When teenagers are first getting out on the road by themselves, they are still very inexperienced, so they are prone to making some pretty common mistakes. Sadly, these mistakes can have some pretty serious consequences, from problems with the law to losing their license to even getting into accidents. Before your teen hits the road, it is crucial that you help them understand the common errors teenagers make in their first years of driving so that they can be aware of their driving habits and make good decisions. Here are the most common teenager driving mistakes and how they can be avoided:
Distracted Driving
Teenagers are very prone to distracted driving. Many teenagers are addicted to their cell phones and will engage in dangerous behaviors like texting and driving, taking selfies, and posting on social media. Beyond the distractions of cellphones, teens will also commonly play their music too loud, look at themselves in the mirrors, and eat food. All of these distractions can lead to poor reaction time and not focusing on the road. Distracted driving is the number one cause of accidents for teens.
However, distracted driving is an easier behavior to correct. Teenagers simply need to stay off their phones, pay full attention to the road, and pull over if they need to do something. So when teaching your teenager how to drive, make sure they understand that distracted driving prevents them from being aware of the hazards on the road and reduces their ability to avoid accidents.
Speeding
Teenagers love to drive faster than the speed limit. Sometimes they speed to show off to their friends, other times they just like the rush of speeding. In either case, their inexperience makes it hard to judge the stopping time needed at any speed. If they cannot stop in time when they are speeding, they can get into serious accidents. Furthermore, speeding is illegal, so teenagers can end up getting ticketed by the police. These tickets put points on their license, and if they accumulate enough points, they can lose their license until adulthood.
When teaching your teenager how to drive, make sure they understand that it is perfectly okay to drive under the speed limit until they are more confident behind the wheel. It will also be best to explain the consequences of speeding and how it might lead to losing driving privileges. With the threat of a loss of license, it’s much more likely teens will stick to the posted speed limits.
Taking Unnecessary Risks
Teenagers also take a lot of unnecessary risks. Many of these risks result from inexperience, such as pulling in front of a car too quickly, speeding through a yellow light, or forgetting to check their blind spots before changing lanes. Some of these risks are also because they are showing off in front of their friends. They’ll do things like hop curbs or take tight turns to show off their cool driving skills. However, these risky behaviors can have some pretty severe consequences. They can lead to accidents and also tickets from police officers.
It’s a little harder to help reduce the number of unnecessary risks teenagers take while driving because a lot of them are a result of inexperience. So the best thing you can do is make sure you log a lot of practice hours with them. It will be best to explain corrections as they come along. Practice makes perfect when it comes to driving. Make sure that you log a lot of hours together before letting them drive solo.
Having Too Many People In The Car
Teenagers are just starting to get mobile. In most teenage social circles, there will be only one or two teenage drivers that have access to a car. That means that all of their friends will pile into the same small car. Having too many people is a huge distraction. With a ton of friends in the front and back seats, your teen may be busy socializing instead of focusing on the road. Too many people in the car can also seriously reduce their visibility. With a bunch of people blocking the view of their back windshield and side mirrors, they may end up making a mistake because they can’t completely see the hazards on the road.
It’s easy to teach your children about this particular mistake. Make sure they understand that all cars have a capacity limit, and as much as they want to drive around everyone, they don’t have to do so. They need to stick to the number of passengers that the car allows. Further, you need to make sure that they lay clear ground rules for their friends. If they are getting in the car, they are not to engage in distracting behavior, and they should wear their seat belts at all times.
Not Fully Understanding Traffic Laws
Finally, the biggest mistake is that teenagers simply do not understand all the traffic laws. They may not understand what to do when they encounter certain traffic signs or may not understand the rules of changing lanes in certain areas. There are many smaller traffic laws that often get missed during driver training. If they fail to understand what to do in certain situations, they could panic, leading to an accident.
This is the easiest mistake to fix of all of them. You simply need to make sure that your teenager gets comprehensive driver’s training. Finding a good driving school may be an issue. There may not be one in your local area, or you may not be able to find one that fits both of your schedules. Luckily, there are reliable online driver’s ed courses. Online driving schools provide the same comprehensive education as traditional traffic schools but are much more convenient.
Here are some tips to finding the best online driver’s ed course for your teen:
- Years of Operation and Accreditation: Go for an online driving school only if they’ve been around for at least five years. It’s even better if they have good reviews from reputable organizations like the Better Business Bureau (BBB).
- Interactive learning tools on a mobile app: It’s best to go with an online school that offers different learning techniques through text, video, animations, and audio. In this way, your teen will never get bored of learning! We recommend Aceable for their tech-savvy dedicated mobile application or MyImprov for their hilarious skits and videos.
- Payment and Guarantees: Say the driver’s ed isn’t to your teens liking. You wouldn’t want to stick to that school for longer. So look for a school that offers a money-back and satisfaction guarantee like DriverEdtoGo.
- 24/7 Customer and technical support: Make sure that you go with a school that can provide 24/7 support to your teen through convenient methods like live chat, email, or phone support, like iDriveSafely.
Whatever choice you go with, make sure that you’ll be available to help your teen if they have any questions!
You can learn more about online traffic schools at Traffic School Critics. We provide information and reviews on all the top online traffic schools on the internet and can help make sure that your teenager gets the proper training so that they are prepared when they get onto the road by themselves.