Sixteen is by far the most dangerous age on the road. A 16-year-old is twelve times as likely as older drivers to die in a crash as a single occupant. Put two young teens in a vehicle, and the odds of death and injury nearly double. Three or four unsupervised teens riding together constitute a recipe for disaster. Despite these sobering facts, the procedure for obtaining a drivers license in most states remains minimal. Some don't even require a learner's permit. Some allow the permit to be obtained before age 16. Although some states have installed graduated licensing, with sensible restrictions for the youngest drivers, many still impose only the most minimal requirements. The condition of formal driver education in America is no better. A small number of high schools operate relatively comprehensive programs that require parental involvement. But most have cut back driver ed. classes to the point where they can accommodate only a small portion of students. Even the lucky ones receive only a few hours of behind-the-wheel instruction. Commercial driving schools, even the most competent and conscientious among them, cannot possibly provide complete instruction. Safe Young Drivers helps to address this enormous problem. It is an indispensable guide for teaching teens to drive. Written by Phil Berardelli, a father and former teacher who understands this often frustrating – and potentially dangerous – passage into adulthood, Safe Young Drivers is intended for parents and teens to use together. Each new lesson addresses parental issues, such as how to choose a car for your teen, and provides teens with simple instruction and important tips to remember. With simple graphics, a complete index, and a section called Some ABC's for the Road – a mini-encyclopedia for teens – Safe Young Drivers offers a valuable tool for all new drivers and their teachers.
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Phil Berardelli. Safe Young Drivers: A Guide for Parents and Teens
FOREWORD
How to Use This Book
TEN STEPS, FIVE THEMES
INTRODUCTION FOR PARENTS
INTRODUCTION FOR TEENS
GETTING STARTED
The First Question to Ask: Is Your Child Ready?
The Learner’s Permit
Before You Move the Vehicle
A Few Words about Teaching
The Best Place to Start
THE FIRST DAY
The Pre-Drive Checklist
Getting a Grip
Theme One of Five: CLEAR THE WAY
Clean and Clear
TEN STEPS TO BASIC SKILLS
Step One: BASIC MOVES
Step Two: BACK ROADS, QUIET STREETS
Step Three: BUSY BUT SLOW ENCOUNTERS
Step Four: STOP AND GO
Step Five: COUNTRYSIDE
Theme Two of Five: LEARN THE LIMITS
Theme Three of Five: SHARE THE ROAD
Step Six: GETTING UP TO HIGHWAY SPEEDS
Step Seven: NIGHT DRIVING
Step Eight: CITY STREETS
Theme Four of Five: THINK AHEAD
Step Nine: INTO HEAVY TRAFFIC
Step Ten: COPING WITH BAD WEATHER
Theme Five of Five: FEEL THE ROAD
ON TO THE LICENSE (and then what?)
Sensible Limits for Young Drivers
Post-license checkups
You Still Can Say ‘No’
Choosing a Car for Your Teen
ONE MORE THING
SOME ABC’S FOR THE ROAD
RESOURCES
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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Being the author of Safe Young Drivers remains a rewarding and surprisingly challenging experience for me, now 15 years after I first completed the manuscript. Originally I had intended the book to be a relatively straightforward self-help tool for parents to give their teens a good start behind the wheel. Now it has evolved into a lifelong personal campaign to combat highway fatalities, which remain alarmingly high.
Consider just this one fact: During the five years beginning in March 2003, when the U.S. military invaded Iraq, until March 2008 as I write this new foreword, almost precisely 4,000 soldiers were killed in combat and related actions. But over that same time period, approximately 32,500 teenagers—more than eight times as many—died on our highways. A death on the road is just as sudden and just as violent as anything experienced in warfare, so we are talking about the violent death of children and young adults.
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Most state driving exams tend to concentrate on rules and regulations. They require very little in the way of real driving skills. Parallel parking seems to be a major component, for instance. License requirements remain as undemanding as they were years and years ago, when the volume of motor vehicle traffic was only a fraction of what it is now. In my own state, Virginia, the driver’s manual devotes only a dozen pages to safe driving techniques. Clearly, state governments and local school districts are, by and large, not providing the ideal instructional environment where driving is concerned.
These are not very satisfactory circumstances, but there is a remedy: Do what I did. Teach your child yourself. I know it might sound daunting. After all, turning a gangly, sassy, otherwise normal teenager into a skilled and responsible driver, who can maneuver up to two tons of vehicle safely in traffic, in all kinds of weather, is no casual activity.
