Guidelines for coaching your teenage new driver

Follow our coaching guidelines to help your teen become a safe driver. 

Successful coaching begins before teens first gets behind the wheel. And it can continue long after they get their full-privilege driver's licence. Here are a few coaching guidelines to help you get started:

• Encourage 2-way communication. Clear communication and a consistent approach to enforcing rules will help you set boundaries while enabling your teen to gain driving experience and confidence.
• Make time for practice. Help and encourage your new driver to practice driving at every opportunity.
• Periodically discuss driving strategies, even after your teen gets their full-privilege licence.
• Stay calm and logical as you discuss your teen's driving. And wait until you're at home to do so, rather than when one of you is behind the wheel.
• Model safe driving behaviour yourself. This will influence your teen's life-long driving behaviour and attitudes.
• Talk to your teen's friends. They need to understand the huge responsibility that your teen has as a driver. And they can help your teen by following your house rules.
• Support safe driving in your community. Ask your Autoplan broker about other road safety programs for children and youth.

Successful coaching depends on your approach and the use of a number of different tools (e.g., practice sessions, modeling good driving behaviour yourself and implementing house rules). Our coaching schedule shows you how to guide your teen through each stage of the graduated licensing program.

Check out these other useful links to tips and insights that will help you and your teen understand and reduce road safety risks:

• Create some house rules around your teen’s driving privileges
• Discuss the consequences of tickets and driver penalty points
• Write a family contract as a commitment to safe driving
• Review a pre-driving checklist each time your teen gets behind the wheel