As the parent of a teenage driver who has just obtained their learner licence and is eager to storm the roads, imparting basic driving education is highly necessary for the early driving days. Establishing safe driving habits from the onset will ensure your teenager will feel confident driving alone, creating safe driving habits, and making them less prone to accidents. In this article, we reveal the essential tips to share with your learner driver, emphasising the basics of legal driving practices and safe driving methods.
Wear a seat belt always
Despite wearing a seat belt being legal standard within the entire of Australia, many learner drivers believe there are occasions when there are exceptions to this rule. Primarily, these occasions include while in public car parks, within the driveway, or driving through rural, low-density areas. As the parent, you know this isn’t the case, and it’s essential to set your teen straight. Accidents can occur anywhere; not-at-fault accidents can happen in a shopping carpark, where a driver can unexpectedly reverse into your car, for example. Without proper safety measures, small fender benders can cause serious harm.
Speed limits are fixed
Teenage drivers can become easily influenced by what other drivers do and how their peers and loved ones behave in the car. Speeding is one of many liberties teens take on the road, usually from the pressure to keep up with the vehicles around them. Driving too fast for the conditions is easily one of the most common causes of pile-up accidents, not-at-fault collisions, and smashes with stationary objects, such as trees and poles.
Don’t drive in the blind spot of others
Teen drivers will learn very quickly about the blind spot in their car, the allusive position when other traffic becomes hidden from the rear vision and side mirrors. As teens will learn to check their blind spot, most learner drivers forget about the blind spots of other cars and aren’t fully aware of the risk of being hidden to other drivers. Teen drivers should be discouraged from driving in this position; educate your teen where beside each car the safest spot is, either in front or dropped back behind enough to see the rear vision mirror of the vehicle in front.
Managing car accidents
Whether we like it or not, parents need to accept that their children will likely be in a car accident during their driving life. Education on what to do is vital, as this will help to eliminate doubt and fear in an extremely stressful situation. Whether they caused the accident, or for a not-at-fault accident, teach your teen how to handle a collision, outlining who to call for injured passengers, and how to receive towing assistance.
