Teach Your Teen To Avoid These Common Amateur Driving Mistakes
When your teen is enrolled in driving school, he or she may give you a report each day on what is being learned in the classroom. As the first in-car driving lesson approaches, your teen may be feeling a combination of excitement and nervousness, but you can help the situation by teaching him or her about some common mistakes to avoid. Many first-time drivers make a handful of mistakes that the driving school instructor will correct; if your child doesn't make these errors, it will cast a favorable light on him or her and hopefully lead to the child passing the course with flying colors. Here are some mistakes to talk about with your young driver.
Moving Past Hazards Too Quickly
When driving in the city, your teenager will encounter all sorts of potential hazards that he or she will need to watch for — and the instructor will also be watching to see how the teen reacts. Passing a cyclist who is hogging the road, driving past a parked motorist who is getting in or out of a vehicle and other such hazards should be negotiated carefully. Teach your young driver to slow down when approaching these scenes and move slowly past them, given their unpredictable nature.
Failing To Maintain The Speed Limit
Although you may worry about your teenager speeding once he or she has a license, this probably won't be a concern during the in-car portion of driving school. Rather, many young drivers actually travel below the speed limit, which can be dangerous in its own right. Remind your teenager of the importance of maintaining the speed limit — and of constantly looking for signs to know the limit in any given area. Your teen should also know the importance of getting up to speed quickly — albeit not in a careless manner — upon merging or turning onto a road with a higher speed limit.
Managing Turn Signals
With so much to pay attention to when behind the wheel, it's easy for a new driver to overlook the proper use of his or her turn signals. Even though your teen will have learned about using these signals in class, impress upon him or her the importance of always using a signal when turning or changing lanes — and then quickly turning it off if it hasn't already turned off automatically. Being on top of this subject will quickly show the instructor that your young driver is ahead of his or her peers.
