Tag: new

My Turn

It’s finally my turn. After all of these years of being a drivers ed teacher and empathizing with parents, my kiddo is finally 15 1/2, old enough to start legally practice driving out on the roads. We had the day marked on the calendar for about a year. We had read the driving manual and answered the questions. We had a route all planned. We had gone through the basics of vehicle control in a parking lot, and spent time figuring out what all the buttons and levers do in the car. We had the log sheet printed out, and birth certificate in the car.

After years of driving bikes, golf carts, and hearing all of my advice, I felt pretty sure she would be ready to do this. We started slow, went around the parking lot a few times to get the feel for things, and then, finally, out on the road! She was nervous, but calm. Me too.

So everyone always says to me, “But you have a brake!” As with all my students, I am glad it’s there with my kiddo, but I’m not terribly inclined to use it unless I absolutely have to. I want her to use her judgement, and to know I trust her even as I’m there to back her up. She’s doing so well so far! It’s been about two weeks now, and we’ve logged about 11 hours so far. Slow, steady progress from back roads to busier roads, traffic lights and just now doing a few lane changes. Highway will be the next big hurdle. She’s gotten pretty good with forward parking too, which makes it easier to do driving practice when she can park when we get places. Haven’t tried pulling into the garage yet. We’ll work our way up to that one also. I need to come up with a good strategy to explain it first.

So, finally parents, I’m one of you. It’s a fine line between wanting to give too much advice and wanting to let her figure it out. Thankfully she’s also got a good sense of direction, so I’m trying to not tell her which way to go all the time, which is hard for me. I asked her to please forgive me if I did it anyways, since that’s usually my job, and that’s it’s not personal. She’s thankfully being patient with me too. Hang in there everyone! We can do this. Having good communication helps, and having clear, realistic expectations, and patience all around seem to be making it better in our house. Let me know if you have any tips for me or each other for making this transition easier. Thanks!

Top 3 Beginner Driver Mistakes

 Easy Fixes for the Top 3 Beginner Driver Mistakes

 

  1. 10 and 2

    Yeah, we don’t do that anymore.  With the advent of airbags, having your hands in front of the steering wheel becomes very dangerous.  In the event of an accident involving the airbag, you would punch yourself in the face breaking your nose and wrist.  The hand-over-hand steering parents learned is a thing of the past. Now, we use the pull-push method. Hands should be at the 9 and 3 positions if the wheel were a clock.  Hands will never go above that position or be in the top half of the imaginary clock at all. Instead of using one hand to push the wheel up and over the top of the wheel, the opposite hand will pull down to the imaginary 6 o’clock position, to be met with the other hand which will pull the rest of the way back up to the original 9 or 3, and the first hand also returns to it’s original position.  Repeat as necessary to navigate the turn. This is a much smaller, more controlled motion. With practice you can do this just as quickly and smoothly as the old way parents learned. Be open minded to it, and don’t over-think. Video link. (The video would have you position your hands higher than recommended, but the motion is correct.)

 

  1.    Difficulty making smooth starts and stops

Video games and golf cart driving have convinced teenagers that they should really step hard on the pedal to make a car move.  Instead, they should first try just taking a foot off the pedal to see how much it will move without the gas at all, and then bring it back to a smooth stop by keeping their right heel on the floor and squeezing gently with their toes.  Yes, we only drive with one foot, the right foot, (unless you are among the few, the brave, to try driving a standard transmission car!) Once they can do this smoothly, try a gentle acceleration using that same method of squeezing with the toes to get a feel for how much pressure to put on the pedal to make the car respond.  This is called threshold braking (works for the gas pedal too,) and it will also help minimize the differences between one car and another. Each car has a different feel, and it takes a minute to adjust. A good driver is a smooth driver.

 

  1. Driving too close to the right side of the road

When you are new to driving it feels like there is not enough room for everyone on the road, and oncoming traffic looks scary.  It makes sense that new drivers will hug the right side of the road. Time and experience will teach them that there really is enough space for everyone, and other cars do not want to hit you either.  We also, as drivers tend to drift where we are looking. Look up and out as far down the road as you can see, and it will be much easier to stay in your lane. Parents – remember too that you are not used to sitting in the passenger seat, and sometimes you drive just as close to the mailboxes without realizing it.  Perspective is everything! Hang in there and this one will clear up with just a little practice. Video link.