Good question. Yes, I've been teaching them since they were small children. Both of my kids are teenagers now, and will soon be driving. They have years of consious awareness under their belts. Ofcourse, there's the 'other guy' factor.

I saw a piece on the news about how teens are often distracted (friends, music, food, texting (?!?)) while driving. This is one of those 'it helps to see it for yourself' situations, which I hope to incorporate into their lessons. I'd like to see it done everywhere.

It's so very important to get them to think about the consequences of their actions, should they make a mistake.

JackieRodzinski

TheInquiringEye

I sent my kid for a course in defensive driving before he was allowed to apply for a license. He's been driving for 21 years and is accident free. Now, he drives almost 100,000 miles a year. He's a touring musician and each coast-to-coast trip is over 12000 miles of driving when you count all the zigs and zags. And I don't want to even tell you the fun he has when he is in the British Isles and Australia with the car controls of the right and the driving to the left.

I think the most important thing I taught him was by example. I was a good driver (still am) and used my head. I only drive like an idiot when I am alone in the car!

I started teaching our daughter to drive but with having no experience at doing this except for my number of years on the road, decided to get an instructor to teach her. I also had it confirmed that I am an extremely bad passenger & made her as nervous as I was. The things the instructor had her do were beyond my capabilities so I think it was the best decision.

Next year she's going back to Australia & as she's never driven there will have to start from scratch. Once again we'll get her a professional instructor to help smooth the process. This time all she really needs to do is learn to drive on the other side of the road but that takes a lot of concentration to start with.

What I like about learning to drive back home is that once you have your licence you are on a "P" plate for a couple of years. The P on the car indicates that you are on probation as a driver... you can't be caught with any kind of liquor on your breath, you have a set speed limit, & so on. I'm a bit out of touch having been here for several years now but I believe once you've had your P for about a year you move onto a different level of P which gives you a bit more flexibility.

Obviously it's the schools' responsibility like everything else, don't you think?

I just tossed my daughter some keys and said, "Have at it, kid!".

(Dripping sarcasm)

Of course it is the parents responsibility.

It is the most important thing to teach them safe driving habits both by example while they are growing up and especially when they begin driving.

As a former law enforcement officer I know I have a great ability to teach my daughter how to drive safely.

I taught my daughter to drive (she's 18 now), and I will teach my son (currently 15) to drive...

Our cars both have a stick-shift, so we spent many hours driving around school parking lots before we went on the road. It was frustrating to her, but until she could consistently start from a stop sign without stalling, there was just no way...

I was the better parent for teaching, because I didn't get angry or go nuts when she made a mistake...if it was significant and a "near-miss", I'd have her pull into a parking lot ASAP, and have a calm "ok, what went wrong, and what should happen next time" discussion. In our state, 50 driving hours are required before the teen can get his/her license. We kept a notebook in the car, and took our time. We accumulated the hours over almost an entire year, which I think is good for building experience and driving maturity. A driving course is also required (24 hrs of classroom instruction and 8 hrs behind the wheel). She was pretty decent at driving and had her permit for something like 8 months before she took the course. She felt like that was a good system, because it made the driving rules and habits they discussed and practiced more meaningful, as she already had experience and could relate to what was taught; she could effectively understand and apply the principles.

Back to the exact question...I think we as parents are responsible for teaching our teens to drive safely, and it's incredibly important to teach safe driving habits. The responsibility can be a bit overwhelming, but I found it quite rewarding, and was a lot of great time spent with my teen.

That's a key thing, experience. When my kids finally get their permits (NJ raised the age), they are going to drive me everywhere. They'll have so much 'experience' by the time the license comes they'll never want to get behind a wheel again...

JackieRodzinski

TheInquiringEye

Well, I tell my daughters to drive safely...I just hope they aren't watching my own driving too closely!