It’s the summer months, which means that your teenager is home from school and has much more time to start learning and understand how to drive before the big test. If you’ll be working on teaching your teenager how to drive this summer, here are some helpful reminders and tips to communicate in order to promote safe and legal driving.
If your teenager has a driver’s learner’s permit, the best place to begin your teaching is in a parking lot that is vacant or not too busy. Here, you can practice basic stop and go methods and parking techniques. This is always less stressful for a beginning drive since there isn’t much traffic around.
Teach your teenager about the SMOG method. This is a great way to teach your teen how to safely switch lanes while on the road. S - signal the direction you wish to turn, M - check rear view and side mirrors for other vehicles, O - be sure to look over your shoulder to check your blind spots, and G - go when all the other steps are completed.
Some other helpful tips for safe driving include keep active eyes on the road at all times and to try to limit distractions. Teens tend to ride with other teens in the car, so teaching your child how to minimize discussions in the car while driving is a good tip. Be sure to also reiterate that they should never text or talk on the phone while driving.
We hope these tips will be helpful when it comes to teaching your teen how to drive safe on the road.