Teach Your Teen Driving

Knowing how your teenager learns best can be a great help in communicating with them in an efficient way. Speaking to your teen in their "learning language" and save an enormous amount of time.

The Learning and Driving Contract

If you poke around online you can find various teen driving contracts, but none that I reviewed was complete enough in my view. Learning is a two-sided process. There is communication between the student and the teacher, and each role carries with it certain responsibilities. This contract lays out the expectations of both parent and teen. In order for your teen to buy into the learning process, they need to know you are committed as well, and that you also have responsibilities.. You may find some of the rules difficult to follow, but like your teen, you need to do your best!

As with any boundaries you set for your teen, there must be consequences if the boundaries are violated. The section of the contract that discusses consequences is critical. You must decide on the consequences ahead of time and stick to them. These consequences have not been filled in here since every teenager is different. You, as a parent, must put these consequences in writing. Both parents, even if not together, must be in agreement on what the consequences are, and both must follow through in the event the contract is violated. Your teen may test your limits and resolve (as teens tend to do) so it is extremely important you hold them to the contract. If you make exceptions, they will know the contract has no teeth. The safety of your son or daughter is at stake, so put aside your disagreements and get on the same page when it comes to driving and your teen.

Click on the file below to download the contact.

The Driving Session Evaluation (DSE)

The Driving Session Evaluation, or DSE, is completed at the end of a driving session or a series of driving sessions.. The DSE is a tool to help rate performance in four key categories of driving. The evaluation is quite easy to complete in terms of selecting a rating in any given category. The main purpose of the DSE is to assist you in giving verbal or written feedback to your teen. If your teen is auditory, you should emphasize your verbal feedback at the end of the session. If your teen is visual, it will be more beneficial to them if you also give feedback in writing, maybe even using sketches to illustrate the concepts you want to get across. This may take a few extra minutes, but it will be well worth your time to make sure your feedback stays with them.

Here are the sections of the DSE and the areas of evaluation.

• Judgment and Decision-Making

• Defensive Driving

• Social Driving

• Vehicle Control

The grades your teen can receive from you are:

• That stunk

• Almost there

• Nice Job!

• Wow!

The descriptions for each grade and category are explained on the form. All you need to do is decide on a rating for each area. This is easier said than done, because anytime an instructor is evaluating a physical skill there is a certain degree of personal judgment. An example of a completely objective test would be a written test with multiple choice questions that has gone through a validation process. Driving is a physical skill, so the best we can do is categorize certain traits all drivers must have, then list certain behaviors that are expected from a driver who has those traits.

Without getting any more technical, the DSE gives you a simple way to evaluate different areas of driving using simple ratings of, That Stunk, Almost There, Nice Job! and Wow! Under each of these categories there is a general description. We need to know, for example, what “Nice Job!” looks like, so there is a description to guide you.

To give a dramatic example of what a grade means, let’s evaluate a driving session that included the following scenario. Another driver pulled in front of your teen from a side street causing her to brake quickly. Your teen got angry, accelerated past the other driver, and showed them the middle finger. On the DSE under “Social Driving” you would rate her, “That Stunk.” Ok, that probably would not happen, so let’s evaluate a different session.

Your teen was driving at the speed limit when another driver drove across in front of them suddenly. Without enough time to brake to avoid a collision, she remembered the “steer to the rear” lesson (later in the program), and took quick evasive action to avoid a crash. On the DSE under, “Judgment and Decision Making” you would rate her, “Wow!”

The two above scenarios are easy to evaluate. Where you will have trouble is when they make some mistakes here and there. The difficulty lies with deciding if there are enough of these mistakes to take them from "Nice Job~" to an “Almost There” rating. Since every driving session is different, I cannot give you a specific answer. In these situations where you are not sure, ask your teen how they would rate themselves in the categories in question. This will prompt discussion about the things they encountered. Anytime discussion is going on and they are not rationalizing and making excuses, learning is occurring. For that session, it really is not critical which rating you decide on. The purpose of the DSE is to facilitate learning, not give a hard grade to each session. You will be able to look at trends over time as you look back on the forms. What you are looking for is overall improvement. They will start out with a lot of “Almost There” ratings, but these will diminish over time. Toward the end of the program they will rarely get a poor rating, which is your objective.

The bottom line on the DSE is to look at the big picture and always keep your long-term goals in mind. Don’t get hung up on any given category on any given day. Remember that the DSE is just a way for you to track overall progress and help you discuss various aspects of driving after each session. The DSE is a teaching tool, not a hammer! As mentioned in the teaching and coaching section, your teen may have perceived something that happened on the road differently from you. That is normal. Do not get into an argument about the specifics of a traffic situation, and who is right about it. Stick to the overall teaching point you want to make and not to specific events and who saw what.

Download the attached DSE form so you can have it with you during the driving sessions. You will see there is a section for notes. I use two-sided printing to make these easier to handle as one sheet of paper. Print as many as you need!

