Tips for Parents

GET YOUR CHILD BEHIND-THE-WHEEL AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE!

The graduated licensing law requires you to spend 50 hours (10 being a night) in the car with your teen behind-the-wheel. Statistics prove that the legislation has had a positive impact on lowering the number of crashes involving new drivers.

Parental assistance complements the behind-the-wheel phase of Driver Education. Parents need to encourage students to drive at home while taking the course and continue after completion. The parents’ role is one of the applying and reinforcing the skills introduced by the classroom Driver Education teacher. 50 hours is a minimum state requirement in order to help your student to be prepared for their license.

We feel students can improve the perceptual and decision making skills when they are passengers in the car. This can be done prior to the students receiving their permit by having your student verbalize what they are seeing and what they would do about the situations encountered. They can observe other drivers’ tendencies and practice predicting other driver’s actions. It may be a good idea to model your expectations of what you feel they should be verbalizing. It is difficult to improve perception and decision making skills when students have to concentration on the physical skills of driving.

Teaching your teen how to drive takes patience and your full attention. Practice when you are both alert and ready to pay attention to each other.

Before you start:

• Make sure your student has their permit.

• Put away phones and other distractions.

• Discuss with your teen the route you will be taking and skills they will be working on.

• Ask your teen to explain how to perform the skills they will be practicing.

• Adjust the vanity mirror on the passenger sun visor so you can use it as a rearview mirror.

• Also adjust the right outside mirror for your use while your teen is driving.

While your teen is driving:

• Use a calm voice.

• Give simple and clear directions well in advanced.

• Avoid terms with possible double meaning (e.g. say “that is correct” instead of “that is right”)

If your teen does something incorrectly:

• Ask your teen to move the car off the road and discuss the mistake calmly.

After the practice session:

• Evaluate the session together.

• Give your teen a chance to point out their mistakes before you do.

• Praise your teen for things they did correctly and mention how to improve.

• Record the session in the 50-hour log.