Drivers Training for bad teen driver
I am looking for additional training for my teen who has had 3 collisions in 3 months of licensed driving. Teen Driver has ADHD, but three collisions to date have been slow-speed collisions not related to speeding, distraction or recklessness (but damaging and expensive nonetheless) with no music, phone, or passengers in the car. Rather the accidents seem to stem from inability to perceive how much space the car occupies. and how close it is to other cars and stationary objects. Driving a smaller car is clearly part of a solution, but I wonder if anyone has found specialized driving instruction for a teen who is cautious, concentrating, and following rules, but is still just a bad driver. I don't think the basic drivers ed type instruction, which teen has already had, fits the bill. I'm hoping that the BPN community can offer some hope of future driving!
Parent Replies
The teenSmart program through Adept Driver is EXCELLENT. it’s on line, interactive and focuses on better decision making. There are activities you can do with your child as well. It’s helped my daughter notice things she wasn’t seeing before. It’s been a very worth while program for us and I believe she’s learned a lot more and is clearly applying it. We heard of it from our car insurance company.
Good luck.
I would think about getting vision testing done for depth perception. Especially if one eye works better than the other. A developmental optometrist or a vision therapist is the best way to go about this.
After our son had two fender-benders while driving in traffic, we enrolled him in this one-day Safe Teen Driver Training course at the raceway in Sonoma: https://simracewaydrivingschool.com/programs-experiences/safe-driver-tr…. The course includes having teens drive through obstacle courses, and stop suddenly while driving at high speeds. Our son not only loved it and gained a lot of understanding about how to safely handle a car and either avoid or prevent accidents, he kept urging his dad and me to take the course, too. The course is pricey--but not as pricey as the potential damage and harm a poor teen driver can do.
My daughter has ADD and I would not let her drive unless she was taking her medication. The accident rate for kids who drive and don’t take their medication is 100%. Obviously if you kid doesn’t take meds this is not an option. This many accidents in such a short amount of time is concerning. Maybe driving needs to wait for a bit.
The Alameda County Sheriff's office offers a defensive driving class to civilians. Most dates are filled up now, but still register for each date and you will be put on a waiting list. It is $300, but is the same defensive driving training Police Officers receive. Here is a link with more information:
https://www.sheriffacademy.com/section.php?view=evoc