Emergency Braking Learning Activity

This exercise is designed to be done after your teen has had a little time behind the wheel - after the first drive around, but before you start driving on neighborhood street with traffic. Unlike the professional instructor you sent them to, you do not have a brake pedal on the passenger side of your car. For this reason you need a way to have your teen stop immediately without question in an emergency. The STOP STOP STOP exercise help you do that. It also teaches them about how to get your car stopped quickly and how to deal with ABS if you have it.

The Anti-lock Brake System, or ABS, will help you avoid skidding. The problem comes when drivers do not understand how or why ABS works. In order for you to steer the car, the front wheels must be rolling. If they are locked and skidding, you have no steering control. This is where ABS comes in. The ABS system will allow for maximum braking while not allowing your tires to skid. When the system detects that the tires are about to skid, it starts pulsing the brake pads hundreds of times per second as needed. Sometimes (actually quite often) drivers think something is wrong, and they take their foot off the brake. Obviously this is bad if you are trying to stop quickly. It is necessary for the driver to keep pressing the brake pedal as hard as possible and let the computer do its job. It may be noisy and feel strange, but it is doing what it is supposed to do.

It is important for your teen to experience this feeling before they get into an emergency stopping situation. You also need to have an agreed upon signal for them to stop in an emergency. You may see something dangerous that they do not, so there needs to be way for you to tell them to stop immediately with no questions asked. I recommend the words, "Stop. Stop. Stop." When your teen hears you say this, they need to get stopped quickly and completely without asking why. You should practice this in this learning activity.

Find an open area and have your teen get up to 30-35 MPH, then have them slam on the brakes as hard as possible. Keep the pedal pressed as hard as possible and let the ABS work. You may have to do this a few times because your teen may take their foot off the brake before they get stopped. The car should come to a full and complete, jerky stop.

There are some situations where your ABS will cause your vehicle to take longer to stop than one without ABS. This occurs when braking hard over bumps, gravel, or things like railroad tracks. We will not go into detail here about why this occurs, just know that it does. Keep your foot on the brake anyway and let the ABS do its work.

If your car does not have ABS, you should do what is called, “threshold braking.” This means you brake hard, but just short of the point where you lock the wheels. This will take some practice, so have your teen do this exercise until they can stop the car quickly. Simply brake as hard as possible, but do not let the wheels lock up. If they do, ease off the brake until you get the wheels rolling again. Be careful you do not let them skid over and over or you will be buying new tires!

Another reason for doing this exercise is so your teen can get a feel for how fast your car stops. This will be important in emergency situations, and when approaching stoplight controlled intersections and the light turns yellow. When a stoplight light turns yellow, you may be in that difficult area where your teen does not know whether to stop quickly or proceed through the intersection. It will help if they have a feel for how quickly your car stops.

Commentary Driving

Before we shift to the 2nd gear section of this program, you will do an exercise known as, Commentary Driving. This involves you verbalizing your thoughts as you drive. You may feel self-conscious and a little silly, but it is important for your teen to hear your thought process while you are driving. Things like clearing the intersection ahead, or checking your blind spots may not be readily apparent to a passenger. There are many decisions you make and actions you take as a driver that you take for granted. Your teen has picked up on some of the decisions you make as a driver, but they are not aware of everything. You may both get a laugh out of it, but don’t worry, your teen will have their time in the hot seat doing the commentary!

Imagine you are a sports announcer, and you are narrating a game – in this case your driving session. There is a video that will show you exactly what this looks and sounds like, but here is an example of what you would say out loud as you are driving so your teen can hear your thought process.

• I am driving at 35 and traffic is moderate. There is an intersection ahead and the light has been green for a while, so I know it will probably turn yellow before I get there. I will start slowing down now. I check my mirror to make sure nobody is tailgating me as I slow down. As I suspected, the light just turned yellow. Since I already started slowing down, I can make a smooth stop at the limit line. There are some pedestrians in the crosswalk about to cross in front of me, so I put the car in neutral just in case my foot slips of the brake while they are in front of me. I am putting the car back in drive since I am about to get a green light. I now have a green light, but I am looking right and left to make sure there are no red light runners coming from either direction before I proceed into the intersection.

The first time your teen gets behind the wheel, you will be doing transitional commentary driving. You are not a passenger - you are a co-driver. Provide commentary and coaching as they drive, but it must be done both calmly and patiently. They will eventually be doing commentary driving themselves, but for a while you will be providing that narration.

Basic Controls

There are only three things you can do to control a car: accelerate, brake and turn the steering wheel. We will get into the physics of that later, and how those simple things have a dramatic effect on the car at high speeds. For now, we are going to focus on maneuvering at low-speed, and how where you are looking determines in great part where your car goes.

Shuffle Steering

The proper hand position on the wheel is 8 o’clock and 4 o’clock. There are many opinions about this, but after training thousands of students in all types of driving situations we have found this is the best home hand position to use for optimum vehicle control, and to keep your hands clear of the airbag should it deploy. The steering method known as Shuffle Steering allows for optimal vehicle control while keeping your hands away from the airbag. The method involves shuffling your hands on the wheel to turn. It is difficult to explain this technique in writing, so Dave demonstrates in this Shuffle Steering video.

