No cell phone talking; no cell phone twittering; no cell phone texting; in fact, just turn off the cell phone completely. When I see someone driving while on the phone (especially a teen driver) I want to reach in his/her car, take the cell phone and just smash it against the pavement. NO driver (especially teens) should talk on the phone and drive at the same time. So far, my son has abided by this rule.
Simple: Assume everyone on the road with you is a complete idiot.
If you’re right, you win. If you’re wrong, you still win.
My brother and I didn’t hesitate a second to hotwire our dad’s P-1800. Then we realized we couldn’t refill the tank since we didn’t have a key to the gas cap. Plans are always a good idea. Two solid objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time. Plan not to break that rule. Plan not to make the cops mad. Plan to have somebody that isn’t loaded drive the car. And if you’re going to be one minute late, immediately call your parents. Even if everything you tell them on the phone is a lie, call them anyway. They love that.
Not saying how old I am, but my dad taught be to drive before our high school offered driving classes. Before I took my test, he asked a policeman down the street to take me for a spin and critique me. My dad thought an outside opinion would sink in better than his advice. And he was right, the cop took me to the test area on a Sunday and put me through my paces, giving me lots of tips and I passed on my first try. My dad and I took lots of vacation trips, he’d let me drive while checking out my learning curve. This went on for 3+ years, and I never have had an accident in (?)+ years. Advice to parents, when they least expect it, ask them to go for a ride, toss them the keys and check them out. Don’t say anything until your back in the driveway, then offer them positive advice. (they are going to drive carefully when you’re in the car - so tell them that’s what you expect when you’re not with them).
Also, my dad calculated the miles I drove and he pro-rated the insurance policy cost and either deducted it from my allowance OR when I was working, asked for it from my pay. That’s a lesson that upset me, but I got the message. Hope this helps someone.
I grew up on a farm in the west so driving was a lesson I learned as soon as my legs were long enough to reach the peddles of the truck during grain harvest. When my kid’s became old enough to drive I recited a few Hail Marys then took each of them to a huge parking lot in an industrial complex during the weekend. I then demonstated how to drive in perfect control at 5 MPH with a stick shift. They then were required to demonstrate what they had observed - that generally took at least three weekends for each of them.
After the industrial parking lot experience our next stop was the traffic court where a grateful judge could easily be convinced to share some of the gruesome pictures of severe wrecks he/she had collected over the years. Sometimes those judges would also permit the holding cell to be enjoyed by the kid for as much as an hour. Wow! What a difference that made in attitude!
Next was the city street driving lessons. Parallel and angle parking, safe stopping zones BEFORE the white crossing line at the intersection, hand signaling as well as turning signals and NO RADIO or CELL PHONES allowed.
The final training session always blew their minds. We would find a rural road that is not paved. I would place a soda bottle on the side of the road then back the car to about a 100 yards and encourage the kid to drive fast toward the car and slam on the brakes to be sure the car does not hit or pass the bottle. Every one of the kids were amazed that a heavy chunk of metal cannot stop as quickly as might be thought.
Then came the conditions:
- Every ticket must be paid by the kid.
- Every wreck must be resolved by the kid AND the license must be relinquished for at least three months.
- Every pimply-faced passenger must deliver a permission slip from the parent along with that parent’s phone number so that I can check on the validity of the note.
It worked for me.
3 things: 1. Both of our sons had to drive at least 250 miles with one of us in the front seat before they could take the car out alone. 2. Our brother-in-law made his three kids drive him around town while he held a steaming cup of coffee in his hand, in a stick-shift car, without spilling a drop. 3. For our hot-rod son, his first car was a '57 Chevy Biscayne, no power, just a big front crumple zone. My husband thinks #3 is the best idea.
I took the easy way out. As a single dad with four kids in high school at the same time, I got rid of my car when the oldest was 15, and didn’t get another one until they all left home. And yes, I bought them all bus passes. It certainly helped that Seattle/King County has a great public transit system. If I needed a car I would rent one on the weekends. Saved me a whole lot of bucks, worry and grief.
