TEACHING YOUR TEEN TO DRIVE

Hit the road with your young one without any accidents or fights, and with minimal hair pulling!

Teaching a teenager to drive is a revelation. Explaining to a nervous first-time driver the basics of driving acts as a reminder of how years behind the wheel seamlessly pops you into autopilot.

So it’s important to ensure your teen driver has everything they need to help them through one of the most statistically dangerous periods of their life.

The shoes

Before you hand the keys over to your overexcited teen, get them to check their feet. More than 30 per cent of drivers wear thongs, but these Aussie favourites can impede braking, as can any kind of high-heeled shoe. Closedtoed shoes with a flexible sole will take foot distraction out of the equation.

Pedals & controls

Common causes of accidents are foot slips or mistaking the brake for the accelerator. The difficulty here is that the driver can’t see the pedals and must rely on kinesthetic senses – that is, the feel of where their foot is and what pedal it’s on.

The catch-22 is you have to have felt it to feel it, so the first few times are a bit hit and miss (hopefully more “miss” than “hit” though). Poor executive function or a condition like ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) can make pedal differentiation more difficult.

Cars with decent resistance on the brake pedal signal immediately that it’s not an accelerator, but every model is different. It’s worth reacquainting yourself with the feel of your brakes and checking how much “feel” they really have before handing the car over to the learner.

In fact, the first session behind the wheel should be stationary. Have your teen hop in, adjust the seat and steering wheel, then pretend to drive, using the pedals, wheel and indicators. Tell them it’s like driving a simulator, and they’ll get it.

Start your engines

Once the seat and mirrors have been adjusted, it’s time to fire her up. Cars have come a long way since the days of learning to drive in an old Toyota Cressida.

Visibility in cars used to be much better than it is today, so it’s harder for new drivers to get a sense of a car’s size. Sure, luxuries have been introduced, with reverse cameras and sensors, but getting a feel for the car is very different to what it was like when you were being taught to drive.

On the road

For new generations, the biggest challenge is ignoring distractions. Kids these days are masters in multi-tasking – they can Snapchat, text, watch TV and do homework all at the same time.

No wonder studies have shown that the average attention span is now one second less than a goldfish, which then also explains why a new traffic study suggests that over 50 per cent of teenage car crashes are caused by distractions.

But before you reach for the volume controls and mute the music, studies have also shown tunes can positively impact your mood while driving, however it’s probably best to hold off on the “car-aoke” in the beginning.

It may surprise you that more than mobile phone use, passengers rank as the top distraction to drivers (yep, that’s you).

Laws in various Australian states restrict the number of teenage passengers a probationary driver can have in the car, so it’s worth checking your state’s details.

Happy driving!