ABC's of Drivers Education
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Teaching Your Son or Daughter How to Drive
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Teaching Your Son or Daughter How to Drive

These are tips and suggestions to teach or help your driver. They are not in any particular order, but necessary to be a safe and more complete driver. When taking your son or daughter out driving have a set route you’re going to take so there are no surprises and give them plenty of notice when they are supposed to turn, park or make a driving manuever. It is also great for them to practice driving when you are going to the store or gas station.

  • The number one idea we tell our new drivers is to remember they are not the only drivers on the road, they need to know what’s going on all around them. They must know what’s going on in all of their zones (they learned this in class) and keep zones open in case you need to use them
  • Make sure they are comfortable in the car and know where all the accessories are including lights, air, heat/defroster, flashers, horn, parking brake and windshield wiper
  • When accelerating stress to them to feather the accelerator (not step on it) We tell them that they don’t need to go from 0 to 45 in 3 seconds. Feathering the accelerator will gradually get them up to speed
  • When stopping for a sign or lights tell the driver to squeeze the brake (again, not step on it unless they need to do an emergency stop). Tell them when they know they’re going to stop (like at a stop sign), let their foot off the gas and let the car naturally slow down and then squeeze the brake as they get closer to the stop. This should prevent having to stop too quickly and save on the brakes
  • When stopping they must stop behind the stop line, if there’s no stop line they must stop behind the crosswalk and if no crosswalk they must stop so the front fender is even with the stop sign post
  • When required to stop they must come to a complete stop
  • When changing lanes the students should signal, check their mirrors, look over their shoulder in their blind spot (make it a quick glance, don’t look back too long in case something happens in front of you), and if it’s clear go
  • Check all of your zones left, right, rear, and ahead-always keep your eyes moving, don’t only focus straight ahead
  • When parking, take your time-don’t hurry-swing out as far as you can so the driver can pull into the spot as straight as possible
  • When turning get on the right hand side of the lane if turning right and get on the left hand side of the lane you’re turning from if turning left
  • When turning right, slow to about 5 to 10 mph and start the turn when the front bumper is even with the curb line, then accelerate half way through the turn.
  • When making a left turn slow to 5 to 10 mph and start the turn when the front of the vehicle reaches the center of the intersection and accelerate half way through the turn
  • When turning or going through an intersection make sure it’s clear of traffic and pedestrians by looking LEFT-RIGHT-LEFT
  • Know the speed limits of the area you are in. Going up a hill you may need to give it a little more gas and going down a hill you may need to let off the gas or ride the brake a little to keep within the speed limit
  • Work on keeping speeds consistent, no cruise control
  • When backing straight look over your right shoulder until the car comes to a complete stop
  • When entering a highway or freeway turn on the blinker right away, then start accelerating so you can join traffic, start looking over the left shoulder for an opening. The driver may have to speed up or slow down to fit into the traffic
  • When driving and you need to move the vehicle a little bit in the lane make small adjustments
  • Keep at least a 3 second following distance from the car ahead of you, lengthen the following distance if the weather is bad
  • Drive at least 3 feet away from parked cars in case a door opens
  • If you turn onto a one-way, you want to turn into the closest possible lane. You can tell if a street is a one way if there’s a sign, the lines are painted white or cars are parked in the same directions on both sides of the street
  • Know where they are driving to ahead of time so they concentrate on driving instead of reading street signs
  • Always use blinker when changing directions
  • Having two hands on the steering wheel in either the 2-10 position or the 4-8 position and using the push pull or hand over hand steering and return the wheel after turning by either hand over hand or push pull
  • When driving on a two way road you want to drive as far right in the lane as you can to create more space in between you and the oncoming traffic
  • Pedestrians always get the right of way and always look out for them
  • At 2 way intersections where the driver doesn’t have to stop, the driver should take their foot off the gas and put it over the brake and look left-right-left while going through the intersection making sure the cars have stopped and if it’s clear accelerate through
  • When leaving a parking spot make sure to signal and look over the shoulder for traffic and be sure you clear the cars next to you before turning the wheel
  • When yielding to traffic make sure it’s clear to pull into traffic