My niece has reached driving age, and honestly, it’s so exciting. Weirdly, perhaps the most surprising part is that she’s into it; a lot of today’s teens don’t really care about driving and don’t really want to get good at it, either. Thankfully, both her dad and her aunt (me) are car fanatics. This means the poor kid is bombarded with advice.
I feel like I have four favorite tips that I like to give to new drivers, regardless of age.
My first, and perhaps my favorite bit of advice, is to look farther than your vehicle’s hood. It sounds silly, but a lot of folks don’t really look ahead and only look at what’s going on directly in front of their bumper. This is risky because conditions can change ahead of your vehicle, and you want to be aware of your surroundings so you can react to them. An overloaded truck that might spill an end table onto the highway, a bicyclist who might swerve unexpectedly, an Altima that might suddenly Altima … the sooner you spot these things, the more time you have to anticipate what might happen, and the more prepared you’ll be to react.
With that in mind, I think it’s also important to have an escape plan. By this, I mean you should scan your surroundings for hazards and places to go if conditions go downhill. Is there sufficient room to change lanes? Is the shoulder safe to enter if needed? A good driver is always ready to X when Y happens, if it happens.
My last two pieces of advice are tied together. I’ve noticed some self-taught drivers develop bad habits, primarily inconsistent speed (instead of holding, say, 50mph, they accelerate to 50, let off the gas and drift down to 40mph, then surge back to 50, and repeat) and braking with their left foot. The latter makes it easy to accidentally confuse the pedals and cause an accident, and the former wastes fuel and may give passengers seasickness.
[Ed note: I once had a ride home in a Town Car from a driver who was not only unable to maintain speed as Mercedes describes, but he couldn’t hold a line, either; he constantly drifted out of lane and corrected, and on/off ramps were navigated by tugging the wheel to direct the car away from the outside barrier, letting the car get close to it again, and re-tugging. Instead of maintaining a constant radius, an off-ramp might be twenty straight-line facets, with the Town Car wallowing like a rowboat the entire time. I have never been so nauseous in my life. – Pete]
Admittedly, my lovely wife pumped her gas pedal a lot when I met her. I remembered myself feeling sick and not knowing why. Then, I saw that the engine revs were constantly going up and down – the car had a CVT – and then looked at the gas pedal. Then, we watched a marathon of Canada’s Worst Driver (an episode is embedded above), and, amazingly, it made a night-and-day difference. Honestly, if you’ve never seen Canada’s Worst Driver before, I highly recommend it. The show is great edu-tainment.
Those are just the pieces of advice at the top of my head. How about you? What would you teach a new driver?
Top graphic image: DepositPhotos.com
Not often that people actually want to hear from the back seat driver, but here goes!
Stop before the sidewalk to make sure it’s clear of approaching pedestrians and bikers before proceeding to where you can view car traffic.
If you’re the first vehicle at a traffic light, look both ways to make sure ALL cross traffic has come to a stop. Once late at night on a rural 4 lane 1 truck stopped on a yellow and a second truck just behind him in the other lane ran a red light. It doesn’t take much imagination to see how that could have ended.
Set your side mirrors out farther than feels intuitively correct, to the point where you can’t see your own car. It’s amazing how much your blindspot is reduced and how many more vehicles you’ll see right next to you without needing to crane your neck. Set the inside mirror to look straight back. Check the mirrors constantly so that no one’s tailgating or weaving anong lanes, and for general awareness of your surroundings.
When you’re next to a merge lane or onramp check to make sure some moron isn’t racing to get onto the interstate and about to cut you off.
When changing lanes on a multilane interstate make sure someone who is weaving across many lanes isn’t about to enter the same lane you’re about to enter.
What’s the only thing a green light does? It changes to yellow! (and for the pedantic, it goes out and the yellow illuminates)
Drive the road that’s in front of you.
Plan for the road that might be in front of you in fifteen seconds. Know that you may be wrong
The rest doesn’t matter
Get Car Insurance !! it’s not optional
When my younger brother was learning to drive, he thought the throttle and brake were on off switches. When I showed him that letting off the throttle slowed the car and he didn’t always need to hit the brake, it was an epiphany for him. Turned out to be a very good driver.
