Learning To Drive Needs To Include Parents As Well As Teachers

It isn’t completely uncommon for misguided parents to leave the task of driver’s education solely in the hands of high school driving instructors and the law enforcement agent administering the test. In reality learning to drive is a long and complicated task. It is one of the most important things that your teen will learn in their lifetime and safety is extremely important. For this reason drivers education includes parents and without them tends to be incomplete.

For starters parents need to always be vigilant of the way they drive, especially in front of their children. Though it might not always show, parents are the biggest role model in their children’s lives. Children not only remember but mock the way their parents drive. Parents who often drive without a seat belt or practice unsafe driving habits will have children that do the same. Careless driving is dangerous, do not pass this trait on your young.

Another way to help your teenager learn to be a good driver is to go out with them on several practice drivers. Never allow your child to go out on their own until you are certain that they are prepared. No one knows as well as a parent when their child is ready to drive. Insist that your child log plenty of practice hours with you in the passenger seat before cutting them lose. They will thank you when they have children of their own.

A great way to show your interest, help your child study, and get a gauge of what they know is to regularly quiz them on safety rules and procedures. This shows how important safety is in a non-confrontational way and lets your child know that you are on their side and want them to succeed. Getting a license is one of the most exciting things that occurs in a human lifetime. Be your kid’s cheerleader, they will appreciate it in more ways than one! Besides good grades in Driver’s Ed often equate to cheaper insurance costs.

Learning about car maintenance is an important factor in being a safe driver. It is often overlooked but important just the same. Learning how to do a tune up and change the oil is a good place to start. Young adults rarely have the money to get their car serviced regularly, yet a maintained car is a safe car. For this reason it is important to teach these techniques before letting your little roadster loose.

It is also important to show your teenager how to properly change a tire. This is often covered in Driver’s Education but just one quick run down might not be enough for everyone. Make sure your youngster knows how to change a tire. Also be sure that they know how to check the air in their tires and when to do it.

In addition to teaching your child basic maintenance teach them the importance of pulling over when things feel strange. Most people do not know what is happening the first time they experience a flat or a blow out on the highway. This often leads to collisions. For this reason it is very important that you stress the necessity of pulling over and checking things out as soon as possible when things feel strange.

Parental involvement is the only way to make sure that good driving is practiced. Making sure that your young roadster learns the basic steps of driving is your responsibility. Do not leave your child’s safety in the hands of another.

Get more information about the SWERVE Driving School training waiting for you today! When you learn about SWERVE Driver’s Ed, and the multitude of benefits and advantages available after you complete the program, you will be ready to drive in any type of traffic easily!

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Wanda Geofson on July 12th 2010 in Car Insurance

Driving School Selection Criteria

Given the poor history of driver’s education in the United States, the emergence of professional driving schools that can “make a difference” is a much needed addition to local communities. Over 20,000 teens die every year in the U.S. and many times that many are involved in collisions that include injury, car repair cost, increased insurance cost, and a variety of other ancillary costs. In order to make the critical informed decision about what driving school to choose, the following criteria can help sort out the driver training program of preference:

Engaging Program: In order for teens to learn anything, they need to be engaged. And its no different for driving lessons. They should be continually challenged as part of the educational process. Does the driving school communicate with the parents using feedback forms and their web site?

Having professional instructors that are well trained is an important piece of the driver training puzzle. Instructors from most driving schools meet the minimum requirements, but no more. Ask how many hours of training a driving school’s instructors have been through. Some schools employ police officers, which are good at law enforcement, but may have not received even the minimum amount of training required for professional instructors.

A very important selection criteria for a driving school is convenience. Can the behind the wheel sessions be scheduled online 7×24? Some programs include access to a dedicated customer center that can be used to answer questions at any point along the teen’s training process.

Proven Results: Very few driving schools can demonstrate how well they’ve trained their students. Are there reliable statistics available that show the results of their driving lessons? Do they have a money back guarantee? Are they committed to making their students excellent drivers or simply just trying to get them a license?

An important aspect of choosing a driving school is determining the amount of investment the school is making in its driver’s education programs. Do they have dedicated curriculum developers on staff? How much are they investing in their driving lessons? Or do they just take the same outdated material everyone else has and call it “good enough”?

Community Contribution: Top class driving schools will contribute to the community in a variety of ways. Ask what legislature, such as cell phone laws, the driving school directly sponsored for the betterment of teen driving. Ask what statewide programs, such as Washington’s Drive Nice Day program they have sponsored. Do they work with local public schools?

The first year of driving can be a matter of “life or death” for your teen and selecting a great driving school can positively impact that outcome. Driving school selection can be a tricky process and its important to look at all of the criteria mentioned in this article. The educating of a driver is finally taking front row center and selecting the best school is of prime importance. Make sure you spend the time to evaluate driving schools and use the criteria in this article as a starting point for the process.

On the Author: Joe Driverson is a member of SWERVE’s team whose goal is to “Change The Way People Drive”. Please see SWERVE Driving School for more information on SWERVE’s driver training programs and its unique approach to driving lessons. Get a totally unique version of this article from our article submission service

categories: driving school,driver training,driver’s education,driver’s ed,driving lessons,driving course,education,training,automobile

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Joe Driverson on June 6th 2010 in Car Insurance