With a number of teenage drivers dying in vehicle crashes on our roads because of speeding, drinking or driver inexperience, here are more opinions and suggestions on how best to train our youth.
Dear Dr. Gridlock:
I read your recent column about driver training lessons that parents could teach their teens before letting them drive solo. Your suggestions were terrific, and I want to share them with my 19-year-old son to improve his skills.
I doubt that he (or many other teens and adults) could now safely negotiate all the driving exercises you described.
Thanks for advice that surely will help save someone's life.
Karen Deneroff
Oakton
I used these lessons while training my daughters. Parents, you can certainly amend this list with your own ideas. The key is to practice until you believe your child is ready to drive on his or her own.
• Practice merges, proper use of turn signals, staying in the proper lane when turning at an intersection, and stopping at a green light if there is not enough room on the other side of the intersection.
• Practice how to pass a slow-moving vehicle on a two-lane road with oncoming traffic, proper speeds, and entering and driving on an interstate highway.
• Teach what to do when someone is tailgating you, proper use of the left lane (for passing only), what to do at a toll booth and the importance of seat belts.
• Teach how to parallel park, pick out traffic signals in city driving and recognize one-way streets.
• I suspect more fatal teen crashes are caused by drifting off a road, and then overcorrecting and flipping the vehicle, than anything else. Teaching your child how to re-enter a roadway safely is something that should be practiced again and again, starting at slow speeds.
• Practice what to do when someone honks at you or an animal jumps in front of the vehicle. Teach how to use interior controls, especially front and rear defrosters, and the importance of clearing snow and ice off a vehicle before driving.
• Practice driving at night and on snowy, icy and wet roads. Teach how to recognize a flooded road, and what to do.
• Practice using emergency equipment, such as flares and reflective devices, and fixing a flat tire. Teach the importance of getting well off the road in a disabled vehicle and having the phone number of an auto club.
• I recommend at least 1,000 miles of practice on local roads and another 1,000 on interstate highways. More is better. Parents should keep charge of the car keys of newly licensed drivers, especially because parents are most likely providing the vehicle.
Most important, the conclusion that a child is ready for a driver's license is up to the parent to make, not the child.
I welcome additional ideas for this checklist.
Dear Dr. Gridlock:
