Your teenager is ready to learn how to drive — it is exciting and terrifying at the same time. While you are excited that your teenager is growing up and becoming a responsible, independent young adult, you also know the dangers of driving. It is not just the concern that your teen will make a mistake while driving, but you worry about the other drivers on the road.
You can help your teen become a safer driver by spending as much time as you can in the car riding with your teen as he or she learns to drive. Every time your teen is behind the wheel of the car, he or she is gaining valuable driving experience that will help them when he or she is driving without the “safety net” of you being in the car. Below are five tips that you can use now while you are teaching your teen to drive in Louisiana.
Tips for Teenage Drivers
Getting Started
Schedule regular practice sessions with your teen driver to introduce them to the responsibility of driving a vehicle. Begin with short, 20 minute, sessions and gradually increase sessions to an hour. As you increase the time of the sessions, vary the driving conditions — begin with driving during daylight hours only in large open areas in good weather and slowly work into driving at night, on the freeway, and in various weather conditions.
Do Not Underestimate the Value of a Driving Instructor or a Driving School
As with most things we try to teach our children, they often listen to someone else say the exact same thing and believe that person more than they believe us. Having a driving instructor teach your teen to drive is an excellent way to confirm and emphasize the lessons you are teaching them when you are in the car with him or her. Furthermore, an instructor will have far more patience with your teen and they have been trained in the best manner to teach teens how to drive.
Graduated License Program
Graduated License Programs are designed to slowly give teen drivers more experience before they receive their full driver’s license. Limiting the hours a teen can drive, how many people can be in the car, how many months of supervised driving is required to drive without a parent or other adult in the vehicle, and other restrictions can save lives by preventing accidents. Do not assume when the state says your teen is ready to have a full license that he or she is ready. You know your teen driver — add more restrictions of your own and/or delay obtaining a full driver’s license until you are confident your teen is ready. Several driving and safety schools are located in Acadiana that may be able to provide supervised teen driving classes. In Louisiana every student that has taken diver education after 11/1/14 must take an OMV Road Skills test. A list of OMV Third Party testers by city can be found here.
Always Use Turn Signals
Even adults have a difficult time with this simply traffic rule. Stopping quickly and turning without warning vehicles behind you causes accidents. Emphasize the importance of communicating with the drivers behind you to void rear-end collisions.
Distracted Driving
This is one of the most common reasons for automobile accidents among teens and adults. Teach your teen about the dangers of texting, talking on a cell phone, adjusting radio stations, having other people in the vehicle, and using other electronic devices while driving. Never stop reminding your teen of these dangers regardless of how long your child has been driving. Make an agreement with your teen that the both of you will not drive distracted and hold each other to that agreement.
Contact a Lafayette, LA Automobile Accident Attorney
It is our sincere hope that your teen driver will never need our services; however, if your teen driver is involved in an accident, contact the Law Office of Matt & Allen, in Lafayette, Louisiana, as soon as possible. Our car accident attorneys have over 50 years of combined experience representing teens and adults in a variety of vehicle accidents including automobile, motorcycle, and truck accidents. Contact our office by calling 337-237-1000 or online to schedule your free consultation with an experienced, knowledgeable, and compassionate personal injury attorney.