One writer pointed out that active parking lots are a menace. I agree and would never take a student driver to such a parking lot. However, there are lots of empty parking lots on the weekends. I found several very nice test drives for my wife when I first taught her to drive. These were lots that had only one point of entry, so I could keep an eye on the appearance of any other driver. Normally, the protocol is that if you see someone else practicing in the lot, you go to your back-up lot. You want to be alone. I used empty five-gallon Home Depot buckets (they’re orange) for exercises in parallel parking, turning radius, backing exercises and more. They make a nice thump sound when struck.
Left,right,left.Observe an intersection in this manner before transversing.The driver has to cover thier a#$.
Advice? Don’t assume that following all the rules keeps you safe - there’s the “other guy” out there waiting to do something stupid. But obeying the rules gives you a better position to protect yourself from the dope who breaks the rules. When you have actually avoided an accident someone else tried to cause, you’ll be a real driver, my young friend.
Get an 8x10 picture of his/her mother and past it to the dashboard.
GREAT INFO ! You guys are AWESOME - Thank you. My 17 year old is about to begin lessons. I am headed to the local pharmacy for some valium !
God Bless You!
I learned to drive in a AAA course and my instructor taught me something that I still remember more than 40 years later and try to pass along to other drivers - new and old. When approaching a stop sign and looking both ways for oncoming traffic, look left first (on a two-way street), because that’s the guy who’s going to hit you first. If you look to the right first and begin to inch out into the intersection because that direction is clear, a car coming from the left can easily run into you because you looked the other way first and didn’t see him coming. Obviously, approaching a one-way street, you’ll need to look in the direction that all traffic will be coming from. Looking left first is a good habit to get into early in your driving career!
- Anticipation: always have a Plan B.
- Concentration: No cellphones, radios, anything. You are piloting a deadly weapon and it can kill you too.
- Paranoia: Every other vehcile operator is potentially a homicidal maniac intent on killing you, in collaboration with the demon that lurks under the hood of your car, both of them waiting for the right moment to kill or maim you.
One thing I would recommend is for parents to maintain some financial control over the car, either by buying the car themselves for the kid, or by paying the insurance. Then, make it perfectly clear that if the kid screws up, the kid gives back “my” car. Having the kid pay for the car, the insurance, all repairs and gas certainly gives them responsibility. But they also have the tendency to say “It’s my car and you can’t stop me.” If it’s Dad’s car and they only have the privilege of driving it, or if they have no insurance without Mom, however…
This is, of course, in addition to all the good parenting things you are already doing, enrolling them in driving schools, teaching them safety. ENJOY THE TIME TOGETHER, this is likely the last thing you’ll teach them before they’re grown and on their own.
I have asked my sons to keep looking around. However, if another driver seems ready to pull out and cut you off anticipate the move by mentaly challenging the other guy … go ahead cut me off I am ready for you. The idea is to be prepaired for a evasive manuever.
I was a “good neighbor” for 26 years. The one thing I added to the mix was this- NEVER EVER make a left turn you couldn’t see all the way through. So many kids see an adult waving them across stopped traffic only to have someone fly down the curb lane and hit them broadside. It took years before I realized that the root of this is that most young drivers still think they should do what adults/others tell them to do.
I have been accident free for over a year (I am 17). My best advice is to take a performance driving seminar or a teen safety class in which you drive your car and learn maneuvers that will help you on the road, they have helped me avoid two accidents. Also, drive a stick shift. I have found that I am more attentive to the road and what is going on, also I can’t talk on my phone! (my #1 rule of driving is no talking or texting) I have decided that I do not want to just be a teen driving statistic.
For newbies: No matter how nervous you are early on, Do Not Squeeze The Wheel! White-knuckling will only make your vehicle behave erratically & compound problems, so use soft hands (this applies to new pilots, as well). Don’t fight the machine, work with it. Also, to reinforce other suggestions, take any Class A CDL course available. Even if you never intend to drive a big-rig semi & your local academy is some rag-tag outfit, you’ll learn valuable techniques that apply to everything from a Kenworth to a Smart Fortwo; even a motorcycle.
I took a street survival course last summer and it saved my life once and kept me from an accident twice. This is one of the best things you can do.