Lessons for Driving, Lessons for Life

August may be back-to-school month, but learning happens all year long here at Safe Driving Coach. Lately, we’ve noticed our students keep telling us that the concepts we teach behind the wheel can also apply to real life. My coaches and I are very humbled and honored to know that our students take these skills and integrate them into their approach to the world.

Today’s teens are navigating the world through a technology-first lens. It’s not by choice; it’s just the only thing they know. The internet and smart technology have always been part of their experience, which means there are tons of hands-on, brain-on skills they have never had to learn from scratch. Sitting in the driver’s seat of a car is, for many of them, one of the first opportunities they’ve had to fully engage in a learning process of this magnitude. Driving a car requires mental and physical actions that have real-world implications. As they learn to drive, they make countless connections about how their decisions and thought processes can translate into other areas of their life.

Windshield Versus Rearview Mirror

Have you ever wondered why the windshield is so much bigger than the rearview mirror? It’s because where you’re going is more important than where you’ve been!

This funny little proverb is a trick I use to help my driving students who tend to overthink. Again, many of these teen drivers are getting a far bigger dose of independence and responsibility than they’ve ever had in their life. Overthinking is common! They are worried about every decision, often replaying it over and over again after the moment has passed. 

When I remind my students to stop thinking about what has already happened and instead focus on what is coming up, it brings them back to the present moment. They realize that overthinking tends to be a habit, and it’s something that we can constructively chat about during the lesson. The problem-solving skills we work through behind the wheel are transferable to other areas of their lives.

As we move through the lessons, our students improve their cognitive reasoning skills so that they can make the other important decisions going on at this time of their lives. The more we talk with our students during our lessons, the more I realize just how much pressure is on them to make these decisions. The stakes are higher than they were a few decades ago. The costs are higher, and the consequences endure. Teenagers today do not have nearly as much wiggle room to mess up and recover as the previous generation did. 

Developing the Next Generation of Safe Drivers and Savvy Adults

I encourage parents to spend time in the car getting into real conversations with their teens. It doesn’t matter who is driving; talking while driving is a vital safe driving skill, so it should be practiced. Teens tend to have an easier time talking in that side-by-side position, and the skills being learned are easy to relate to real-world applications.

For example, finances tend to come up a lot during safe driving lessons. Teen drivers have money on their minds as they try to grapple with paying car insurance, saving for college, and taking on more of their personal expenses. So, as we’re riffing off of that windshield versus rearview mirror quip, we get into topics like finances. Since I happen to have young adult daughters, I can share my personal experience about helping them establish credit when they were teens. This led to their financial stability and creditworthiness in their early twenties. This is usually something my students have never even heard of before. The fact is, teens aren’t interacting with enough adults on a regular basis in order to have these random life skill conversations. 

Driving coaches are in a unique position to have that one-on-one time, and we get to hear what’s on their minds. Parents have this same opportunity, and they should take it! Trust me when I say that if you keep it conversational and curious, you will absolutely learn what your teen driver is thinking about these days. 

Even if your teen is taking professional driving lessons, you also need to be coaching them during the same time period. Not only does your teen need all the practice they can get, but you need to see firsthand what they are learning in their lessons. If your teen doesn’t seem to be advancing in their driving knowledge and practical skills, your driving school might not be delivering the service you paid them for. Make sure you’re investing in your teen’s drive time by checking up on their lessons and checking in with them. You’ll be amazed at the great conversations that happen during your time together in the car.

Coaching for Driving and Adulting Success

The bottom line with driving lessons is that ultimately, every skill learned is a life skill. As driving students, teens learn a lot about how other drivers behave, how to face the unexpected, how to attentively respond to a developing situation, and how their actions impact others. They pick up on these implications quickly, and it’s actually very impressive. 

Having grown up with so much supervised and structured time, today’s teens don’t fully realize just how much they don’t know about becoming adults. But with every new step into independence, they make more connections and learn new ways to navigate the world around them. I admire their willingness to grow and absorb all of this new information. As they say, the kids are alright.

If your teen is not showing great progress in their driving skills, even after professional driving lessons, make sure you’re getting plenty of coaching time with them as well. My course, The Parent’s Survival Guide for New Teen Drivers, can help you determine if your teen’s current driving school is covering all the bases when it comes to teaching safe driving skills. If something is missing, contact us to talk about Driving Lessons with Safe Driving Coach. My coaches and I are fully committed to helping teen drivers develop comprehensive driving skills that they will apply for their entire driving lives.