Tag: driving tips

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!