There are few experiences more nerve-wracking than letting an anxious teenager get behind the wheel for the first time. But there are some common training strategies that help ensure that teens can learn to drive safely and at their own pace:
- Be ready to take control of the steering wheel in case a teen driver gets uncomfortable or distracted.
- Make sure that a teen driver’s first time behind the wheel is in a controlled setting with the vehicle turned off. This will let you point out important aspects of vehicle, such as the controls for wipers, lights and the emergency brake.
- Drive you and your teen drive to an open and unpopulated area for practice. This allows the teen to learn in an area that’s free from hazards and other traffic..
- Start by letting teens drive along frontage roads, and then gradually move to areas with more traffic as they get comfortable.
