Tips for being a good driving coach...

Parents play a critical role in the driver education process. Follow these tips to help your teen develop safe driving habits.

 Practice with your teen. Plan for as much supervised practice behind the wheel as possible. It’s the key to helping your
    teen develop skills to become a safe driver.

 Select a goal for each session. For example, you may want your teen to focus on identifying potential hazards ahead or
    accelerating and braking smoothly.

Take regular breaks. Stop every 20 minutes or so and review the past few minutes of driving to help your teen process the
    experience. If your teen did something dangerous behind the wheel, explain why and discuss potential consequences.

Agree on how to communicate before you drive. For example, establish that the word “right” will be used as the opposite
    of “left” rather than as an affirmation (“correct”).

Keep it interesting. Change the time of day, driving conditions and routes to allow your teen to gain confidence in diverse
    situations.

Try out progressively more challenging driving situations. These can include parking garages, urban areas and interstate
    driving, for example.

Use “commentary driving.” This means having your teen drive and provide feedback about any object or event you
    encounter that could result in the need to change speed, direction or both.

Be patient. You and your teen may become stressed during these sessions. Remaining relaxed and even-tempered
    can go a long way toward reducing your new driver’s stress and help improve driving skills.

Be positive. Remember to point out and reinforce good driving behavior.