Getting Enough Practice
Learning to drive can be an important time in a teen’s life, but it is also the most dangerous thing most teens will ever do. In fact, car crashes are the leading cause of death for teenagers in North Carolina.
Why are teens involved in so many crashes? One of the biggest reasons is simply that they’re inexperienced. Learning something new takes time, especially when it’s as complex and dangerous as driving. Driver’s Ed teaches your teen the basic rules of the road but doesn’t give your teen much time to actually practice controlling their car in the real world.
As a parent, you can help by making sure your teen gets lots of driving practice in a variety of different settings and conditions.
How Much Practice Does My Teen Need?
North Carolina has a Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) process in place to encourage teen drivers to get lots of practice on their way to earning their license. The Level 1 Limited Learner Permit period is an opportunity for you to help your teen become a safe driver.
In this period, teens must get at least 60 hours of supervised driving practice during a minimum of 9 months, which allows them to get driving practice across several seasons and during different weather and lighting conditions.
That may sound like a lot, but over the course of a 9 month learner period that’s barely two hours of practice a week. More practice is always better, so think of the legal requirement as a starting point.
Focus on Variety
Learning a new skill takes time and practice across lots of different situations. Getting a lot of variety helps young drivers learn:
- Situational awareness in different conditions
- To expect the unexpected
- How to respond to emergency situations
- How to safely drive at night and in different weather conditions
- How to handle construction zones and other tricky scenarios
Driving to and from the same places like to school, sports, and church gives your teen good practice with the basics, but getting more variety is important to help your teen develop the range of skills they need to be a safe driver.
Our Driving Skills Tracking Tool can help guide you through the variety of practice to focus on.