Tag: driver education

You’ve been honked at…

I was driving with Stuart doing exactly the speed limit in our drivers ed car with the big yellow sign on the roof, when someone behind us felt the need to honk at us. We were driving completely correctly, and honestly the speed limit is there for everyone, not just us. So, we have officially decided it is kind of a badge of honor to be honked at in the drivers ed car, as crazy as that sounds. We refuse to be made to feel like we are doing something wrong by driving correctly. So, Autumn, my class doodler took up the task of making me some amazing angry goose drawings that I had made into stickers. So now, if we get honked at for no apparent reason, my student gets a goose sticker on their folder. Gabe got the first one today for not pulling up to block an intersection even though the light was green. He stayed behind the barrier line, which was the correct thing to do, much to the dismay of the driver behind us. He got the first sticker!

Observation Hours

I don’t know about everywhere, but here in my state we require all of our students to spend six hours sitting in the back seat of the driver’s ed car observing each other.  I’ve had a lot of inquiries regarding why this is.  Kids say, “I’ve spent the last sixteen years sitting in the back seat of cars watching other people drive.  Why do I have to sit in the backseat of yours?”  My quick answer has always been, “I don’t know.  The state makes and us, and so we shall.”  

It’s part of what we call a graduated licensing program, which has as many steps as possible between you being a non-driver, to a fully privileged licensed driver.  The idea is that the more exposure you get to instruction, the more you can learn.  Parents have said to me, “I’m not sure I feel safe having my kid in the car with a new driver.”  Well, I’m right here to keep us safe, and if I can do it for your kid when it’s their turn behind the wheel, hopefully I can do it for all of the kids.  It’s truly in my best interest to keep the drivers ed car in one piece as well as all of my students and myself for that matter.  I’m going to to do my best.  

It’s kind of a sneaky good idea though.  In this age of screens in the back of every mom-van, phones in the hand of every kiddo starting younger and younger, having students actually look up and pay attention is really necessary.  So many students are scared silly that they will not know how to get anywhere because they have never watched their parents drive.  They are really shocked when I tell them that in our state until you turn 18, you cannot use GPS either unless it’s programmed into your actual car.  No use of hand held devices AT ALL.  

Having never watched people drive, they have less of a sense of right-of-way, and the common courtesies of driving.  All that seems to penetrate that screen coma are the curses, honks, and feeling of road rage that permeates the car when parents are stressed and in a hurry.  That’s what they are taking away, not the thank-you waves, careful inching out to see at a difficult intersection, or thoughtful blinker usage.  Those things are quiet and so they don’t notice them.  

Observation hours let them see what they did wrong on that same route, or what they can feel good about.  It helps them see that we all make the same mistakes, and that we are all in this together.  If something crazy happens, there is more than one student to learn from that one incident.  We also have a lot of fun.  Having some kids in the car means we can make new friends, have meaningful conversations, inside jokes, and positive encouragement.  

Observation activities give direction to the hours, so there is meaningful learning going on.  The activities should be simple so that kids who get car-sick or have night driving observation hours don’t have to read or write very much.  It’s a fight sometimes to keep the observing kids engaged and not on their phones, doing other homework, or falling asleep.  I try to have them be part of the experience as much as possible.  Some of my students just muddle through them and cannot wait to get them over with.  Some of my students would rather be in my car than some other places they might be stuck or have friends in the class and wind up doing several more than the allotted 6.  Sometimes they just come along hoping we can squeeze in a drive-through during a driving hour, (which I firmly believe is a driving skill that is intimidating to new drivers and so I will do this if the driver wants to and it fits with time and our lesson plan.)  

All in all, I’ve become more of a fan of the observation hours.  I think parents should give thought to having kids be more and more engaged any time they are not the driver.  Insist they put down the screens and observe.  I know, then you have think about what you are modeling for them, but I hope you’re doing that anyways.  

I hope you can take some time to really observe the world around you.  Make fun of people driving badly, have a street sign BINGO game, play road trip games.  Stop and smell the exhaust around us, and admire the pretty lights.  Be safe!  

Drunken Tricycle Man

You heard me right, Drunken Tricycle Man.  I’m sure he has a real name and a whole story to his life that I don’t know, but since I don’t know it, he remains Drunken Tricycle Man.  Any time you drive the same streets day in and day out, you are likely to see some of the same people.  There is one gentleman who I see often riding what I can only refer to as a grown-up tricycle.  It has two wheels in the back, and one up front like those Big Wheels some of us who are old enough (ehem,) used to ride when we were little.  He has a flag off of the back so he can be seen, and always wears a hat.  There’s a wide basket for anything he might need to carry.  It is a sturdy thing that looks like it would be easy to balance, unlike traditional bikes, which might come in handy if you were, say,  a little inebriated.

The drivers ed car was stopped at a red light one day, minding its own business, when out of the blue, Drunken Tricycle Man came barreling out from two buildings and careened right into the side of the luckily, stopped, drivers ed car!  With quite a bang, he hit hard enough that he fell over, toppling the trike on it’s side.  You can imagine, this is pretty startling if you are a new driver and a teacher just hanging out waiting for a light to change.

Drunken Tricycle Man sat there for a minute in a daze, stood up and shook himself off.  The teacher could not really open the door without hitting him or the trike, so as he staggered his way back onto his seat, he just teetered off before she could even get out.  He rode off into the sunset, and when they could safely pull over to check on things, there was a big dent in the side of the passenger door, which had to be repaired.

The car was fine after minor repairs, and presumably Drunken Tricycle Man was also fine since he is still seen often riding his tricycle around town.  You never know what will happen on a fine day on Main Street.