Braking

When your teen is new to driving, braking will be rough and jerky. Make sure they understand that you ease on the brake, then ease off the brake as you approach your stopping point. This will take some practice and they may give you whiplash a couple of times before they get the feel of it! Make sure you discuss emergency stopping. There may be a situation developing that you see, but your teenager doesn't. A professional instructor has a brake pedal on the passenger side of the car, but you don't. My teens know that when I say, "Stop, stop, stop," they know they are to stop as fast as possible with no questions asked and no hesitation. We even practice this before hitting the road. The emergency stopping video in this section illustrates how to go about teaching them this skill.

Throttle Control

Just as in braking, throttle control as they accelerate will be rough. They may be timid, or they may spin the tires. With your coaching, they will quickly learn how to be smooth.

Road and Lane Position

Many teens will have a tendency to be too far right in their lane, often riding the shoulder or the line of the lane next to them. This happens because they tend to want to have their body in the middle of the lane. Since they are sitting on the left side of the car, this puts the car too far right in the lane. Fortunately there is a simple fix for this problem.

Most cars have a pad for the left foot. Have your teen make sure their left foot is on this pad, which is all the way to the left side of the foot well. Tell your teen to place their foot over where they want the left wheels of the car to be in the lane. As mentioned previously, they should have a high visual horizon – look far down the road and not just a few yards in front of them. This, combined with keeping the left foot over where they want the left wheels will help keep them centered in the lane.

In the Car with your Teen: Your First Drive Together

Find an open area such as an empty parking lot at a community college or industrial area on the weekend. Let your teen drive the roadways, or up and down the lanes of the parking lot. Remember, they will be nervous and excited. The key is to keep the speed low and just let them get a feel for it. They have no speed reference yet, so you may have to suggest they slow down or speed up, depending on what they are doing. Make sure the area has very little traffic and very few obstructions.

I like to use a college campus on the weekend. There are parking lots and roadways with very low speed limits. Industrial areas on the weekend are also great places to go since there is very little traffic. Make sure you pay attention to the fatigue factor. I recommend two 30 minute session with at least a 15 minute break in between. Although your teen may want to drive more, it is best to limit your time during the first few sessions. Their first few times behind the wheel require a lot of concentration, and mistakes can happen as fatigue sets in.

In this section, you will see an actual first drive for my teenager. We were at a community college where we started in a parking lot before transitioning to campus roadways. I limited her time to 34 minutes in the parking lot, and about 30 minutes on the roadways. Most of my instruction was spent on vehicle controls and where to look - focal point. You will also notice I spoke in a calm, quiet voice, in order to keep her stress level low.

Emergency Stop

In this section of the program you will do an emergency stopping exercise at speed, but discuss emergency stopping with your teen before you even move the car for the first time with them behind the wheel. Within the first 10 minutes with them behind the wheel, practice an emergency stop. My teens know that if I say, "STOP STOP STOP," they immediately hit the brakes and get stopped with no questions asked. You will see an example of this in the video in this section of the course.

Neighborhood Streets

Before driving through a neighborhood with traffic and people, your teen should have had a little time driving through parking lot lanes or vacant industrial area streets with nobody around and nothing to crash into. Only transition to neighborhood streets when you think they are ready.

The first thing you will notice is that your teen may only be looking a few yards ahead, just concentrating on placement on the roadway. Remind them that that have to have a high visual horizon, looking far ahead for upcoming hazards, and turning their head to look through corners.

This is a good time to work on intersections since you will have easy ones to navigate in a residential area. You can cover stop sign-controlled intersections, both 4-way stops and ones with only one street having a stop sign.

Midrange Streets

Midrange streets will be regular city streets that have multiple lanes, stop signs, and stop lights. This environment may seem a bit overwhelming to your teenager at first, but over time they will get more comfortable. Your job as teacher is to make sure they do not get too comfortable and start taking things for granted. Start out by driving at times where there is only a little traffic. I found that early Sunday mornings works well.

No freeway driving yet. We will transition to freeways in later lessons.

Night Driving

Roughly half of accidents involving teenagers occur at night, but they do not spend half their time driving at night. The accident rate is higher because teens have little experience judging speed and distance in the dark. They have trouble judging both their own speed, and the speed and distance of approaching cars. Many states require a certain number of hours of supervised night driving for this reason. Just as they developed the skills of judging speeds and distances in the day, they will develop this skill at night over time. You just have to make sure you drive with them at night until they show they can handle these conditions.

This is an actual first drive where Dave takes his daughter, Sarah, out for the first time ever behind the wheel.

