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Teaching Your Teen to Drive in Traffic

When you are ready for your child to start driving regularly, you may find they are overwhelmed with all the dangers that surround them. Sometimes navigating through clogged highways and busy streets can be as difficult as learning to park parallel, and this is why you want to start teaching your teen to drive in traffic as soon as possible. You can do this several ways, but one of the best is going to be hands-on practice. When you are preparing them for this kind of driving, just make sure they are as calm as can be and aren't getting overexcited. When they approach the situation like this, they will be able to handle the tension much better and be able to make better decisions.

Teaching Yourself First

For help on trying to put this practice session together, you may find there are some helpful articles to go through. This is where you can get some step-by-step instructions on what to teach first and what the best order is. If this is your oldest child, then you might not have enough practice with anyone before. However, you can certainly use these tools to help you accomplish it without any undue stress and worry. Most of the time, it's just taking it one step at a time so the new driver doesn't get overwhelmed. You also need to stay calm as well throughout the lesson.

Change Lanes and Maintaining Space

Changing lanes can be one of the most stressful parts of driving in heavy traffic and this is something you should work on together. First of all, make sure they are checking their mirrors before they move in either direction. If they don't have blind side mirrors added on to the car, then they will need to actually turn and check each blind spot as well. When cars are that jam packed on the highway, they can show up quickly and unexpectedly. It can be a lifesaving action if they check both of these spots quickly before changing lanes to the left or right. Make sure you also keep track of what is going on around your vehicle as well. This can include cars driving up behind you or moving in from the side lanes.

Also, a space cushion is something else to maintain as much as possible. While there are several cars on the road, you can still control how much space is between you and the vehicle in front. Maintain at least a 2-1/2 car length distance so you have time to stop if they hit their brakes unexpectedly. If you don't, then you might find yourself face-to-face with their bumper instead of empty space. Talking to your teen about this defensive driving habit right away will help them to continue on with it as they become more experienced. It will also prevent them from getting into unnecessary accidents and being a very expensive mess to clean up.

For more helpful tips on teaching your teen to drive in traffic, you can also get some materials from your insurance company. Ask them what they would suggest to make sure the new driver has as much education as possible without having to overwhelm them. You'll feel more confident about approaching this as a parent and then keeping your child in a calm attitude. If you're nervous and unsure, then they will pick up on this feeling as well. This won't do either of you any favors and may in fact make the training session more hectic than it has to be.