Here’s How to Teach Your Teen To Drive

Here’s How to Teach Your Teen To Drive

With fewer American public schools offering driver education, families across the country are increasingly having to decide whether to enroll their teens in costly, professionally operated courses or dedicate the time and attention to doing it themselves. Certainly, each approach has its plusses and minuses – the former, for example, will cost you more money but likely extract less of a toll on your nervous system.

If you opt for the hands-on approach, there are certain steps you can take to ensure the process goes as smoothly as possible. The result will be that when your teen visits the DMV, he or she is prepared to pass the test and, even more important, safely operate a motor vehicle.

Level of Interest: Due in part to Uber and Lyft, data reveals that fewer American teens are interested in learning to drive as compared to earlier decades. If yours is, you can begin by gauging their knowledge of how vehicles operate and their initial comfort level behind the wheel. You also can check with your insurance company to see whether it has programs that will help you teach your teen to drive.

Refresher Course: When was the last time you had to take a written driver’s test? For many adults, the answer is, “Who knows?” Because driving rules and the way students are taught change periodically, you should bone up on your state’s current rules of the road.

The Fundamentals: To effectively drive a vehicle, you must know the vehicle. Start the teaching process by demonstrating to your teen how the vehicle operates. Show him or her how to adjust the seat and the side and rearview mirrors safely to fit their needs, and make any other necessary accommodations, such as tilting the steering wheel. Help them explore the dashboard controls, turn signals, headlights, wipers, parking brake and more.

Slow and Safe: The first time your teen drives the car, you want to be in a safe, comparatively open location such as an empty parking lot. Have your teen practice applying the gas and brakes, driving straight, turning and backing up. As you see him or her beginning to master these skills, take note and make the situation a little more complex.

Takin’ It to the Streets: Once your teen is comfortable with the basic operation of the car, it’s time to hit the streets. Begin with quieter avenues where your teen can practice staying on one side of the road, anticipating cars exiting driveways and learning to pull up to a stop sign. Emphasize that the posted limit is only a guide for an acceptable maximum speed in excellent conditions and that your teen should drive even slower in poor weather, heavy traffic or areas where there are a lot of pedestrians.

Head Out on the Highway: Driving on a multi-lane highway for the first time can be scary. Start your teen out by driving at quieter times to practice merging into traffic, staying in their lane and using higher speeds and safe following distances without the added stress of rush-hour traffic. Once you are both comfortable with that, gradually move on to busier traffic situations.

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At Harmony Communities, we feel strongly that each resident has a sense of home. That they come home from work and feel pride in their environment and in their place in the greater community. That families are comfortable raising children in our neighborhoods, and that couples and singles know that they belong to something bigger than their four walls. In other words, we seek to create harmony within each community, making our communities not just passable, but peaceful, safe, functional, and beautiful.