Driving Lesson Fact Check: Addressing Common Myths

Driving lessons are always a team effort. I help teen drivers accumulate hours while teaching safe driving skills, but parents and grandparents are usually putting in the majority of the practice time. Teen drivers have something to learn from all of us as they develop those driving muscles.

As a professional driving coach, I have been studying driving best practices and traffic law for decades. Most parents haven’t learned a ton of new information since their own driver education classes. When it comes time to teach their kids how to drive, they often pass along the tips and tricks they learned during their first year of driving, which may be outdated or even totally wrong.

When I pick up on something that a student is probably doing because it’s what they learned in a home lesson, I go on a fact-finding mission to see if there is any fact-checking I need to do. It’s always tough to correct something a teen learned about driving from their parents. After all, I always advocate for parents as the authority in their homes and vehicles. At the same time, some driving myths genuinely need to be put to rest so that we have safe drivers on the road. I recognize that many parents are simply repeating what they learned from their own parents decades ago, and now we have an opportunity to get the whole family back on track with safe, effective driving skills.

Which of these myths were you taught as a young teen driver? Let me know if you have another driving practice you want me to fact-check before you teach it to your teen!

Myth #1: No Radio or Conversations During Teen Driving Lessons

Do you require your teen to drive in complete silence? When I talk to clients about what they’ve covered in lessons at home so far, both parents and teens will often say something along the lines of, “We always leave the radio off so there are no distractions.”

While it’s true that drivers need to be fully aware of what is happening around them on the road, driving without any sound other than the traffic is not practical, or even genuinely safe. Driving requires a lot of focus, but it’s the type of focus that also needs a little peripheral stimulation.

Teen drivers should learn to pay attention to the road while listening to the radio at a reasonable volume or holding a conversation. In fact, learning the appropriate volume for both is a key part of their lesson time. As coaches, parents can let their teens know when the music is too loud or distracting, and they should be able to notice if conversations are getting emotional or argumentative. Remember, stimulation is good; distraction is bad. 

Myth #2: Line Up In the Lane Using Parts of the Car

Whenever I notice that a student is fixating on one part of the car, such as one of the side mirrors or the inspection sticker in the windshield, I can guess that they have been taught a “trick” for staying in the center of the lane. This myth is an old one, and I imagine that it is how a lot of the parents of my students were initially taught to center the car in the lane. 

The idea is that by keeping some element of the car visually paired with the lines on the road, you will keep the car centered in the correct lane. Unfortunately, this is not a helpful trick for young drivers to learn.

First of all, hyperfixating on these points is very distracting. It pulls the teen’s eyes and attention off the overall driving environment. Especially if the trick involves the side mirrors, the driver ends up looking behind the car for far too long! The next big problem with this trick is that the lines are not always on the road. Will the teen driver be unable to keep the car in its lane of traffic when they can’t see a line?

The fact is that we learn to stay in our lane by keeping our eyes moving. We need to continuously check in front, look for signs, check the mirrors, be mindful of speed, and watch for other cars and pedestrians. Awareness is what aids steadiness in driving a car. Just keep in mind that only your eyes should be moving. Keep your shoulders, head, and arms forward while moving your eyes around the field of vision in order to keep the car moving in the correct lane.

Myth #3: Keep Your Hands at 10 & 2

Speaking of keeping your arms forward, the 10:00 and 2:00 clock positions are no longer optimal for driving. This one is more of an update than a dispelled myth. The old positioning was intended to keep the best control of the wheel in a car without power steering. 

Today’s cars all have power steering, which requires less muscle force to turn the wheel. Also, all cars are now equipped with airbags, which deploy at 200 mph! The 10 and 2 position puts the hands up too high, where an airbag will force them back toward the face. 

The best hand position today is actually 9:00 and 3:00. This brings the hands down to where they will be out of the way if the airbags deploy. Also, it relaxes the arms from the shoulders a bit, which should be a more comfortable position for driving. Some drivers will suggest positioning hands at 8:00 and 4:00 to keep them fully out of the path of an airbag, but this position is too relaxed for maintaining effective control of the wheel. Start consciously practicing that 9 and 3 positioning along with your teen driver to enhance your own safe driving skills.

Myth #4: Getting Honked at is a Compliment

One of the most endearing myths I find out my teen driving students believe is that other drivers honk their horns to send a compliment. As a fellow parent, I know this one comes from a place of love. Parents don’t want their kid to get flustered by another driver’s anger or impatience, so they tell a little fib and say that getting honked at is kind of like a thumbs up.

Since your teen will eventually find out the true intention behind this gesture, I recommend skipping the white lie. Yes, being honked at can be embarrassing and unnerving. And teen drivers might be more likely to get honked at due to their inexperience. Let’s teach them how to deal with it in the context of safe driving.

The bottom line is that we cannot allow anyone else’s behavior to affect our efforts to be safe drivers. That means we need to ignore the pressure to speed up, make that risky turn, inch up further in line, or disobey a traffic law. The person who honked at you will be in your life for a few seconds, but you have to live with your driving decisions forever. Accept the discomfort and make the safe choice, always. Encourage your teen in these moments by maintaining a calm voice, telling them not to worry about the other driver’s behavior, and continuing to guide them through the skill. They will hear fewer honks as they gain experience, and they won’t have to think no one likes them anymore!

Myth #5: Speed Up When You See a Deer

On rural roads, I remind students to keep an eye out for deer. I always ask them what to do if they see a deer near the road. Believe it or not, I have students who think the right thing to do is drive faster! There are two reasons teen drivers want to speed up when they see a deer. The first reason is that they think they’ll get past the danger quickly. The other reason, and I can’t believe I’ve heard people say this, is that they think hitting a deer at a higher speed is actually safer. They believe the animal will roll up over the roof and cause the least amount of damage.

Hopefully, all of my readers know that this is not a good idea!

Where there is one deer, there are more. If you should have the unfortunate event of hitting a deer, the damage is highly unpredictable. Hooves and antlers coming through the windshield are real risks. You do not want to be speeding when that happens.

When driving in an area that could be busy with deer, keep those eyes moving to check for animals that could be heading toward the road. If you see a deer, slow down! One may cross the road well out in front of your car, but three or four more might be coming right behind. Slow down, put your four-way flashers on, even coming to a stop if you need to. Honk the horn to scare them away, and carefully look all around before moving on.

Skip the Tricks and Stick to the Facts for Safe Driving

Several of these myths enter a teen driver’s mind through very good intentions. Parents, and often grandparents, want to help their kids feel successful. The result of planting myths, or unhelpful tricks, in a teen driver’s mind, however, is that it could get them into a tough spot in the future. The better approach is to acknowledge that learning to drive can be difficult and challenging, but that consistent practice and skill development are effective. Support your teen’s driving progress by sticking to the rules, laws, and facts.

If you aren’t sure what is fact or fiction from your own teenage driving experience, make sure to brush up on proper coaching tactics with my course, The Parent’s Survival Guide for New Teen Drivers. For additional support and fact-based teaching, consider Driving Lessons with one of our coaches. We are passionate about guiding teen drivers through customized lessons that help them gain the skills for a lifetime of safe driving.