Tag: safe driving

504/IEP

504/IEP

If your child has a 504 or IEP, please disclose that to your driver’s ed teacher.  Driver education is the black sheep of the education system.  We do not have access to your student’s record, since we do not work for the school district.  We are going out there on the road basically blind to the learning style of your kiddo unless you clue us in.  

We want to be supportive, and are big fans of individual learning, but we do not have a crystal ball.  I personally ask for information regarding learning style on my permission slip. I ask again when I ask parents to send an email on the first day to let me know about their kiddo.  I am very clear that I am open to any kind of communication at any time, often hanging out chatting with parents in the parking lot before/after driving hours.  I send progress report emails, and respond frequently to texts.  I let everyone know I also am certified as a school counselor with a background in psychology and teaching.  I do not know how to be more clear that I want to know how to support your student.  

In spite of all of this I still get emails the night before the final exam finally disclosing IEP’s or 504 plans, and asking for help.  I want to help, I really do.  How can I be of proper help the night before the final exam?  If you’re reading this, thinking, “Oh boy, she’s writing about me!”  You’re not the only one.  This has happened on multiple occasions, which is why I’m writing this.  Please don’t wait until the night before the final exam.  If you had let us know earlier, I could have talked to your student, and come up with a plan that suited everyone, or encouraged them through the process better.  I could have quizzed them more in the car as we drove around, or talked about effective studying styles that suit their individual learning style.  Without the knowledge that there is an issue, I cannot do much at the eleventh hour, which makes me about as sad and frustrated as the student must have been struggling through the whole class without the proper support.  

Some traditional accommodations cannot be honored in the driver education class.  We, (driver’s ed teachers,)  cannot allow extra time for a test, as the DMV will not. Also, traffic will not allow you extra time to process what is going on out on the road.  The only accommodation the DMV will make in our state is to do the final exam orally, so we can try to accommodate that option for you. But still, if we know that your kiddo has a hard time with a certain something, we can try to help.  Please, please let us know.  We are not being nosy, we will not gossip about them, and we have no judgment.  We only want to help.  

Sincerely, Driver’s Ed Teachers Everywhere. 

Please Brush the Snow Off Your Car

It is so important to completely brush the snow and ice off of your car. I know it’s cold, and you don’t want to, and you’re running late. It is not enough to just clear off a little 6 inch circle in front of your face and say, “Sweet, good to go.”

Maybe start the car first?

Visibility is key. You need to be able to use your mirrors, do a proper head check, and use your peripheral vision. You need to clean off all of your windows. It is also illegal to drive with your license plate obscured, and you can get pulled over for that.

Get the car started, turn on the defroster, (often this works best of you also turn on your air conditioner even with hot air to help remove the moisture from the vehicle interior,) rear defroster, and the heater.

Give a good swipe to the snow and ice built up in front of those headlights and tail-lights too. Two inches of snow will make your headlights completely ineffective, and if people don’t see those brake lights you are asking to get rear-ended.

I know the worst seems to be getting up to the roof of those giant SUV’s and mom-vans. You HAVE to. Once your car warms up, the bottom layer of that snow will melt, and one quick stop at a stop sign will bring that whole blanket of snow down over your whole windshield, and likely your wipers will not be string enough to clear that quickly. The bigger issue is that all of that snow and ice will fly off and possibly hit the car behind you. Flying snow has been known to go right through the windshield of other vehicles, as happened in NH this winter.

https://www.wmur.com/article/worker-recovering-after-ice-flies-off-box-truck-smashes-through-windshield/26116653

“Jessica’s Law” requires drivers to remove all snow or ice from their vehicles prior to travel on New Hampshire roads. 

Failure to comply with this law is punishable under NH RSA 265:79-b (Negligent Driving) and subject to a penalty fine of $250.00-$500.00 for a first offense with increased penalties for subsequent offenses up to and including loss of license.https://www.lebanonnh.gov/1236/Jessicas-Law

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A mother’s love

A friend just posted a link to this blog and I have to share.

https://carriecariello.com/2019/01/07/it-could-be-my-son/?fbclid=IwAR1l9PPaAaXpbGBSk-7rK92yop1X38C_WMMeNO0Y3EHLGn4LdovQcP3GIsA

I’m moved to tears. As a mother, as a driver’s ed teacher, I cannot say how often I feel this exact same way about both my kiddo and each of my students.

The time of most danger is in the first year that new drivers have their licenses. It takes 5 years experience for a new driver to become average. I use that statistic a lot because it has such weight for me. Not five weeks, or months, five years. There is no way to get through those first five years other than to just get out there and keep driving. So we hold our breath as parents and teacher, and have faith. We trust that we have given them as much information as possible to help them make good choices with statistics, stories, movies, classroom instruction, and best practices demonstrated and tried. We trust that they have a good head on their shoulders to help them creative problem-solve. We trust they have quick reflexes that will help them. We trust that the pedestrians and drivers around them will make good choices that keep them out of harms way. We trust that they will have luck on their side and be able to learn from their mistakes, that are bound to happen, and make it through. Those of us who pray, pray.

