My nephew is 14 and itching at the bit to start driving the instant he’s 15 in August. He claims that he “knows all about driving”, so, in the middle of a discussion of manual transmissions over dinner tonight, I asked him what rev matching was. He tried to bluff his way through but it was obvious he didn’t know what it was.
I’ll start of course:
Assume that anybody near you is going to do something unexpectedly stupid, and leave yourself an out.
Maintain a mental map of all the vehicles around you, so that if you need to react quickly to something you instantly know where to go. Constantly check your mirrors.
No cell phone usage, hands always at 10 and 2 on the wheel except if you are on a lightly populated highway.
I’ll admit…I don’t know what it is and I drive a 5 speed :smack: .
When a student of mine proudly shows me their new “hard card” I always tell them that the very best place to get into an accident is the parking lot. Go to a mall and people are chattering about what they bought, adjusting the A/C, putting on their seatbelts as they drive, whatever…anything but paying attention to their driving. So, watch your ass in parking lots.
:dubious: If you’re talking about accidents, then this is not true. Many accidents happen because of carelessness and lack of attention. Nothing to do with the car’s speed.
Here’s a basic rule: Make sure that you look in the direction that you are planning to go.
The safest lane for an inexperienced driver cruising down the freeway is the one next to the right lane. (The right lane has lots of merges to deal with, and the maniacs are in the leftward lanes.)
Leave enough time to get where you’re going, and you will be far less tempted to do something stupid.
Ditto on the parking lots. In addition to the fact that people are often distracted, they are more two-dimensional than roads. Few people just cruise across a busy road out of nowhere, but they will jump across empty parking places all the time.
One of the most important things I learned as a teenager is: Do not swerve for anything short of a human.
This means if a deer, dog, cat, rabbit, or whatever jumps in front of your car, DON’T SWERVE! If it is a little boy or girl chasing a ball, swerve. Now, of course slamming on the brakes is ok, but your less likely to get into a head on accident that kills you or someone else if you stay in your own lane.
Now, as I got older, and more experienced, I have swerved for a non-human when it was safe, but when I was learning it was very valuable advise.
Oh, and also, when in waiting to make a left turn, keep your wheels straight until you start the turn, just in case someone hits you from behind.
After having gone through it with three, I have only one thing to say:
What young people need to know before they start driving?
Put GAS in the family car yourself sometimes. Dammit.
It’s a major PITA for Mom to hop in the car to go to church only to find it running on fumes. So put some gas in the damn car occasionally, eh. If you don’t have money, then come get Mom’s Discover card, whatever it takes, but YOU deal with it so I don’t have to.
When somebody cuts you off and nearly kills you or your loved ones, remember that fifteen minutes later, you’ll be happy that you didn’t get out of the car and make it personal.
Here’s a single rule that is simple, useful, and just plain vital for a 15 yr old kid:
“If I do anything stupid , my dad will take away my keys”.
And tell the kid that when his friends urge him to go joyriding/speeding, etc, he should repeat that rule out loud to them. “It’s all because of my stupid dad!.. so no, I can’t go drag racing, sorry. I’m cool for it, but my Dad’s an asshole.”
So Dad gets called a-hole…It’s better than being called by the police morgue.
