Yes, I had the priviledge recently of teaching two teenagers to drive. Not only did I teach my own daughter two years ago, a client recently asked if I would teach her son. Knowing there is no father in his life I easily agreed to help.
NOW, selling insurance does not make me the best driver (my wife will heartily agree) or a driving expert. But I have been driving for over thirty years with a pretty clean driving record throughout. 'Nuff said.
The first time around the block with 16 year old Chris (as I will call him) my hands were white from gripping the dashboard. We nearly knocked over several large trash barrels, did hit a couple curbs and thanks to my quickly grabbing the steering wheel, we would have hit a couple of parked cars too.
CHRIS got better each week and he tried hard.
To watch his transformation from a completely in-experienced driver to a certain comfort level showed me alot. He did improve, certainly.
BUT CHRIS made the mistake that most teens make.
THIS mistake is probably why teenagers are involved in more accidents than all the other age groups combined and why they pay so much more in insurance.
It was not long before he began accelerating quickly at every green light ripping fast to the next light, stopping in the same rushed fashion. It was like sitting next to Dale Earnhardt. Even though Chris drove like a man on a mission, it was beyond his comfort level and experience.
I TRIED patiently coaxing him into slowing down and stopping sooner. It didn't help. Only when we were very nearly involved in an accident on the I60 did I loudly insist Chris take to heart my advice.
So I pass on this simple advice to everyone with teen drivers
If you follow the suggestions below your odds of staying accident free improve greatly.
1) Do not drive faster than your comfort level.
2) Do not tail gate.
While there are probably a hundred different pieces of advice we could give, I found these two important.
I guess if all of us followed the above advice even us grown ups would have fewer mishaps.
Hope that helps.
Home Insurance Phoenix, Arizona Insurance Company
