Teaching Your Teen To Drive: Objective # 3 - Taking Turns

"Knowledge is gained by learning; trust by doubt; skill by practice; and love by love." ~ Thomas S. Szasz

How does a parent go about teaching a brand new, inexperienced driver how to make proper turns?

Here are the step by step instructions:

#1 - Get behind the wheel to show and explain the proper steps for turning corners. Tell your student when and where to start turning and how to straighten the front wheels for coming out of a turn. Have the kid watch your hands as well as the road.

For a left turn you might use the following script while you demonstrate:

Check your rear view mirror and signal your turn at least 100 feet (about two houses) before the intersection.

Slow down as you approach the intersection and position your car next to the center line as you get closer to the corner.

Look left for cross traffic, look right for cross traffic, look across the intersection for oncoming traffic, and look to your left a second time.

When it is safe to do so - drive to the point where your steering wheel is even with the left corner curb (that straight line of concrete to our left), look out the drivers side window, and begin steering into the lane just to the right of the yellow (center) line.

You should move your eyes towards the right (out the front windshield) as the car progresses into the turn.

Just before the front of the car is perfectly straight begin begin steering back to the right until the car is moving forward in a straight line.

By the way, you're going to have to take very slow turns if you're going to coordinate the words with the actions during the demonstration.

#2 - Find a good place to turn the car over to your new driver. If you can find an empty parking lot, mark out a 200' by 200' rectangle and mark the corners with orange safety cones (or sand filled bottles). If you can't find a parking lot, find a quiet neighborhood with straight streets and 90 degree intersections.

#3 - Review the lessons from Starting and Stopping. Afterwards have the student demonstrate the hand-over-hand technique while the selector lever is in park and engine idles. Then have the student start making left turns very slowly. You can coach by telling him where to start steering, when to hold the steering wheel in place, and when to start straightening. You should be ready to assist his steering with your left hand.

#4 - After making the first few turns begin emphasizing proper eye habits. Learning to visualize the proper turn path and "looking into and through the turn" are essential to making smooth and precise turns.

#5 - Practice right turns in the same manner. Remember to keep things slow.

#6 - If you've been working in a parking lot up to this point, move the lesson out into the streets. It's time to start practicing proper positioning and signalling in a quiet, low traffic area. Your job just became more complicated because now you have to watch the traffic in addition to coaching. Take an aspirin or two.

#7 - You can begin to gradually speed up the maneuvers. The timing of the steering and braking is closely tied to the speed of the car. The faster your student drives the more difficult the turns become.

#8 - Your teen should learn that the time to begin the straightening process is when the front wheels, not the hood, start to point down the street being turned into.

#9 - Progress to areas where you can take a variety of turns. Your teen should learn how to turn from the halt, while moving, when positioned on a hill top, when positioned at the base of a hill, at corners with both sharp and rounded curbs, and from narrow streets to wide streets.

Have fun. And remember this takes time.

See also:

Help! My Teens Are Taking Killer Turns!! Part I

Help! My Teens Are Taking Killer Turns!! Part II

Teaching Your Teen To Drive: Objective #2 - Starting and Stopping

"Tell me and I'll forget, show me and I may remember, involve me and I'll understand." ~ Chinese Proverb

Once you and your young driver have worked out a pre-driving routine, it's time to get the car moving. Right? Well, not quite. There are still a few key points you'll want to cover before you get rolling.

You should review some of the things he has learned in the classroom - for instance, the fact that one can start the car only if the gear shift selector lever is set on Park (P) or Neutral (N). The ability to start the car in Neutral comes in pretty handy should it ever stall in traffic.

You'll want to review all the warning lights, switches, knobs, and gauges on the dashboard. The windshield wiper switch, the headlight switch, and emergency flashers/warning lights should get special attention. When you need these three, you REALLY need them.

Before he ever inserts key into the ignition switch, remind him to let it go once he hears the sound of the engine. Otherwise you get the buzz-saw sound and your starter motor is one step closer to the junk yard.

Now we're ready to get moving.

Before letting your teen move the car for the first time take it to an off-street area, such as an empty or sparsely populated parking lot. If you can't find one that fits the bill, a straight stretch of level street (about 500 feet) in a quiet neighborhood will suffice.

Have your teen start the engine and shut it off a couple times before moving the car.

Have him drive in a straight line without using the accelerator. I've met so many kids that think the car can't move without help from the accelerator. I suppose old habits developed on the little "Bob the Builder" Jeep die hard. This is where he should learn that he doesn't have to hit the gas to obtain motion.

After he comes to this new understanding, you can have him cross the lot again (or drive down another straight stretch) with the gas pedal slightly depressed, going maybe 10-15 mph, so he can judge the relationship between pedal pressure and acceleration. Have him keep this up while changing the accelerator pressure until he's slowing down and speeding up smoothly.

Then you can teach him to control his speed with the brake. He can practice going forward and backward using only the brake pedal. Have him increase the speed incrementally and then work on slowing down from the higher speeds.

This is where emphasizing keeping that right heel on the floor will pay off. He has to pivot from the accelerator to the brake to do this properly.

You both might be a little nervous at the start of this session. Just stay calm and keep on practicing. Stop when either one of you begins to tire or loose patience.