Why is variety so important?
Think about a time when you or your child learned a skill like playing a sport or learning a musical instrument. Remember what getting good involved?
Lots of practice over lots of time
A week of hard practice wouldn’t make you an expert.
Practice lots of skills
Only practicing free throws wouldn’t help your game skills much, and only practicing defense wouldn’t help your 3-point game!
Guidance from an instructor
Getting good requires coaching from an instructor or coach, not just self-teaching
Just like a sport or instrument, learning to drive takes time, variety, and guidance. That’s what the supervised practice driving period is all about! As a parent, you can help by making sure your teen gets lots of driving practice in a variety of different conditions.
Here are some situations to consider including in your practice over the coming months, when your teen is ready:
Different types of roads
When starting off, consider letting your teen drive only on slow streets without many other cars or pedestrians. When you’re first learning to control a car it can easily be overwhelming to deal with other road users. As your teen gets more experienced, let them drive on more challenging streets when you feel like they’re ready.
Situation awareness
It’s critical for drivers to be able to anticipate risks before they happen. Help your teen learn to scan the environment to watch for anything that could become a driving hazard, like pedestrians and bicyclists, cars coming out of driveways and side streets, and children playing by the side of the road.
Bad weather
Bad weather poses lots of challenges to drivers, especially teens just learning. Help your teen understand that they need to slow down and drive extra carefully in bad weather because they can’t see as far, and that the car can lose traction and slip in wet, snowy, and icy weather. One tip to driving in slippery conditions is to pretend you have an egg between your foot and the pedals – use slow and gentle pedal movements!
Night driving
Night driving is risky for everyone, and it’s important for teen drivers to understand that they can’t see pedestrians and animals as far ahead as they think they can. Teach them to drive more slowly, use their bright beams when possible, and be extra cautious at night! They should also be aware other drivers might be more likely to be impaired at night.
Parking lots
Parking lots can seem easy to experienced drivers, but teens can benefit from extra practice backing into traffic when there are lots of cars and pedestrians around.
Construction zones
Construction zones take special skill and care to manage because of the combination of vulnerable workers, distracting machinery and traffic, and possibly shifting traffic patterns. Help your teen understand they need to slow down and be extra careful in construction zones, and to keep their eye out for workers!
Interacting with emergency vehicles
It’s important for teens to understand the importance of slowing down and pulling over for emergency vehicles with sirens, when possible, and moving a lane over for stopped police cars. This is worth talking about ahead of time so they’re not trying to understand your instructions when stressed out by lights and sirens.
Avoiding distracted & drowsy driving
Paying attention during driving is the most important thing we can do. Taking your eyes off the road for even a few seconds, or fighting sleep, makes you way more likely to crash! Practice skills like putting phones in the glovebox, and make sure you model attentive driving behavior when you drive.