Make sure you’re well rested when you are getting your first behind the wheel experiences. Even if just in an empty parking lot (which is where I started).
Cars are replaceable, people are not.
Keep the phone away.
Learn to drive and practice it without any aids and distractions (music, parking sensors and other ADAS systems, cameras, passengers, etc) so you do not become reliant on an imperfect system of sensors.
Once you are comfortable with the functions of driving, learn how to drive defensively and implement it.
Keep your head on a swivel, and your eyes moving between your windows and mirrors.
Learn how to drive a manual.
Check under your hood every time you refuel, especially the level of vital fluids. If something seems wrong, trust your judgement, and get a second opinion, if only from a gas station worker.
Look as far downrange in your lane that you can. You will naturally stay in your lane better, an your peripheral vision can see more.
Always keep your vehicle keys (and wallet and such) on your person except when not needed. Never put them on, say, the cowl.
“Bad drivers never miss their turn”. Roads generally all connect and offer multiple ways to get to a destination; if you miss your turn don’t worry about it, just take one of the next ones. Be patient and keep calm.
Learn how to navigate by road signs and physical maps. You can’t always count on a cellular or satellite signal, especially in an emergency.
Use your signals.
Use your lights properly.
Pay attention to your dashboard and gauge cluster, and learn what the symbols mean. Don’t be like the drivers that have their high beams always on, or drive without their lights on (for instance).
Move carefully and predictably. Sudden changes are not only harder to predict, but can have a cascading effect on fellow motorists, which can cause problems. They are also more likely to cause sudden losses of control.
Keep calm, and keep any personal road rage in check. Get dash cams if it becomes a recurring issue, and report offenders to local authorities as needed.
If you do not feel safe to drive for any reason – fatigue, weather, stress, etc. – then don’t. There are other ways and times to get somewhere safely.
Gove yourself plenty of following distance. Better to stop too short than too late.
Have and use proper eye protection depending on the situation. A pair of polarized sunglasses and/or a ballcap/visor could be the difference between seeing and being blinded by the sun, for instance.
Unless you have UV-blocking tint you’ll benefit from some sunscreen on longer drives. Look at commercial truckers for example and how messed up the left sides of their faces, necks, and arms are compared to the right
Driving is a privilege, not a right.
It’s better to refuel (and get fluid maintenance) too often than not often enough.
Don’t skimp on tires.
Quality wiper blades are cheap insurance.
Rain-X and similar treatments take just a few minutes to apply and are inexpensive.
If you’re encountering a lot of red lights especially on the same road you’re probably going faster than the engineers who designed the road and traffic systems intended. Slow down a bit and you may hit all greens.
Impatience causes many accidents. Do not rush or be in a hurry
Alter your driving to the road conditions.
My kid watched someone crash yesterday in a blizzard as they were driving way to fast for the conditions and slid through a red light and then off the road. She knew it would happen when she saw them going to fast as they approached the intersection. the roads were ice under fresh snow.
Just focus on driving. I know it seems simple, but so much of my early driving issues could have been prevented if I had just focused on driving. Don’t let your ego get in the way. You’re driving a 3000 pound machine at 25-85 miles per hour.
I don’t know what would have gotten through to me, but, take it from someone who’s lived it; just pay attention and think twice before doing something.
When waiting to turn left, don’t turn the wheel until you’re actually ready to accelerate. If you get rear-ended with the wheel turned now you’ve been rear-ended *and* possibly T-boned.
Be predictable. More accidents are caused by drivers doing things that everyone else around them doesn’t see coming. Such as cutting across 1 or more interstate lanes to catch an exit they are about to miss. Just take the next one, don’t risk it.
As the saying goes: a good driver might miss their exit, a terrible driver never does.
I currently have two 15 year old’s in my house and this is something I have spent some time thinking about.
Always have a plan, not just an escape plan. Driving should be purposeful and not reactive. Including entering and exiting places like parking lots.
Don’t stare at the backup camera screen, check the direction you are backing.
Assume that everyone else is trying to kill you.
