Is Your Teen Ready to Drive on the Highway?
Many experienced drivers don’t relish driving on the highway. The high speeds, congestion, and dreaded merging require unwavering focus and confidence. If experienced drivers get a little nervous about driving on the highway, just think how scared your teen might be about taking their turn behind the wheel.
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If you’re wondering if your teen is ready to drive on the highway, consider if your teen is skilled at making safe lane changes and understands how to keep a safe distance and speed from other vehicles, advises Maria Wojtczak, co-founder and COO at DrivingMBA.
“The most important skills for freeway driving are lane changes, and managing speed and space. The more space a driver has between their vehicle and the vehicle in front of them, the better their ability to avoid a collision. Teach your student to leave a 4 to 6-second space,” she adds.
Although mastering highway driving is essential to your teen’s driving education, it’s just one part of the learning process. And all teen drivers differ on the road to becoming a skilled, confident, and licensed driver.
“The first step is to recognize that it is a process, not an event, just as every child learns differently when it comes to subjects in school, it is no different when they are learning how to drive,” she writes. “There is a progression of skills and an attitude that must be developed to instill a sense of responsibility in a young driver.”
Highway driving is a daunting task, but it may not be the scariest place to drive.
“The most difficult driving is busy surface streets as there are many more possibilities for hazards to pop up. For example, pedestrians, cyclists, traffic signs and lights, other vehicles making right and left turns, distracted drivers red-light runners, intersections, the list can go on,” according to Wojtczak.
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Focus, control, and a solid grasp of basic driving skills are needed no matter where your teen drives. Help them get the experience and education they need so they can be a confident driver no matter where they drive.
DeAnn Owens is a Dayton transplant by way of the Windy City, yet considers herself to be a California girl at heart even though she’s only visited there once. To get through the dreaded allergy season unique to the Miami Valley, she reads, writes, complains about the weather, and enjoys spending time with her husband, two sons, and their newest addition, a Boston terrier puppy that is now in charge of all their lives. In the future, she hopes to write a novel and travel through time. See more articles by DeAnn.