Corner Speeds and the ACDA

Many people fail to consider are sight lines around corners on winding roads. There are often speed signs for corners that are on yellow signs. These are advisory signs, and many people think you cannot be ticketed for exceeding these advisory speeds. Although officers rarely ticket you for exceeding an advisory speed, they can. The advisory speed is often set based on sight lines. For example, the speed limit is 65 mph and you come to a corner where the sight line is such that you can only see 275 feet ahead through the corner. You would not be able to perceive, react, and stop for a hazard that is that close at 65 mph. Engineers calculate what is known as the Assured Clear Distance Ahead (ACDA) and make a recommended speed. This means that 65 mph around such a corner is unsafe. Most states have a basic speed law that says you can only drive at a speed that is safe for conditions. A posted speed limit may be 65 mph, but if it is snowing, the visibility is low and the road is slippery, 65 mph is not safe and you can be ticketed for driving at a speed that is unsafe for conditions. If you are driving 65 mph through a corner where the ACDA is such that you have no hope of stopping in time for a hazard, you can be ticketed for driving at a speed that is unsafe for conditions. The police are not your only concern here! Your biggest concern should be the ability to stop in time!

Where you look determines where your car goes. If you don't want to hit it, don't look at it!

Focal Point, High Visual Horizon, and Perception

Your teen will probably have no concept of Focal Point, or where they should be specifically looking as they are driving. You will notice that as they turn a corner, they do not turn their head and look through the corner. They will have a tendency to look over the hood at whatever is several feet in front of them. This will put them out of position as they make turns, and they will not see hazards around the corner until it is right in front of them. Get them looking through corners as they turn. With their first few times behind the wheel you will need to work on getting their vision high, meaning down the road and not 20 feet in front of them. You will notice in the video about your first drive around that I spend a good deal of time working on focal point. I have to tell my daughter over and over to turn her head, look through corners, and keep her vision up.

Where you look at any given moment in time is where your vehicle will go, whether you want it to or not. Subconsciously, your hands will steer you right toward where you are looking. This means that if you don’t want to hit it, don’t look at it! If a hazard suddenly appears look for escape routes, places that are clear where you can go to avoid a collision.

Your hands will subconsciously steer toward what your Focal Point. This makes it critical to have what I call “Focal Point Discipline.” For example, if a car pulls out in front of you from a side street you must resist the urge to look at that car. If you do, you will likely steer right into a collision with it. Look to a clear area while applying the brakes – do not look at the car you don’t want to hit! In this situation use a technique called, “Steer to the Rear.” Look to an area behind the car, or where they just came from and steer to the rear of the hazard. There is a video in this section that illustrates the concept of Steer to the Rear.

During the normal course of driving, you are scanning ahead and around you in order to safely move through traffic. When doing this, you should be looking far ahead, about 12 to 15 seconds ahead at your current speed. On the freeway, you will look even farther ahead – 30 second or more. This is known as having a High Visual Horizon.

Perception

Your brain may not register what your eyes see. If you are not specifically looking for something, you may not see it. If you or someone you know has been in an accident, you may have heard them say that they never saw the other car, or that the other person, “Came out of nowhere.” This happens because you will often not see what you don’t expect to see. When entering traffic, turning, or doing anything else in a place where conflicts other motorists can occur expect to see specific things and you will be more likely to see them. Use the acronym MPC, for Motorcycle, People, Cars and go through that mental checklist in each situation. Motorcycles present a special hazard because we don’t see them as often as cars, so we don’t expect to see them. This is why drivers often turn in front of motorcycles – they are looking, but they don’t see.

Here is an example of the phenomena of seeing only what you are looking for: Have you ever taken an interest in a certain type of car? Perhaps you are in the market for a car, and you decided you like a particular model. Suddenly, you start seeing this car everywhere when you didn’t even notice before. This is because you are looking for it. If you look for Motorcycles, People, and Cars you will be more likely to notice them and avoid dangerous conflicts.

Turing right at intersection with a channel right turn lane or in states where making a right turn on a red light can present unique problems.

Some states allow a right turn on a red light. Every state that allows this requires that you come to a full stop first, yielding the right-of-way to oncoming traffic. Some intersections have a channel right turn lane that allows drivers to turn right and merge into traffic on the intersecting road. Rear-end accidents commonly occur in these situations.

The first driver stops or slows, looking for a break in traffic so they can merge. The driver that is second in line is also checking oncoming traffic, looking for an opening. The driver who is second in line will often think there is a large enough opening to enter, but the first driver decides not to go, or worse, starts to go then changes their mind and stops. The second driver already decided to go and crashes into the back of the first driver. To avoid this if you are second in line, simply watch the driver in front of you and don’t worry at all about oncoming traffic. Once the driver ahead completes the turn and merges into traffic, only then do you start looking for your chance to complete the turn. The video in this section provides some good examples.

Remember to go through your mental checklist of MPC – Motorcycle, People, Cars. Look for those specific things and you will be more likely to see them. As mentioned previously, your brain will often not see something if you are not looking for it.

New drivers often have difficulty judging the speed and distance of approaching cars when making left turns.

