15 Blogs with Best Tips for Your New Teenage Driver

Thinking about teaching your teen to drive might be giving you anxiety attacks, but with some careful planning and preparation it doesn’t have to. To help make the process a smoother one, it’s a good idea to start talking to your child about driving well before he’s ready to get behind the wheel. Your child is taking cues from you, so you need to model responsible driving skills, too. No matter how experienced of a driver you are, you’ll want to brush up on safe driving rules and laws before you start teaching your teen, as well as prepare some basic lessons for him once it’s time for him to start learning to drive. To learn more tips on how to teach your teen to drive, read these 15 blog articles.

Set a Good Example
Everyone is susceptible to road rage on occasion, and you’ve likely pushed the speed limit once or twice in your life. Think about your driving habits before you start teaching your teen to drive and fix any bad habits now, because your child is watching and learning driving habits years before he gets his learner’s permit. It’s never too early to start talking about defensive driving tips with your teen, and these five blog entries are full of tips to help you exhibit and teach good driving skills for your child.

• ICBC’s Tips for Teaching Your Teen to Drive Your kids are constantly watching you, so it’s important to remain a focused driver, not a distracted one.
• Five Tips for Teaching Your Teen to Drive Good driving is always important, but this is especially true whenever your teen is in the car.
• How to Teach Your Teen Good Driving Safety Your teen will pick up on your habits, so watch the speed limit and quench any road rage you may have.
• How to Teach Your Teenager to Drive Safely To teach your teen to drive safely, you should model the type of driver you want him to be.
• How to Encourage Safe Driving Practices in Your Teen Your teens are absorbing all of your driving habits, so start early by modeling responsible driving.

Know the Rules
Try to think back to when you took the driver’s test to get your own learner’s permit.  Do you remember the questions on the test?  If it’s been 20 years or so since you took the test, you probably need a refresher. After all, a lot of things can change in 20 years! Check out these five blog posts to learn why knowing the rules is necessary before starting driving lessons with your child.

• Tips for Teaching Your Teen to Drive It’s probably been a while since you studied all of the rules of the road, so brush up on your road rules before you begin driver’s ed with your teen.
• Tips on Teaching Your Teen to Drive This blogger recommends taking a rules refresher so that you know all of the rules before trying to teach them to your teen.
• Tips & Strategies for Teaching Your Teen to Drive Look online for a book that covers the rules of the road and brush up on the laws before you start teaching your teen driver.
• Teaching Your Teenager How to Drive As the teacher you need to read up on what the requirements are for your teenager to get her license.
• Family Solutions: Tips for Teaching Your Teen to Drive You can help your child study for the driver’s test by quizzing her on the rules of the road.

Plan Out Your Lessons
Before you get into the car with your teen it’s a good idea to plan out what you’re going to teach him. Start slowly by making sure that he knows how to adjust and work everything in the car.  Driving down the road in a sudden rain shower is no place to realize that he doesn’t know how to turn on the windshield wipers. These five blog postings will give you more tips on how you can break up your lessons.

• Tips for Teaching Your Teen to Drive Teaching on the fly will probably get the job done, but your lesson time might be better spent if you’ve planned out what you’re covering that day.
• Teaching Your Teen How to Drive Keep your lessons short and teach only one or two skills per lesson so that your teen can learn them without being overwhelmed.
• How to Help Your Teen Learn to Drive To ensure your teen understands and remembers each step make sure that you break up each lesson into smaller lessons.
• News: Top Tips for Teaching Teens to Drive You’ll find a list of skills on this post that you can break up into separate lessons to teach your teen.
• 5 Tips for Maintaining Your Sanity While Teaching Your Teen to Drive To avoid your teen becoming overwhelmed and nervous, don’t try to teach your teen everything at once.

Teen Drive Smart: Road Show Rally 2011 Video Contest!

So after months of studying and practice, you passed your driver’s test and finally have your license…nice work! But the hard part isn’t over yet. In fact, it’s just starting. Once you and your friends begin driving, you’ll begin to see that everyone has a different standard of what constitutes “safe driving.”


