Parents with kids who’re anxious to get behind the wheel can get some help in teaching driving skills from a new booklet developed by the Iowa Department of Transportation. The executive officer of the D-O-T’s driver services division, Dave Stutz , says the booklet came out of a need created by the system that puts restrictions on new drivers.
He says part of the graduated driver’s license system requires parents provide supervised instruction before young drivers can advance from their instruction permit to a regular driver’s license. Stutz says they realized parents could use some help in the instruction. Stutz says the booklet is called
“You’re the Coach – a Guide for Parents of New Drivers,” and provides some “real life” guidelines.
Stutz says the system requires them to review crashes or traffic violations that involve young drivers. He says they used information from those reviews to develop the book. Stutz says there are a lot of examples of things to cover from the accident reviews. For instance, he says following too closely is a major cause of accidents for young drivers. He says control of speed entering a curve is something they need to be aware of, driving on gravel roads, communication with other drivers at intersections and things like sharing the roads with large vehicles are all included.
Stutz says parents play a vital role in training kids to be safe drivers. Stutz says driver educators do a good job, but he says they only are able to provide six hour of instruction behind the wheel. He says that’s not enough and educators agree. Stutz says the experts says someone doesn’t become a good driver until after they have three years of experience, so he says parental involvement is extremely important. Stutz says you can find the booklet at drivers license stations or on the D-O-T’s Web site at:www.iamvd.com.