Making a left turn at an intersection that does not have a dedicated left turn lane can be scary for a new driver. If there is nobody in front of them, they should proceed part way into the intersection and wait for oncoming traffic to clear. Some new drivers will wait behind the limit line, then when the light turns yellow they are stuck for another light cycle. The drivers behind them will not be happy. Your teen will have difficulty judging the speed and distance of the approaching vehicles, so they will need coaching on this. Also, when waiting to make the turn, keep the front wheels pointed straight ahead. If you have them turned to the left while you are waiting and someone rear-ends you, you will be pushed into oncoming traffic.

Motorcycles are often victims of cars turning left in front of them. Make sure you take your time and look for all approaching traffic, particularly motorcycles. I like to use a mental checklist of “M.P.C.” “M” for motorcycles, “P” for people, and “C” for cars. This checklist works anytime you are turning or pulling into traffic. Your brain will often only perceive things you are looking for. If there is a motorcycle coming, for example, your brain may not perceive it if you are only looking for cars. This is why so many drivers turn left in front of motorcycle causing accidents.

Many intersections have opposing vehicles making left turns. Even if the other driver is signaling, wait until you see them commit to the turn before you turn in front of them. In the past, you could get eye contact with the other driver and assume they see you. Other drivers may appear to be looking at you, but they are so distracted by a cell phone conversation that their brain does not see you. To confirm they are committing to their turn, watch their front wheels. Once the front wheels turn and they move forward, they are committed and you can go as well.

Lane Changes

It is best to start out teaching lane changes when there is light traffic, then progress to heavier traffic times. For a lane change we use the saying, "Center, signal, side, slide." This means check your center mirror first to look for a gap and to make sure someone is not about to pass you. Then, turn your signal on to let others know you are about to change lanes. Then, check your side mirror and over your shoulder into your side blind-spot for other vehicles. If it is clear, slowly slide over into the lane. This procedure also works well for merging onto the freeway. You will notice this is heavily emphasized and repeated in the videos because new drivers often fail to check their blind-spot. Watch for your teen drifting into the other lane too early. Since the car goes where you look - focal point - they will have a tendency to drift as soon as they start looking to the side.

Freeway Driving

Merging

Freeway on-ramps are acceleration lanes. This mean that you need to accelerate to match the speed of the traffic that is already on the freeway. If traffic is traveling 65 mph, then you should not be merging on at 40 mph like many people do. Unless your car is really bad, it should have enough horsepower to get you up to speed. Cars already on the freeway have the right-of-way, but they will often make adjustments in speed or lane to accommodate your merging in. Some drivers will not change their speed or position, so you must adjust your speed to work your way in. Similar to a lane change, you need to use the "center, signal, side, slide” method for merging.

If you are the one on the freeway approaching an on-ramp, look for cars coming up the ramp that need to merge. Although you have the right-of-way, it is often best to adjust your speed to let them in. If the lane next to you is open, consider making a safe lane change. This will allow you to maintain your speed.

When exiting the freeway, the off ramp is a deceleration lane. They are usually of sufficient length that you will have plenty of time to brake from freeway speed before reaching the end of the ramp. Many people will slow down on the freeway, causing a backup. Use the off ramp for slowing down so other drivers can maintain their speed on the freeway, and so they do not end up tailgating you – or worse, rear ending you.

Lane Selection

On a 2-lane freeway or expressway, the left lane is normally used for passing slower vehicles. Stay out of this lane unless you are passing. On a 3-lane freeway, you can use the center lane. The left lane is still for passing, and the right lane is for slower traffic or vehicles exiting or entering the freeway. Driving in the center lane helps you avoid all the adjustments you need to make as cars are merging on.

Some areas have carpool lanes that are active during certain times of day. During those times, the lane next to the carpool lane becomes the fast lane, or passing lane. A mistake many drivers make is driving in the center lane during those times that the carpool lane is active. They may not realize it, but they are in the fast lane now. This causes other drivers to tailgate them or to try and get around them in the right lane. Pay attention to the times that the carpool lane is active, and stay out of the fast lane unless you are passing someone.

I recommend that your teen stay out of carpool lanes until they get comfortable driving on the freeway. Drivers in the carpool lane will often tailgate because they want to drive well over the speed limit. Remember that the speed limit isn’t always a speed that is safe for existing conditions. If traffic in the other lanes is doing 10 mph to 15 mph, it is not safe to be driving by them at 65 mph like many drivers do. Vehicles are entering and exiting the carpool lane all the time, so the risk of collision is great, especially if you are driving 65 mph and someone pulls out in front of you going 10 mph. The other problem comes when you are in the carpool lane, being tailgated by someone who thinks you should be going faster, and you need to move over into the right lane to exit the freeway. You will have to slow down to 20 mph or less in order to change lanes to the right. For a new driver, this creates a significant risk of a collision.

