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Every parent’s nightmare is the first time their teen takes the car out on their own. The steps leading up to this feat can ease your anxiety if you take time to consider all the phases of teen student driver education available today.
To reduce teen driver fatalities over thirty states have initiated GRADUATED LICENSING laws. These laws minimize the hours a teen can be on the road in the first year of driving, who can be n the car and where the new driver is going, ie: school, church, job, home. Only siblings in the car. Curfew hours are typically 10pm – 5am. Visit the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety to learn more about graduated licensing in your state; www.iihs.org
That’s all well and good once the teen driver has his/her license, but there are many steps a parent can take to establish respect for the road and rules of engagement. Once in effect, the process of maintaining driving privileges puts mom and dad back in the driver’s seat.
I recommend a Teen-Parent driving contract. There are many on-line, but choose one that gives you and your student driver the ability to fill in the rules and the punishments.
Some auto insurance companies now offer discounts for teen driver coverage if the student driver takes an on-line test (and passes). Some eager parents are installing GPS tracking or on-board video cameras in an effort to lower the 3k-4k dollar bill typical of insuring a new driver. The GPS systems provide an email or text message when the teen goes over the preset speed limit or travels outside the pre-defined mileage limit.
The onboard video cameras display the driver and the visual field from the driver’s perspective, very much like a police vehicle. The images are streamed to a secure website where the parent can log-in to see what’s going on, or what happened, in the case of an accident. These devices have proven very effective in reducing teen driver accidents and fatalities in newly licensed drivers.
Another area that should be given serious consideration, is the practical driving instruction. Who’s going to be respoinsible for teaching the teen driver the proper rules of the road? Mom and Dad need to consider their time and patience versus the cost of hiring a professional company. Average driving instruction services run between $200-$600, however there is more than the “you get what you pay for” to consider.
Here are my Top 5 Tips to finding the right driving instructor for your teen student driver.
1. Visit the School. Talk to the students, driving instructors and parents. Is the facility clean and up to date? Do they provide written guarantees, complete schedules of number of hours and types of road surface experiences. Make sure they are not cramming too much information into too few classes. How many students are in each class? How much actual driving time does each student clock behind the wheel?
2. Check out the vehicles. The cars should be clean, well maintained inside and out. The cars should not be older than four years of age. Do they all have airbags?
3. Is the school properly licensedand current with all state requirements? Review the local better business bureau for complaints. Google the instructors and school by name.
4. How often is the instructor available to answer the teen or parent questions? Is there written homework and testing?
5. How does your teen driver actwhen in the car with you. Does the teen student driver demonstrate proper driving ettiquitte? IS he/she confident behind the wheel? Does he/she know the speed limits, signs and signals?
According to my resources in the DMV , the two biggest reasons a student fails his/her driver’s license test is; Asking the test instructor a question regarding procedure, and demonstrating a lack of awareness of the proper speed limits.
If you would like to learn more about things teen drivers and parents should know before driving or BUYING a car, please check out my slide show here; TEEN DRIVER- PARENTS BEWARE
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Sarah Lee is My Carlady, a 20yr. auto executive writing about all things automotive. She is a well known speaker on consumer car issues, and teahces teens about car buying/rules of the road during driver eduaction classes. For a great deal on your next car, hire an expert; www.mycarlady.com
http://www.slideshare.net/Mycarlady” > 