Before getting in the car with another driver, think to yourself: would I let my kid brother/sister drive with this person? If the answer is no, then you shouldn’t do it either. Teens Drive Smart has put together some ways to help you get out of these rather uncomfortable situations without damaging friendships.

We know that talking to your friends about driving safe can be tricky, so here are five quick things you can say when confronted with a friend who is driving distracted:

• Texting: “Do you want me to hold onto your cell phone while you’re driving?”
• Driving and Overcrowded Vehicle: “Whoa! We all can’t fit. Let’s not get [driver] in trouble. Anyone want to stay back with me?
• Drinking and Driving: “I’m not feeling well. I think I’m going to call my parents to pick me up. Do you want me to have them pick you up, too?”
• Treating You Like a Chauffeur: “I can give you a ride but the others are on their own.”
• Rowdy Passengers: “Hey guys! Not to be annoying, but can you guys quiet down a bit? I’m still getting used to the idea of driving with other people in the car.”

Now it is time to rally and be part of  a great contest!

On behalf of Bridgestone Americas,  their Teens Drive Smart Road Show Rally 2011 Tour, a high school grant contest promoting safe driving and the importance of learning these behaviors before a driver sits behind the wheel is on!

So as you head back to school this fall ask your friends, “Are you ready to rally?” Any individual or group of teens interested in participating in this contest will create a 30-second to two-minute video describing the following:

• What they have done in their community to spread the safe driving message;
• What they would like to do in the future to alert others about the dangers of driving distracted;
• And why a road show rally should come to their school.

Entrants will be judged by three criteria: Creativity, Need, and Story and are to submit their videos by October 7^th. The grand prize winning school will receive the Road Show Rally and a $5,000 donation!

More information can be found by visiting http://www.teensdrivesmart.com/road-show-rally-tour.html. And while you’re there, be sure to check out Teens Drive Smart on Facebook and Twitter!

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Teen Driving: Is Your Teen Ready?

Many teens will count the days until they take their first step into adulthood -- driving!  However it is a parent's responsibility to determine if their teen is mature enough to take on this major responsibility.

Each state has their own laws on the age your teen can start driving.  In Florida, at age 15, teens can apply for a learner’s license. The teen must have completed a Traffic Law and Substance Abuse Course; pass the written, vision and hearing tests; and have a signed parent consent form.

With a learner’s license, teens may only drive with a licensed driver age 21 or older supervising and sitting in the front seat. For the first three months, teens may only practice during daylight hours; then, teens may practice no later than 10 p.m. Teens are required to practice driving for at least 50 hours, including 10 hours at night, with a parent or a legal guardian, before they’re allowed an intermediate permit.

DMV Practice Questions - Take this sample test to determine if you’re ready to take the state driving test.

When teens turn 16, have had a learner’s license for at least 1 year without any traffic violations and have completed 50 hours of practice driving, 10 of which must be at night, they can apply for the intermediate license. They also must pass a behind-the-wheel driving test, complete a vision test and provide proof of practice driving time. Legal guardians must accompany their teens to the DMV to sign the application form, or their signature must be notarized on the form.

At the intermediate stage, driving privileges are based on age. For a 16-year old, driving is allowed between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m. For a 17-year old, driving is allowed between 5 a.m. and 1 a.m. Outside of these time frames, teen drivers must be accompanied by a licensed driver at least 21 years old in the front passenger seat, or must be traveling to or from work.

At age 18, teens are eligible for a full unrestricted license. The state does not place night or passenger limits on those with unrestricted licenses.

All first time drivers in Florida must take a Traffic Law and Substance Abuse course and a written exam to receive a learner’s license. The tests below are approved by the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles and are offered online through AAA:

• Drug Alcohol Traffic Awareness (DATA)
  
• Written Exam for Learner’s License

Source:  AAA
Be an educated parent, you will have safer teens.

Read more.