Passing

When driving on certain freeways with a lot of truck traffic, passing can become a problem. I-5 that runs from northern to southern California is just one example of why you need to have a high visual horizon and pay attention to passing situations. This freeway has two lanes for each direction in most areas between highway 152 and the Grapevine. Trucks are required to drive 55 mph, while the speed limit for everyone else is 70 mph. A significant number of drivers like driving 85 mph. If you wait until you get close to slow truck in the right lane, other drivers will not let you over. Turning on your signal, to them, means speed up and close the gap with the car in front of them so you cannot move over.

You can plan ahead by looking far down the freeway for trucks. When you see a slow truck ¼ to ½ mile ahead, look for the opportunity to make a safe lane change to the left. Stay there until you pass. You will have to watch out for impatient drivers who will move from behind you over into the right lane to pass. They will race ahead and cut you off at the last possible second in order to get one car ahead. You will see other drivers speed up to try and prevent impatient drivers from getting back in. The only way to do that is to tailgate the person in front of them. When a lot of people are of the same mindset, you get a group of cars and trucks traveling along at dangerous speeds just a few feet apart. If anyone makes a mistake, it results in a pileup and a story on the evening news.

Do not play that game. If a driver is going to pass on the right to get one car ahead, let him. I know it is maddening sometimes because it violates our sense of right and wrong. But I would rather have that guy in front of me where I can see him, rather than have him behind me a few feet from my bumper.

Vehicles on the freeway tend to travel in packs. Look for a gap in between packs and try to stay there. These gaps will come and go, but keep your following distance, maintain your high visual horizon, and be patient. Remember the Rule of 15 so you can take a safe leisurely drive to your destination, rather than trying to drive at high speed in a NASCAR style pack. For racing fans, even though I know it will be tempting, it is NOT legal to draft the slow driver, get him loose, and put him into the wall!

Backing

In an upcoming section of this course, you will set up exercises for you teen that will help them with backing up, but the real world is less forgiving. Backing accidents are the most common non-injury accidents, so your teen must be able to do this safely. Also, many tragedies have occurred when a family member has backed over a small child because they could not see them. Before backing up in any situation, your teen should check around the car before they get in. Even though SUVs and trucks are the ones we know have large blind-spots, it is important for the driver of every type of vehicle to make sure nothing is behind them before they get in the driver’s seat. Even if you have a backup camera, there is no substitute for walking back and looking before you move. The video in this section is a good illustration of the dangers of backing and of the huge blind-spots behind any vehicle.

Pedestrians in parking lots are often a problem. For some reason, they will often walk behind you as you are backing up, causing you to stop quickly. I have never figured out the reason people do this, but it appears they think pedestrians have the right-of-way, even if you were already in the process of backing before they even got there. It would be quite an argument deciding who was at fault. Either way, you don't want to be in an accident, so watch for this problem.

This section includes diagrams you to download that show you hot to set up great training exercises that are also fun for you to do together.

The exercises in this section are designed to teach your teen how to properly steer using the shuffle steering method, how to maneuver forward and backward in tight spaces, and how to parallel park easily. Download and print the diagrams in this section and take them with you when you go. Make sure you watch the demonstration videos with your teen before you try them. There is a video for Shuffle Steering, the Steering Exercise, the Offset Exercise, and Parallel Parking. There are different techniques to use when backing with different types of vehicles. These techniques are also explained in the videos. Also be sure to watch the Bag Maker video. Traffic cones are expensive and hard to get, and these are a good replacement.

Rear Wheel Cheat

Rear wheel cheat refers to the inside track the rear wheels take when making a turning movement. The rear wheels do not directly follow the front wheels – they track on a smaller turning radius. You may have noticed that long wheel base vehicles like buses and trucks take corners wide because the longer the wheel base, the more pronounced the rear wheel cheat becomes. You may have even experienced this in car when leaving a driveway. The front wheels go nicely down the ramp, and as you turn onto the street the rear wheel bumps down the curb. This happens because of rear wheel cheat.

Front End Swing

Front end swing refers to the front end swinging out from center when you input steering while backing up. Think about if you are in the grocery store parking lot, with cars parked on either side. You cannot just turn the wheel all the way one way or the other and back up because you will hit the car next to you. This happens because of front end swing.

The Steering and Offset exercises you will be doing in a parking lot or open area are designed to get you used to both rear wheel cheat and front end swing. The measurements depicted in the diagrams are flexible. You may need to adjust the measurements based on the type of vehicle you own. If you are using a Smart Car you may want to make the exercise tighter, but if you are driving a pickup truck you may need to make it a bit bigger. Challenge yourself by tightening things up as your skill level improves.

The Parking Stall exercise can be done in an empty parking lot on a weekend. Community Colleges, or parking lots for offices that are closed on the weekends are perfect for practicing this skill. Although parking in a stall may seem simple, many new drivers struggle with this basic skill. I had been doing it for so long I had taken it for granted, but I later came to realize it is not so easy for a new driver. Make sure you use the bags here even though there are lines on the ground. This will help your teen get used to parking between other vehicles.

