If you are a parent with teenage children who are starting to drive, then you are surely familiar with a huge range of common concerns. Obviously, you worry for your children’s safety as they take to the road for the first time; but you also have many other specific concerns to fret over. Will your children be careful with their cars? Will they know to be weary of reckless drivers? Will they practice appropriate caution and safety? Unfortunately, you can’t always be there to protect your children as they begin to drive. You can, however, set them up for success. Make sure that you adequately teach them the skills and rules they need to know on the road; set up their vehicles with Aviva multicar insurance; and make sure that they understand all of the safety precautions they need to take on the road. Here are a few specific tips to help you make sure you’ve covered everything:
• Do your best to require your teenage children to drive with two hands on the wheel. While many people ultimately become perfectly comfortable driving with just one hand, encouraging a two-handed approach helps your child in multiple ways. First, he or she will have more control over the car; additionally, however, there will be less temptation to multitask (by talking on the phone, eating, etc.)
• Make sure your child knows how to properly adjust the car’s mirrors. This is a lesson that often gets overlooked, as more focus is given to driving skills and the rules of the road. New drivers often don’t quite understand the extent to which they will need to rely on their mirrors.
• Instruct your child to make sure that his or her passengers buckle their seatbelts, the same way that you probably make sure your children are buckled in when you drive them places. Again, new drivers are preoccupied with the most basic tasks and responsibilities at hand, so it can be easy for them to forget that the safety of their passengers is their responsibility as well.
• At least at first, make sure to keep a close eye on the condition of the car your child is driving. A new driver does not always understand when something may be wrong with a car – for example, if the break pads are worn down, or if the car needs new tires. These sorts of problems can inhibit a car’s performance in subtle and gradual ways, and as your child learns how to spot them for him or herself, you should make sure that the car is maintained in good condition.
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