TextZapper: Because safety matters

Many people understand that driving distractions are the number one cause for teen auto accidents.  No matter how many time we talk to our teens about driving and texting, we still hear about horrific accidents - and some that are ending lives.

Oprah promotes The No Phone Zone and received many signatures from celebrities and all walks of life to take the pledge not to text and drive, including talking and driving.  The cell phones should simply be turned off or placed in the glove box where they won't distract the driver - of any age!

However teens being teens, never believe that these accidents can happen to them.  The joy of believing that bad things just happen to other people come with being youthful and immature (respectfully).

Some facts about distracted driving and teens:


• Currently 30 states have anti-texting laws.
• The #1 cause of teen deaths is car accidents.
• Over 5000 teens ages 16-20 die due to fatal injuries caused by car accidents each year.
• 16-19 year olds have the highest risk of being in an accident.
• Approximately 400,000 drivers ages 16-20 will be seriously injured in accidents, annually.
• 16-19 year olds are 4 times more likely than other drivers to be involved in a car crash.
• Teens are 10% of the US population, but account for 14% of all fatal car accidents.
• 60% of 16-18 year old drivers will be in a police-reported collision.
• Teen drivers ages 16-19 are 4 times more likely than older drivers to crash.
• There is an 89.2% chance of having a crash within the first 3 years of driving.
• There is a 52.5% chance of your teen having 2 crashes within the first 3 years of driving.
• Over 50% of all teen deaths from car accidents occur between 3pm and midnight, and 54% occur on weekends.

New to the market is TextZapper.

TextZapper provides a quick and easy solution to stop texting and emailing while driving, now protecting us all in a way never before possible.

Unfortunately TextZapper is currently only available on SmartPhones and hopefully will be expanded to others or possibly others have a similar product (please share in comments below).  There is a small monthly fee of $4.99 for TextZapper.  One benefit is parents can have peace of mind that the distraction of texting while driving is eliminated.


Learn more at www.zapmytext.com.

Whether you employ TextZapper or another type of service, never stop talking to your teens about the dangers of texting and driving.  It can be deadly.

Don't forget about distracted bicycling!  Too many teens are texting and pedaling, which is extremely dangerous too.  Read more.

Although Florida has a texting and driving bill that passed the Senate Committee, currently there is not legislation in place. For the Florida law update, click here.

Be an educated parent, you will have safer teens.

Read more.

Sue Scheff: Teen Drivers Source

Summer is officially here and more teenagers will be getting their drivers permit or license.  In Broward County, the age for a driving permit is 15 years old.  STANDUP is an organization that is working towards raising the teen driving age.  H.R. 1895: Safe Teen and Novice Uniform Protection Act is currently being reviewed by lawmakers.

With this in the hands of the justice system, the results could take a very long time.  In the meantime, parents need to take to the streets and insure their teen's driving safety.

Teen Drivers Source is a valuable website with a vast amount of information about teenage driving.  They offer support for the teens as well as the parents.  They have also included a section for educators.  When driving safety is reinforced at home and school, you have better chances of having a safer teen driver, however remember, parenting is key.

Under their FAQ's there is a very common question that is asked and that is:

Q: How can I convince my teen to lower the music and not use a cell phone for talking or texting while driving?

A: When you sit down to talk to your teen about setting house rules, bring up the three-second sequence. Explain to your teen that within a one-second window a driver scans for hazards then has 2 seconds to detect it and decide how to respond in order to avoid or lessen the severity of a crash. Tell your teen that crash risk is four times higher when a driver uses a cell phone, whether or not it's hands-free. Such distractions can cause drivers to take their eyes off the road long enough to have difficulty responding to hazards and staying in their lane.
They also answer many other common questions such as:

Q: My teen is often up late studying for a test. How can I let her drive when she barely had two hours of sleep?

Take the time to educate yourself and your new teen driver.  Learning to drive starts before you get behind the wheel.

Visit www.teendriverssource.org for much more information.

Be an educated parent, you will have safer teens.