The Parallel parking exercise is one you can set up in a parking lot or on a quiet residential street. I used empty plastic garbage cans in front of our house for my teens to park between. This way if they made a mistake, they just moved the can a little. You may not want to practice this between your neighbor’s cars!

Make sure you watch the video of each exercise so you know what is expected in each one. Although everyone should watch the video demonstrations, visual learners in particular will benefit. When building the exercises I recommend using paper shopping bags to mark the edges of the exercise. If it is windy, just put some sand in each one. I show paper shopping bags in the demo videos because they are easy to get, and much cheaper than traffic cones. For the turning points in some of the exercises, I recommend using lightweight garden planting sticks taped to the bag. You can find these at any garden supply store. Use your imagination. You can use many different things to mark out your exercise. Just make sure it is something that gives immediate feedback when it gets run over (you can hear the bag), and make sure it is something that will not damage your car. If you find something different that works well, share it in the community discussion area!

The exercises in this section will include diagrams on how to set up your "traffic cones."  Since traffic cones are expensive, here is a great substitute!

This exercise will introduce teens to vehicle placement, compensating for rear wheel cheat, and it will help them work on shuffle steering (see previous video on shuffle_steering).

This exercise teaches how to compensate for front end swing, and rear wheel cheat.  And it is fun!  Download the diagram below.

When my teens were new to driving, it did not occur to me that when we got to the grocery store this would be a problem.  Here are some tip, tricks, and reference points on parking large and small vehicles.

Most people dread parallel parking.  Using these reference points, you can hit this space perfectly every time!  Parents who were not so good at parallel parking love this one too!

Rolling Friction

We have already covered the ABS system, but we will take a look at what happens when the wheels start skidding. There must be what is called “Rolling Friction” in order for the wheels to track in the direction you want them to go. If the front wheels are skidding, you will not have directional control. You can turn the steering wheel all you want, but the vehicle will continue straight. If the rear wheels are skidding, they will not follow the front wheels and they will slide in the direction centrifugal force is taking them. ABS prevents skidding so the driver can maintain directional control. The vast majority of vehicles have ABS, but not all. Make sure you know if your vehicle has ABS.

Caster Effect

The “Caster Effect” refers to the tendency of the front wheels of the vehicle to want to straighten out. If you are in a turn and you let go of the steering wheel, you will notice that the car will straighten out on its own. When turning any corner, all you have to do is input steering, then loosen your grip on the wheel as you exit the corner, allowing the steering wheel to slip through your fingers as it straightens out. As discussed previously, you must have a good focal point. Look through the corner at where you want your vehicle to go.

Another use for the Caster Effect is for stabilizing a vehicle like an SUV with a high center of gravity (top heavy) that is being subjected to extreme lateral weight transfer and spring loading. A vehicle that is turning will have its suspension compressed on the side, opposite of the direction of the turn. The compression of the suspension is called, spring loading. When this happens, energy is stored in the suspension, or springs. When the vehicle immediately turns in the opposite direction, that energy is released and thrown to the opposite side. The energy from the turn in the opposite direction also compresses the suspension and this energy is added to the energy that was thrown over from the previous turn. Now the energy stored in the suspension is the sum of two turns. If the vehicle makes a third turn in the opposite direction, the two turns worth of energy is thrown to the opposite side and added to the energy compressing the suspension, resulting in three turns worth of energy being stored. This adding up of energy from each turn can cause the vehicle to rollover.

The driver can use the caster effect to stabilize a vehicle. Recall that releasing the steering wheel while in a turn will cause the vehicle to straighten out. If the driver releases the steering wheel, allowing it to briefly center itself before making the next turn, all that energy will be dissipated and not thrown to the opposite side. By utilizing the Caster Effect in this way, each turn only loads the suspension with one turn’s worth of energy and does not allow the buildup of compression in the suspension. If you throw weight side-to-side in a high center of gravity vehicle (one that is top-heavy) there is a risk of rollover. Newer vehicles are now equipped with Electronic Stability Control (ESC), where the computer system minimized or eliminates spring loading.

Oversteer

Spring loading can also cause oversteer (fishtailing) in a vehicle not equipped with ESC. The correction method for oversteer is to turn the steering wheel in the same direction the rear end is sliding. How this is accomplished is where I part company with many instructors. I recommend using the Caster Effect to provide the steering input for you. Simply let the wheel slip through your fingers all the while intently looking at your focal point - where you want the car to go. The front wheels want to keep rolling in the direction you are trying to go, not where the rear end is trying to point them. If you let the wheel slip through your fingers, the Caster Effect will steer into the skid exactly how much is required and it will return to center as the rear end comes back in line.

I have had other instructors tell me that in order to catch up with how fast the rear end is sliding, it is necessary to hand-over-hand the steering wheel. This is not true, as you will see in the video for this section of the course. The only reason you would be unable to catch the slide is if you don’t input steering as soon as the rear end starts to slide. Simply ease your grip in the wheel and you will catch the slide.