Do everything you can to help them. Be a good role model, and show them how you can drive safely. Put the phone down, slow down, and don’t complain too much about people around you who make mistakes, it just makes them paranoid. Be a support, and point out what you are doing when, and why even before they can drive, so they can start to learn even before they have the stress of maneuvering a vehicle. Check up on them and let them know you are doing so. Hold them accountable for transgressions, so they understand the real consequences for mistakes.

Be kind, patient and courteous as a driver. Stay safe, and help these new drivers stay safe as well.

Can I do more than the required driving hours with you?

I recently encountered an inquiry for post-driver’s ed training for a new driver. The student had completed driver training (not with me,) and they and the parents felt that they were still nervous and could use some more help. Another parent responded that they had a similar issue with their own kiddo. This parent said that they had just done it. They had gone out on difficult weather, night and day conditions, and just kept driving, and driving, and driving. I could not have given better advice.

I have done this for some students, extra hours. But it’s expensive and I don’t have a lot of extra time beyond what I give to my regularly scheduled kiddos. The answer is always to just drive more. There is no substitute for experience. It takes a new driver 5 years of driving to get to be an average driver. Average! Who wants to be average, don’t we all like to think we are above average?

Every kid is different, and we do not all learn at the same rate. Driving is in incredibly complex task as it involves rules, spacial ability, reading social cues, hand-eye coordination, and quick problem solving. We do not all excel at all of these things.

Now, I know that for some parents who are super nervous, that can make things worse. Your nerves transfer to your new driver, which makes them more nervous, which makes things worse. None of us drive better when we are nervous. Try to either hide the nerves, or find someone calmer who can drive with your kiddo. As they calm down, and start to improve, you will be less scared, and in turn, so will they, and then they will drive better. It’s only a vicious cycle if you let it be. It can also be a positive cycle. Hang in there.

If you really need to ask for more help, please do so. There are times when you will really need more driving hours with a professional such as a kiddo with special needs. If there is a particular skill that your student is struggling with, please ask for help with that. Your driving instructor should be able to tell you exactly how they explain a particular skill set, so you can use those same words at home. Parents can often ride along for a driving hour to see how the instructor is explaining things, so you can duplicate their level of calm and clear communication.

It really is better to do this while your kiddo is still in class though, rather than wait until class is over. You should be practicing enough that you are seeing what your kiddo is struggling with, and asking for help when your teacher can intervene. There should be open communication and feedback from both sides.

This is all generic advice, having not spoken with the original parent, or met this student. I try very hard to take each student as I find them and help them the best way I know how. I’m glad that this parent is looking for more help rather than just saying, “My kid is 16, and everyone else is getting a license, and they took the class, so off you go into the world!” It’s important to know your kiddo and do everything you can to help them be safe and comfortable out there on the road. I still think the answer is likely, do more driving.

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!  

School’s back in session

Now that everyone around here is back to school, I thought it would be a good time to talk about school bus safety.  Nothing can be more important than keeping our kids safe.  Bus drivers have so much responsibility keeping to their routes, navigating traffic, staying on time, and keeping track of all of the many students on board.  Let’s not be one more thing they have to worry about.

We all know what a school bus looks like – big and yellow.  It says “School Bus,” in big letters on the side.  This should make it easy to notice.  If you see a bus, look for clues that it will soon be stopping.  The bus driver will put on yellow flashing lights to signify that the bus is slowing down and preparing to pick up or drop off students.  When they are ready to actually stop, the lights will switch to flashing red lights, and often a stop sign will swing out of the side of the bus and perhaps an arm will swing out from the front of the bus.  The side “Stop” sign is designed to be one more warning to oncoming drivers, and the arm on the front makes it so the kiddos have to walk out and around making it easier for the bus driver to see them ,  keeping them out of their blind spot.

If you see a bus with red lights flashing and you are behind them, you must stop 25 feet behind them.  That way the bus driver can still see you through their rear-view mirror.  If you stop too close, you are in another blind spot.  If you are on a multiple-lane road, all cars must still stop the same 25 feet back.

If you are coming towards a bus with red lights flashing, you must also stop the same 25 feet away from the bus to give students room to cross in front of the bus if need be.  This can be tricky since you may not know exactly where the bus will finally stop.  If you see them slowing down, you should too, and make every reasonable effort to stop.  If the bus winds up going past you, you may continue.  The only exception will be if you are on the opposite side of a divided road, such as a guard rail or median.  Then you do not need to stop.  Check out this video of a close call this week from an oncoming vehicle that did not stop.

You should stay stopped until the bus driver turns off the red flashing lights and starts to move or signals you to proceed.

A quick word for the students waiting for the bus.  Please stay back from the road while waiting.  Your bus driver knows your stop, and will look for you.  You do not want to be too close to oncoming cars who might get too close to you.  Be safe!

Now, everyone asks me why there are not seat belts in school buses, and I have to say, no one has ever given me a good reason on that one.  I’ll have to do some more research and get back to you.  Have a great school year, everyone!