way out onto the highway or miss seeing you due to not checking their blind spot.

Phase #6: Driving on city streets

This phase really steps up driving responsibility. Once a teen has developed good basic driving skills and some confidence in handling the vehicle, they should start driving on primary streets in smaller towns, advance to secondary streets in larger towns and then onto the primary streets. It is recommended to practice driving during times of lighter traffic. As the teen’s experience increases, gradually increase to driving during heavier traffic conditions. During this phase, the teen should work on increasing eye scanning to include awareness of objects such as signs, traffic lights changing, pedestrians, and other vehicles, which will allow for better reaction time to changing situations, instead of staring at the back of the vehicle ahead (which many new drivers do) and not realizing traffic ahead is braking or they are in a turn lane when needing to go straight. This phase also includes proper stopping locations (one car-length behind other vehicles and stopping prior to stop bars). They also need to work at looking in all directions before proceeding when a traffic light turns green or pulling out from stop signs.

This phase also should include identifying and making proper turns from and on to, one-way streets (proper turns are identified in the Digest of Ohio Motor Vehicle Laws handbook).

This phase can be exhausting for both parent and teen, so allow for multiple sessions. Drive different times of the day so your new driver understands how traffic conditions can vary.

A teaching technique that can help a parent teach their teen to drive is called “Running Commentary.” This greatly helps the parent to know what their child is seeing and thinking. Simply have the child verbalize everything they are seeing, what they are planning on doing and how they are going to execute each step.

(see “Running Commentary” document)

Phase #7: Interstate driving

When exposing your teen to interstate driving for the first time, it should be during times of lighter traffic such as Saturday or Sunday mornings and early afternoon. This can be a considerable step-up in driving challenges compared to rural divided highways. Your teen should be very comfortable with handling the vehicle without panicking and have achieved a good habit of checking their mirrors regularly.

If your teen merges into a group of vehicles and results in being too close to a vehicle ahead, let them know that it’s not okay to continue to follow at this distance. They should apply the “3 second” rule when following other vehicles. They should be able to count 1000-1, 1000-2, 1000-3 from the time the vehicle ahead passes a point and their vehicle reaches that same point. This method should be used anytime following other vehicles, not just during interstate driving.

When passing slower traffic and when returning to the right lane, have them develop the habit of putting on their right signal just as they reach the front of the vehicle that they are passing. This will help avoid impatient drivers that are tailgating you to attempt to pass you on the right. This is especially true when passing larger trucks. Most parents teach their teen that as soon as they can see the whole frontend of the vehicle they just passed, or both headlights, they can move back over. This method is not advisable in this situation. When passing larger vehicles such as a semi (tractor-trailer), a driver should have a distance of about another semi length between the front of the truck just passed and the rear of their vehicle prior to moving back over.

When approaching an emergency vehicle, public safety vehicle or road service vehicle that is sitting alongside of the roadway, the law requires you to move over if you can. If not, you must slow down and proceed with caution. Be advised, slowing down does not mean that you have to slam on the brake and slow from 65 mph to 30 (this is a good way to create a rear-end collision and have your vehicle knocked out of control into the vehicles or persons on the berm). If you can’t move over, (which is rare unless you weren’t looking and planning ahead), then slow to about 5-10 mph below the speed limit. Use common sense – the greater the risk (debris on the road from a crash, people standing next to the road) the more you should slow down. But be cautious of how much you slow down due to traffic behind you.

Phase #8: Night Driving

You can work on this phase any time after your teen has established confidence in driving during daytime hours. Before starting to drive at night, make sure you have covered how to turn on the headlights (if they’re not automatic), how to switch from low beams to high beams and when to use them. Bright lights should be used whenever possible and dim when oncoming traffic is within about a ¼ mile (if you don’t dim soon enough, the oncoming vehicle will probably let you know). Remember to show (explain) to them about the night vision adjustment of the rearview mirror.

Phase #9: Foul-weather driving

As your teen driver becomes experienced, start to practice driving in conditions such as heavy rain, fog, snow and ice. Consider revisiting that vacant parking lot where your lessons began. Stress that under hazardous road conditions, it’s important to slow down and use windshield wipers, windshield washer to help keep ice accumulating on the blades and headlights. Occasionally checking the wear on tires and wiper blades should also be stressed. Make sure your teen understands how to properly apply the brakes, for example, engaging anti-lock brakes are different than conventional brakes on icy surfaces.

Phase #10: Tricky and treacherous driving situations

Driving in the hilly country can be fun but also dangerous. There are a number of

signs posted on winding roads that a new driver should become familiar with. In Ohio, the southern counties provide a good experience for these types of roads.

Phase #11: Handling emergencies and crashes

Cover what to do in case of a crash, location of insurance information and location of the car’s emergency kit. Items that can prove to be very beneficial are: a First-aid kit, jumper cables, pair of work gloves (for changing tires), 2’ piece of pipe for sliding on the jack handle to help give you torque when trying to break lug nuts loose, flares or battery operated emergency lights (Flare Alert Beacon) and window scraper during winter months. It is recommended that parents cover tire changing with their child on the vehicle they will be driving on a regular basis once they get their license. This is a good time to identify any potential problems such as no jack, no jack handle, spare tire has little tire pressure, unable to break the lug nuts loose or find that the tire rusted onto the axle.

As a reminder, it is recommended to download the “Defensive Driving Techniques” form from the web site and work on a couple at a time as your child learns to drive.

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