The most common reason drivers lose control is that they steer too much in an effort to catch the slide. This results in a secondary slide back in the other direction, which is often uncontrollable. The Caster Effect will correct exactly as much as is required and will not cause too much steering to be applied. The only time the Caster Effect may not work is in an extremely slippery environment, like ice, where you are not getting enough rolling friction anyway.

If you attend and advanced driving school, just steer how they want you to. If they do not teach the use of Caster Effect, try using it when they are not looking. If they use a wet skid pan with bald tires and a lot of water on polished concrete you may not have enough rolling friction, so you will have to input steering yourself. These schools are teaching how to drive on a skid pan or how to drive on ice and snow, rather than what you will encounter in most oversteer situations.

Weight Transfer

Any time you move a vehicle, you get weight transfer. Press the gas and you get weight transfer. Press the brake and you get weight transfer. Turn the steering wheel left and you get weight transfer to the right. Turn the wheel right and you get weight transfer to the left. The amount of weight transfer you get will depend on how fast the vehicle is going, how hard the braking or acceleration is, and how much the steering wheel is turned. Without getting too technical here, it is this weight transfer that can cause problems for the driver if it is excessive or occurs at the wrong time.

Lateral Weight Transfer

Lateral, or side-to-side weight transfer occurs while steering. For a car without a stability control system, excessive lateral weight transfer can cause oversteer. Oversteer is when the rear of the car slides to the outside of a turn. This condition can be corrected if the driver takes quick action by easing grip on the steering wheel and allowing the Caster Effect to correct the slide. In an SUV, pickup, van, or any vehicle with a high center of gravity this can cause it to roll over.

Dave shows how to control lateral weight transfer and oversteer in a vehicle without the Electronic Stability Control (called ESC or ESP)

Vehicle Inspection

Your teen needs to know how to do basic vehicle maintenance. After all, in the beginning it is your car they are using!

Tire Pressure

The most common mistake people make is not checking their tire pressure. Make sure you check the pressure at least once a month. Look in your owner’s manual for the correct tire pressure for your car. Low tire pressure will cause the tires to heat up as they roll over the ground, which shortens the life of the tire. You will also increase tire wear, and you will not get good gas mileage. Tires with low tire pressure are also more likely to hydroplane than those with proper pressure. The hydroplaning issue, where a tire will ride up on water that is on the roadway causing loss of control, sometimes causes debate. For more information on tire pressure, here is a link to an article I wrote regarding proper tire pressure for police cars: http://www.thedrivingcompany.com/ Your car is not a police car, but you can follow the advice in the article if you wish. The section on hydroplaning will put to rest any debate about how tire pressure affects hydroplaning speed.

Vehicle Inspection Checklist

You don’t need to complete the checklist every day. If your car is a newer model, about every three or four weeks is sufficient. If your car is older, you may want to inspect it more often. Make sure you follow the manufacturer recommendations for maintenance. It is impossible to cover all the different types of oil available or coolant mixture requirements for every car here, so make sure you know the requirements for your particular vehicle. Using an oil change service that does multi-point inspections may be a good option for you if you cannot do it yourself. Most people go too long between oil changes, and they don’t check their oil level at all. If you do regular maintenance, you will save thousands of dollars over the life of your car. And it will last longer.

Jump Starting a Car

Many people have had to jump start a dead battery. Most of the time they do it improperly, which can be very dangerous. If not done properly, the battery can explode and shower you with battery acid. Very low batteries have hydrogen gas coming out of them. Hydrogen is an explosive gas. In a worst case scenario, a spark can ignite that gas, causing an explosion. The chances of this happening are small, but why not eliminate the risk altogether? Hook the positive and negative clips to the appropriate terminals on the good battery you are using to jump start the dead one. Then hook the positive cable to the positive terminal of the dead battery, and the negative cable to any bare metal that is attached to the car frame well away from the dead battery. This way, any sparks that occur will be clear of the dead battery and the explosive gases. If you have a hybrid vehicle, such as a Toyota Prius, you will need to follow a different procedure. Consult your manual.

Changing a Tire

Today’s tires are very reliable, but you still may get a flat. Yes, you may belong to a service that will send a tow truck, but there may be a situation where your teen will need to change it if help is not around. You don’t want your teen stuck someone because of a simple flat tire. The video in this section will go over tire changing basics. Although some people are intimidated by the prospect of changing a tire, it is actually quite simple.

The most important thing is where you change the tire. How many times have you seen someone on the side of the freeway or busy street trying to change a tire? A wheel is not worth your life. If you get a flat tire on the freeway, use the shoulder to slowly get off the freeway and to a safe place. Put on your emergency flashers to let others know you have a problem. You may destroy your wheel in the process, but that can be replaced. Changing a tire on the shoulder of the freeway or a busy (or even not so busy) street could cost you your life. I tell my teenagers to not worry about the wheel if they get a flat. I would appreciate it if they drive on it slowly, but I want them to drive to a safe place when they can. I can always replace a wheel. Their life is worth a lot more to me than any wheel.