Teen Driver: Rolling Down The Highway

Driving on a fast-paced highway with thousands of seemingly manic drivers can give even the most seasoned and experienced of drivers pause. Imagine what it does to a teenage driver? On the outside, teens are all bravado and bluster, but on the inside, they’re quivering in their Converse.

Highway driving is not for the novice, nor for the faint of heart. A driver should not only be well versed in the instrumentation and handling of their own car, but understand the intricacies of the all-important merge and the lane change, and have the ability to quickly read and understand signage.

Highway driving is a skill that is only learned from experience. No book can explain how or when to do this, that and the other thing. There are no boilerplate rules because highways are ever-changing and highway conditions are not static.

But giving your teen driver the experience of highway driving is a must – after all, there are only so many back roads you can take to get to the mall. Certainly, Monday’s evening rush hour is not the time to teach your teen about highway driving, but very early on a Sunday morning, when traffic is nearly non-existent, could be perfect. Only hands-on practice will help to turn your nervous teenage driver into a confident young adult who can handle a highway, and all its dangers, with aplomb and reason.

And remember, a hesitant teenager driver (or any driver, for that matter) who drives below the minimum speed level on a highway is just as dangerous as the driver who’s speeding along at 100 mph. Practice, practice, practice.