Tips for teaching your teen how to drive

Teaching your child how to drive can be a daunting prospect. Concerns about safety and damage to your car will naturally make you nervous, and there’s no telling how they will react in an emergency. 

However, learners who have professional driving lessons and private practice with their parents are 1.5 times more likely to pass their test than those relying on lessons alone, so it’s worth biting the bullet and being brave to get your child safe behind the wheel and driving independently more quickly.

Once their instructor has given the go-ahead for supervised practice in a standard vehicle, follow these tips for teaching your teen how to drive to ensure the process is as smooth and safe as possible.

Top tips for teaching your teen how to drive

Start with the basics

As with any skill, you should start by building up the basics. This is best done on your residential road if it’s relatively quiet, or at a nearby estate or car park during quiet hours.

Begin by switching on the ignition but keeping the car stationary. Encourage your teen to go through the controls including the lights, windscreen wipers and indicators, ensuring they know how to locate and use them all. You can then turn on the engine and practice finding the biting point with the clutch and checking the mirrors before moving off safely. Focus on starting and stopping safely and controlled before hitting public roads.

Once on the road, stay slow and test their basic manoeuvres such as going round corners forwards and backwards, three-point turns, bay parking and parallel parking. 

Prioritise safety

Before you hit the road, ensure that your teen is prioritising safety in their driving. Check that they’re wearing their seatbelt, recommend defensive driving techniques, for example maintaining a safe following distance and quiz them on how they would handle unsafe situations to help them prepare for every eventuality.  You should also ask them to demonstrate an emergency stop and how they would restart the engine after stalling.

You should also look for the right young driver’s insurance cover to ensure you’re financially and legally protected should your teenager collide with a stationary object or another vehicle while driving.

Gradually increase challenges

When you feel confident in your child’s abilities, gradually increase the challenges in each session, taking them to unfamiliar and busier areas to build experience in more difficult driving. 

This should include towns where they have to navigate obstacles such as parked car, traffic lights and manage their speed in line with frequently changing limits. You can then upgrade to advanced challenges such as going through city centres at rush hour, driving after dark and using dual carriageways.

Remember to always try and keep calm and praise your child every time they pick up a new skill or show that a technique has become second nature. Frequent practice is key to becoming a confident driver. Aim for regular sessions that gradually increase in length and complexity. This will instil confidence which is all-important to staying safe on the road.

Model Good Driving Habits

Teens learn a lot by watching. So it is important to set a good example and model responsible driving behaviours For example; using your indicators when turning, checking blind spots, obeying speed limits and staying off the phone.

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