Online resources for instructors

Statistics

• ICBC Traffic Collision Statistics

• Transport Canada, Motor Vehicle Safety — Statistics and data

B.C. and Canadian government websites

• Ministry of transportation — A useful faq page explaining the reasons for some traffic laws, traffic control devices and roadway engineering decisions.

• Natural Resources Canada — Information and lesson plans for environment driving and to get a current version of the Autosmart Kit.

• RoadSafetyBC — The RoadSafetyBC site provides links to the Motor Vehicle Act, Criminal Code of Canada and road safety information.

• WorksafeBC — The WorksafeBC website has good information on health and safety in the workplace.

Traffic safety organizations

• American Driver and Traffic Safety Association (ADTSEA) — An advocate for quality traffic safety education. ADTSEA creates and publishes policies and guidelines for the discipline, conducts conferences, workshops and seminars and provides consultative services. The organization also develops educational materials. See free downloads of Curriculum 3.0 that contains lesson plans for basic driver education.

• DSAA (Driving School Association of the Americas) — This U.S. organization puts on an annual conference for the driver training industry.

• Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) — This U.S. organization provides excellent information on a wide variety of vehicle safety issues, vehicle technologies and crash data. This is the organization that does crash testing. Check out the highway safety topics page.

• International Commission for Driver Testing (CIECA) — This organization sponsors various traffic safety research and development projects in the European Union such as the HERMES Coaching Project.

• National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) — NHTSA has many valuable resources for instructors and instructor trainers to help produce safe young drivers.

Instructor manuals

New Zealand Transport Agency has produced a comprehensive instructor manual called Learning systems for driving instructors.

This manual contains some great information about light vehicles, teaching, and learning. It also has complete detailed lesson plans for in-car training. Please keep in mind when reviewing this resource that they drive on the other side of the road! Some of the techniques taught in B.C. may be different so these plans would need to be adapted.

Online discussion groups

If you would like to connect with driver educators from around the world, LinkedIn has many discussion groups to choose from including:

• Driver and Highway Safety

• Driver Trainers and Safety Educators Worldwide, and

• Motorcycle Safety Training Instructors Network

Coaching

• HERMES EU Coaching Project — This site has documents, videos, and downloadable manuals in several languages on the delivery of learner-centred driver education as developed in the European Union. This is a recipe for student learning in a full and complete way.

• State-of-the-art report on coaching and optimal communication skills for driving instructors

• HERMES coaching manual 1 for course leaders

• HERMES coaching manual 2 for course participants

• Coaching scenarios manual

• HERMES video — An excellent introduction to coaching skills for instructors.

Working with students with barriers to learning

Learning disabilities

• Learning Disabilities — The LDonline website contains a wealth of information about teaching children, teens and adults who have a learning disability.

Dyslexia/perceptual problems

• Dyslexia and driving an automobile. Brown, D. — A great article to illustrate the challenges students with dyslexia may face when learning to drive and offers some ideas to tackle those with perceptual problems.

ADHD/ADD

• ADHD behind the wheel: teaching attention deficit teens to drive — Valuable information on working with teens and adults who are living with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD).

Difficult learners

• ​Dealing with “difficult” learner drivers — Working with students who come in with a bad attitude may be resolved through use of good questioning techniques, finding ways to encourage buy-in and other ways. A good article from a website in the UK.

Teaching concepts

• Communicating cross-culturally: what teachers should know — This article highlights five points of cultural difference that all teachers should be aware when teaching students of diverse backgrounds.

• Empathy — A short film to help develop a better understanding of what empathy is and how to nurture yours.

• Developing Critical Thinking Skills — Helping students assess their thinking. Hare, W. A good in-depth guide to open-minded inquiry.

• Open-ended questioning - Coaching and true reflective responses require a comfort level and ability to turn closed-ended questions into thought provoking ones. This article provides excellent advice and direction on how to develop this skill and the valid reasons behind it.

• Mindful listening - Become more aware of your own listening skills and help other instructors become aware of theirs. “Many common symptoms of poor listening, such as interrupting other speakers, come from​ a deeper cause: communication anxiety. Techniques for developing mindful awareness can improve listening effectiveness by helping to manage communication anxiety.”

Teenage brain

• Sarah-Jayne Blakemore: The mysterious workings of the adolescent brain.

   TED Talk. Published September 17, 2012 — Why do teenagers seem so much more impulsive, so much less self-aware than grown-ups? Cognitive neuroscientist Sarah-Jayne Blakemore compares the prefrontal cortex in adolescents to that of adults, to show us how typically "teenage" behavior is caused by the growing and developing brain. (14:26)

Driving while impaired

​B.C. Government

• Driving While Affected by Drugs or Alcohol - Laws, screening devices and consequences of driving while impaired.

• Get Cannabis Clarity - Facts and information on the laws and regulations of cannabis to help keep people, communities and B.C. roads safe.

Government of Canada​

• ​Don't Drive High - Videos and information on how drug-impaired driving is dangerous and against the law.​