Get them to floor it up to about 30 and slam on the brakes a few times to feel what loss of traction on accel and decel is like.
TEACH THEM TO DRIVE A MANUAL.
New driver? Play some Eurotruck Simulator.
There is no prize for being the first car to the red light.
When shit happens, don’t panic. I took my niece and nephew to an advanced driving school at VIR (for those in the mid-Atlantic area https://www.teendrivingsolutions.org/) that put both them and me through a variety of situations so they could learn car control/how to recover.
I was glad I got to go when I hydroplaned at 70 MPH, went into the wet grassy median, and managed to recover before ending up in opposing traffic…
Driving predictably > driving courteously. If you have the right of way, take it. Don’t use shoulders as turn lanes, don’t stop in traffic to let someone else go if you have the right of way, etc. basically, it’s safer for everyone to know what to expect versus being thrown off by someone trying to be courteous. The 1:1 interaction isn’t always visible to the broader driving audience either so a car that has the right of way and yields at an interaction may not be visible to the cars behind.
Doesn’t mean drive like a dick, just do what you’re meant to do when you’re meant to do it
This is one I have absolutely been hammering on as my daughter comes of driving age. “See that person that’s so nicely letting them cross traffic? They’re implying to the entering driver that it’s safe to do so. But the people farther up the other lane have no idea this little contract is in place, and have no idea, or reason to have an idea, that they should slow to allow someone to cross traffic. It’s a literal invitation to a collision.” And so on.
That’s exactly my thought and concern. There are expectations on the road that are assumed to be universal for everyone on the road. Trying to be “courteous” is dangerous when it’s unnecessary. Driving isn’t the equivalent of holding open a door for someone or letting someone take your seat.
Another one we get alot of with people in rural parts of central Texas (I’ve never seen it happen anywhere else) where other drivers will drive on the shoulder at the speed limit or higher to encourage you to pass them. But to do so, you have to speed excessively and they end up kicking rocks and shit up at your car. Or people getting into a shoulder to turn right that has created this assumption that everyone should do so (so nobody slows down for signals when people go to turn right onto side streets). It’s courtesy gone wrong.
Oh man driving predictably–that’s my big axe to grind as a cyclist as well as a motorist. If it’s your turn, go. Follow the rules of the road. Of course courteous, but predictable driving helps keep me safe on a bike.
Other drivers should never have to react to your driving. Drive in a predictable way, and never expect that from others.
Teach them what to look for like, when a car is on the side of the road and the put it in drive, the reverse light will flash.
When driving at night, when on coming traffic headed towards you look to the right side of the lane, you’ll be able to see obstacles, like walkers or bikers.
Teach them how to adjust the mirrors to avoid blind spots, for the drivers side put your head against the glass and then adjust the Driver mirror. Your 3 mirrors should provide a clear continuous view.
Checking that you can see the road markings in your passenger-side mirror will help you to stop wandering.
Reverse parking is easier than pulling in to park. It also makes leaving easier too.
Reverse parking is also generally easier when you use your side mirrors to check you’re slotting between the lines, rather than relying on the reversing camera (which has a warped perspective and can lead to over correction).
This one is a little more niche, but as someone who comes from a country where they drive on the left, some of the best advice I received was to always keep in mind that the driver should be closest to the middle of the road. Helped me a lot during my early days of driving on the right (wrong) side of the road in the US.
Always wait for an approaching car with their blinker on to begin turning before cutting across their lane- especially If you are making a lefthand turn across traffic. My father preached this rule ad nauseam while teaching me to drive and it has saved me many times from being T-boned by a driver changing their mind, or not being aware that they have their blinker on to turn into the road I’m turning from. There is nothing like hesitating to pull out on a motorcycle and having a turning driver suddenly decide to continue going straight to make you count your blessings.
I remember my driving instructor telling me this back in the day. Even though it feels silly to wait sometimes, it’s definitely worth it, especially in places where there’s multiple turn-offs all right near each other
I won’t even trust someone who I see turn their turn signal on and slow down. Until those wheels start turning, I’m not pulling out. Wife complains about it even though I explain why I’m doing it…