Teaching Your Teen to Drive |
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Rob Gillignham
July 23, 2010
Learning to drive safely is one of the most important life lessons your teenager will learn. Helping them to develop safe driving habits early on will prepare them for a lifetime of safe driving, reducing the risk of accidents, and saving them trips to your local Cleveland Ford dealer for servicing.
When teaching your teen to drive, there are four basic skill sets you should focus on. These are hazard recognition, vehicle handling, space management and speed management. Let’s take a closer look at each one of these skill sets and what they involve.
Hazard Recognition It is important to recognize dangerous situations before they become trouble. Seeing that there could be an issue ahead gives you more time to prepare, and react. There are basically three steps to hazard recognition – look, think, plan. Look around you to see what is going on in the road, constantly scanning ahead, to the left, right, and behind you. Think about what you see and how it pertains to your driving situation. Then plan what to do – what is the best course of action in each situation? These things become automatic the more you drive. Now here are some things you can do to prepare for when you see a potentially hazardous situation ahead.
• Cover the brake – this means hovering your foot over the brake pedal when you think you may have to use it. This is the first thing you should do when you see potential danger ahead. It allows you to put on the brake more quickly and with control than if your foot is still on the gas.
• Pay attention at intersections – intersections require more attention. When approaching a light, you have to make a judgment call if it turns yellow – "Do I have time to stop safely or can I make it through the light?" Stop if you have enough space to gradually come to a stop, especially if there is a driver close behind you. It's also important to make safe left turns. Pay attention to the flow of traffic, and turn only when you know you have enough time to clear traffic. Four way stops can also be tricky, and even older drivers can forget the rules. Cars go in order they stopped, so the first car to stop at the intersection is the first to go. Note – the car BEHIND that car does NOT go next – they have to pull up to the stop sign, stop, and then go when it's their turn.
• Avoiding distractions – if you are distracted, you are more likely to miss spotting a potential danger, and therefore you have less of a chance to avoid it properly. All your focus should be on the road, so safe things like adjusting the radio, CD player, or GPS for when you are stopped at a stop light. Taking your eyes off the road for even a second, can mean danger.
Vehicle Handling Managing your car's balance and speed are two important aspects of vehicle handling. An important thing to remember is that "smooth is good." Quick turns, stops, and accelerations all limit your ability to control your vehicle. Every maneuver your car makes should be gradual and smooth. Avoid jerky movements.
Of course, there will be times when you must react quickly and it's difficult to stay smooth. For instance, if an animal runs out in front of you, you will likely have to brake quickly or swerve to miss it. However, if you are practicing awareness, you will be more likely to react in a safe manner.
No matter how smoothly you are driving, if you are driving at unsafe speeds, you risk losing control of the vehicle. This is especially important in bad weather conditions, such as rain, snow, or ice.
Space Management Maintaining a proper distance between you and the vehicles around you is crucial to safe driving. Make sure you have plenty of space ahead of you, behind you, and if you need to merge into another lane, next to you.
• Merging - When merging in traffic, it's important to let other drivers know what you are doing. Put on your turn signal before you start to merge, and if you have to slow down, tap your brake first to let the car behind you know you are slowing down. Also, if a car is following you too closely, tapping on your brake can signal to that driver that you would like some space.
• Be considerate - Part of space management is respecting other drivers. Give them the space THEY need, as well as the space YOU need to feel safe. Swiftly weaving through traffic, tailgating, and driving very slowly are all unsafe driving practices.
• Horn use - Use your horn only to alert other drivers that you are there. For instance, if a driver in the lane next to you starts to merge into your lane, and will hit you in the process. This will let the driver know you are there and they are about to hit you. Don’t use your horn simply to vent your frustration to another driver.
• Maintain proper distance – so how much space should you keep between you and the car in front for safe driving? The faster you are going, the more space you need. If you are going 30mph, you should stay 132 feet behind; at 45mph, 198 feet; at 60mph, 264 feet; at 70mph, 308 feet.
Speed Management While following the speed limit is a good way of maintaining proper speed, it is not the best in every case. Bad weather conditions, for instance, will cause you to want to drive more slowly. If you feel nervous or that you are losing traction, slow down, even if the other drivers on the road are whizzing past you.
Another instance where you'll want to drive more slowly is when you're approaching the top of a hill, and can't see what lies beyond. It's a good idea to slow down, so that if there happens to be something in the road you can avoid it more easily.
Something that might be difficult to new drivers is velocitization – this is where you are driving at a fast speed, say 70mph, and then drop back to a slower speed, like 50mph. After going 70, 50 now feels really slow, so it might be temping to creep back up to a faster speed. This is where awareness once again comes into play. Keep an eye on your speed to make sure this doesn't happen.
Teaching your teen the above lessons is important, but it's only a start. For a more comprehensive explanation of safe driving practices, visit this guide from Ford. Once you've registered, there is an interactive driving guide that your teen can use, that is both informative, and fun!
AUTHOR BIO Rob Gillingham is the President and owner of Bob Gillingham Ford, located in Parma, Ohio, which sells a variety of new Ford cars and trucks, preowned and Ford classic vehicles.
Source: Amazines.com