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City Driving School Blog
Learning to drive is a teen's rite of passage into adulthood. This year, millions are finding it affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Brynn Wheelock is one of them. Brynn, 15, had just begun the driver’s education course at her high school to get her learner's permit. Then the pandemic forced students into remote learning in March. It was one of many obstacles Brynn and students just like her suddenly had to navigate. The course was adjusted to be completed remotely. However, departments of motor vehicles across the country altered their policies and availability to services. Driving schools were forced to close. Young drivers turned to their parents and family members. “I’m apprehensive about driving,” Brynn said. “I’ve had some bad experiences and been in a couple of accidents. Driving terrifies me.” In addition to being a passenger in a vehicle during a minor crash, a distracted teen driver crashed into her middle school bus. The school bus driver veered to avoid the collision causing the bus to roll onto its side. “Nobody was seriously hurt,” Brynn’s mother Noel Payne said. “But those things are scarring. And now she’s not very excited because driving is stressful for her.” Her apprehension is not unwarranted. National Teen Driver Safety Week (Oct. 18-24) is a time to remind teens of the need to remain focused behind the wheel. Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for teens (15-18 years old) in the United States - ahead of all other types of injury, disease, or violence. Because of the pandemic, more parents are teaching their children how to drive, while at the same time we are all driving fewer miles. Additionally, the distractions have changed. Parents didn’t have smart phones when they were teens. In July 2020, State Farm surveyed teens (16-19 year-old drivers) to examine their attitudes and behaviors regarding the use of smartphones while driving. The survey revealed nearly nine out of 10 said they engage in at least one cellphone behavior while driving. Two-thirds of teens said they program a navigation app while driving. Just under half said they read text messages or talk on a hand-held phone when behind the wheel. Parents may also be influencing their teenage children. Teens who said their parents use cellphones while driving were significantly more likely to engage in each phone activity. “Putting the cell phone away is a conversation we have every time we are in the car and it’s a rule we’ve agreed upon,” Noel said. “There are so many distractions built into driving, she doesn’t need her cell phone to be one of them.” Brynn knows she needs to remain focused on all the intricacies of learning. Especially understanding all the responsibilities of getting behind the wheel. “I am not so worried about hitting someone. I feel like I am careful and understand the risks of driving and what I am doing,” Brynn said. “It is hard to focus on everything happening around you – what’s in front of you, what is behind you and alongside you or wherever anything else is coming from. “I can control some of that,” Brynn said, “But I have no control over what other drivers are doing while they are behind the wheel. I’ve seen what can happen and that is scary.”
Having looked at many of the guides out there that are designed to help you learn one of the most important skills you can learn in a lifetime I thought i'd take a look at this Ebook. Downloading it was straightforward although it is important to make sure you save it to your hard drive once the PDF file opens. So to begin with there is a foreword that explains a little about the author and the process that the book goes through. I found that this bit rattled on a little but did open my mind to some pretty interesting ideas about learning to drive and driving practice. I was always of the opinion that it doesn't take much effort to learn to drive and then to pass the practical driving test. But after reading even the first few pages its clear there is more to passing today's practical driving test than ever there has been in the past. I then moved on to the first chapter, which explained all the necessary parts to setting the car up ready to drive. There are some good points here however the photos, in my opinion, could possibly be a little bigger. If you view it on screen then they can be enlarged but on a printed copy I'd would prefer them a little bigger. Still i did like some of the suggestions about getting the feel of the controls on the driveway first before venturing out onto the road. It was only in the second chapter that we really got into the nitty gritty of getting the car moving. At this point it does seem that anyone starting out is a mile away (no pun intended) from the practical driving test but I was slowly coming round to the idea that these days it does take time. There are some very interesting ideas about the principles of driving and I do like the fact that it gives advice to the person doing the coaching about how to teach each subject. This was a nice touch. There are many guides which show what you should do but fall a little short on advice of how to do it and therefore when the practical driving test comes round there could be issues with what has been taught. As I worked through each section it was apparent that a lot of thought has gone into this guide and the author had tried to write it around the idea that the coach is an experienced driver, and can use their own knowledge and experience to give driving practice. The biggest problem that would concern me is whether my driving would teach bad habits to the person I was teaching. This guide helps to overcome that by the advice it gives about what would be required in a practical driving test from the very first time you sit behind the wheel to driving test day itself. I did like the addition of popular faults committed by learner drivers, and a progress record at the end of each section. This Guide is worth the £9.99 i paid for it, however I do feel it would be better served as an addition to professional instruction in order to reduce the amount of lessons needed to achieve the appropriate level to undergo a practical driving test. The author does advise that you do this. I am now far more aware of just what is involved in teaching someone to drive on today's roads and the standards that are required for today's practical driving test. Even if you don't use it as it is intended I found that by the end it had changed my ideas about what learning to drive is all about and therefore i think it's value for money.
