Putting your teenagers behind the wheel

What insurance companies and the academics agree on is that experience is what new drivers need to avoid accidents. The Traffic Injury Research Foundation recommends that drivers should have at least of 50 hours of supervised driving, and at least 10 hours of night driving. That means a lot of time supervising your teen on the road.


Many Canadian provinces are addressing the need for on-the-road experience by instituting a graduated driver’s licensing program. New drivers must go through several stages before they’re fully licensed. Drivers start out as learners and then move on to an intermediate level where they are subject to restrictions such as displaying a new driver “N” on the vehicle and a limit on the number of passengers. After 18 months to two years, the driver is no longer subject to special restrictions.

The following tips may help you keep your cool while you coach your teen through those first few hours on the road:

• Before you head out, go over a pre-driving checklist. Check out this example from the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia.
• Build on skills. For the first few outings, find an empty parking lot and practice driving in straight lines, making simple turns and maintain a steady speed. The teen will also become familiar with the particular features of your car - turn signals, wipers, headlights, and of course the gas and brake pedals. Gradually introduce more complex driving experiences.
• Set a plan: discuss the route you’ll take and the skills you plan to practice.
• Point out the things that teen is doing well.
• Stay calm. Make an agreement in advance that if anything happens that rattles you or your teen, they will pull over when it’s safe, so you can both have a breather.
• After each session, have a short debriefing. Review what the teen did well and help them come up with ways they could have handled differently some of the situations that came up.

The very first step in helping your teen develop good driving habits starts the day you first strap them into their infant car seat. Parents need to model good driving while their little ones are in the car. Not only does that mean sticking to the rules of the road, but it also means being a defensive and courteous driver. It may seem that they’re glued to their electronic games while you cruise from point A to point B, but over time they’ll notice how Mom and Dad navigate through traffic and that example will set a pattern for their future driving habits.