Learning to drive is a teen's rite of passage into adulthood. This year, millions are finding it affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Brynn Wheelock is one of them. Brynn, 15, had just begun the driver’s education course at her high school to get her learner's permit. Then the pandemic forced students into remote learning in March. It was one of many obstacles Brynn and students just like her suddenly had to navigate. The course was adjusted to be completed remotely. However, departments of motor vehicles across the country altered their policies and availability to services. Driving schools were forced to close. Young drivers turned to their parents and family members. “I’m apprehensive about driving,” Brynn said. “I’ve had some bad experiences and been in a couple of accidents. Driving terrifies me.” In addition to being a passenger in a vehicle during a minor crash, a distracted teen driver crashed into her middle school bus. The school bus driver veered to avoid the collision causing the bus to roll onto its side. “Nobody was seriously hurt,” Brynn’s mother Noel Payne said. “But those things are scarring. And now she’s not very excited because driving is stressful for her.” Her apprehension is not unwarranted. National Teen Driver Safety Week (Oct. 18-24) is a time to remind teens of the need to remain focused behind the wheel. Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for teens (15-18 years old) in the United States - ahead of all other types of injury, disease, or violence. Because of the pandemic, more parents are teaching their children how to drive, while at the same time we are all driving fewer miles. Additionally, the distractions have changed. Parents didn’t have smart phones when they were teens. In July 2020, State Farm surveyed teens (16-19 year-old drivers) to examine their attitudes and behaviors regarding the use of smartphones while driving. The survey revealed nearly nine out of 10 said they engage in at least one cellphone behavior while driving. Two-thirds of teens said they program a navigation app while driving. Just under half said they read text messages or talk on a hand-held phone when behind the wheel. Parents may also be influencing their teenage children. Teens who said their parents use cellphones while driving were significantly more likely to engage in each phone activity. “Putting the cell phone away is a conversation we have every time we are in the car and it’s a rule we’ve agreed upon,” Noel said. “There are so many distractions built into driving, she doesn’t need her cell phone to be one of them.” Brynn knows she needs to remain focused on all the intricacies of learning. Especially understanding all the responsibilities of getting behind the wheel. “I am not so worried about hitting someone. I feel like I am careful and understand the risks of driving and what I am doing,” Brynn said. “It is hard to focus on everything happening around you – what’s in front of you, what is behind you and alongside you or wherever anything else is coming from. “I can control some of that,” Brynn said, “But I have no control over what other drivers are doing while they are behind the wheel. I’ve seen what can happen and that is scary.”
Having looked at many of the guides out there that are designed to help you learn one of the most important skills you can learn in a lifetime I thought i'd take a look at this Ebook. Downloading it was straightforward although it is important to make sure you save it to your hard drive once the PDF file opens. So to begin with there is a foreword that explains a little about the author and the process that the book goes through. I found that this bit rattled on a little but did open my mind to some pretty interesting ideas about learning to drive and driving practice. I was always of the opinion that it doesn't take much effort to learn to drive and then to pass the practical driving test. But after reading even the first few pages its clear there is more to passing today's practical driving test than ever there has been in the past. I then moved on to the first chapter, which explained all the necessary parts to setting the car up ready to drive. There are some good points here however the photos, in my opinion, could possibly be a little bigger. If you view it on screen then they can be enlarged but on a printed copy I'd would prefer them a little bigger. Still i did like some of the suggestions about getting the feel of the controls on the driveway first before venturing out onto the road. It was only in the second chapter that we really got into the nitty gritty of getting the car moving. At this point it does seem that anyone starting out is a mile away (no pun intended) from the practical driving test but I was slowly coming round to the idea that these days it does take time. There are some very interesting ideas about the principles of driving and I do like the fact that it gives advice to the person doing the coaching about how to teach each subject. This was a nice touch. There are many guides which show what you should do but fall a little short on advice of how to do it and therefore when the practical driving test comes round there could be issues with what has been taught. As I worked through each section it was apparent that a lot of thought has gone into this guide and the author had tried to write it around the idea that the coach is an experienced driver, and can use their own knowledge and experience to give driving practice. The biggest problem that would concern me is whether my driving would teach bad habits to the person I was teaching. This guide helps to overcome that by the advice it gives about what would be required in a practical driving test from the very first time you sit behind the wheel to driving test day itself. I did like the addition of popular faults committed by learner drivers, and a progress record at the end of each section. This Guide is worth the £9.99 i paid for it, however I do feel it would be better served as an addition to professional instruction in order to reduce the amount of lessons needed to achieve the appropriate level to undergo a practical driving test. The author does advise that you do this. I am now far more aware of just what is involved in teaching someone to drive on today's roads and the standards that are required for today's practical driving test. Even if you don't use it as it is intended I found that by the end it had changed my ideas about what learning to drive is all about and therefore i think it's value for money.