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What Is Really On The Road Test?
Road Tests Are Outdated & Inadequate – Despite over a century of advancements, road tests still assess only the bare minimum, ignoring real-world crash prevention skills.
Licensing System Sets the Wrong Standard – Driving schools often focus on test preparation rather than true safety, leaving new drivers unprepared for modern road dangers.
Defensive Driving Isn’t Properly Taught – Many so-called “defensive driving” programs lack depth, failing to teach critical skills like hazard anticipation and freeway navigation.
Crash Risk Isn’t Just About Teens – High crash rates affect drivers of all ages, proving the system’s failure to instill lasting safe-driving habits.
Parents Must Step In – With the right guidance, teens can learn true crash prevention skills beyond the road test, reducing their risk by over 90%. Crash Proof: A Parent’s Guide to Coaching Safe Drivers offers a proven step-by-step system to make this happen.
The Truth About Teen Drivers: A Matter of Life and Death
Authorities are quick to blame young drivers for the carnage on our roads. Yes, teenage brains aren’t fully matured, and that can lead to impulsive decision-making. But how can they make better choices if we don’t give them the knowledge and skills to do so?
The responsibility falls on the licensing system that allows them onto the road so woefully unprepared. We know how to train new drivers in defensive driving tactics and strategies that can reduce their crash risk to less than 10%. When teens truly understand these habits—why they matter and what happens to those who ignore them—it’s remarkable how well they can drive. And the idea that they have to learn from experience is exposed as a myth.
When we look at the numbers, it’s clear this isn’t just about inexperience or reckless behavior. It’s about a system that fails to prepare new drivers for the realities of modern roads.
Real World Driving Isn't On The Test
How Did We Get Here? A Century of Stagnation
Road testing began shortly after it became clear that Carl Benz’s new-fangled contraption had the potential to cause conflict, personal injury, and death. In those early days, the focus was on the rules: who followed them and who didn’t. Over 100 years have passed, and while roads have become faster, traffic scenarios more complex, and cars capable of things Carl Benz couldn’t have imagined—the road test has hardly changed.
What’s Actually Being Tested? The Bare Minimum
In a perfect world, the road test would ensure your new driver had the skills to safely merge onto a freeway, make lane changes at high speed, and look far enough ahead to anticipate problems in time to react. It would test their ability to recognize when traffic is becoming risky—and, more importantly, how to mitigate that risk.
Unfortunately, road tests in North America don’t do any of those things.
Current Test Requirements vs. Real-World Needs
While specifics vary from province to province and state to state, road tests generally assess the ability to follow traffic laws in a quiet residential area for 20 to 35 minutes. As long as the applicant doesn’t make too many mistakes, they’ll pass.
Oh sure, there have been some fancy additions over the years. Parallel parking used to be pretty impressive, and some jurisdictions have added more demanding skill tests—Washington State even requires applicants to back around a corner. But when was the last time you heard about a fatal crash and thought, “It makes no sense! They knew how to parallel park!” or “If only they had known how to back around a corner!”
The Real Problem: A Broken System
The road test doesn’t just set the bar for new drivers—it sets the bar for all drivers. Staggering crash rates don’t apply only to the young. Crashes are the leading cause of death for all age groups right up to the age of 65 – and it’s not that we suddenly become better drivers as we age… other things just start killing us more than crashes do.
Passing the road test is the primary goal of driver training programs. As a result, countless driving schools—with licensed instructors—have students driving test routes on a loop to ensure they pass.
The Driving School Dilemma
Not all schools do this, of course—but too many do. And when people look for a “good” driving school, how do they judge? Most of the time, former students will recommend a school simply because they liked their instructor or
because they passed their test on the first try. What other standard would they use? They have nothing to compare it to.
Even schools that claim to teach “freeway driving” or “defensive driving”—what does that actually mean? A school could tell students to check their blind spots and call it defensive driving.
An instructor could take a student onto a freeway, have them exit at the next ramp before ever reaching freeway speed, and claim they’ve “taught” freeway driving and a brand new driver, thrilled to have driven on a freeway at all, wouldn’t know what critical skills were missed.
The Standards Gap: Theory vs. Practice Driver education standards vary dramatically across North America, but one thing remains consistent: the entire ecosystem revolves around minimum road test standards rather than safety outcomes. While some regions include defensive driving frameworks like the Smith System or SPIDE in their classroom curriculum, these basic systems often lack the depth and specificity needed for genuine crash prevention.
More thorough programs exist, but there’s no standardized way to verify quality. The term “professional instruction” itself means little – unless a school maintains higher internal standards and provides thorough instructor training, the education typically defaults to basic road test preparation. Without practical training that genuinely instills crash prevention skills in new drivers, the risk to newly licensed drivers remains high.
We Can Set Our Own Standard: Essential Skills for Survival We don’t have to accept the DMV’s low standards. As parents, we can ensure our new drivers are prepared for the challenges of real world driving before we ever schedule their road test… and then, they will pass as a by-product of better training and a higher level of skill.
Take Action: Give Them The Tools They Need
Teens can master insanely complex video games and, with some good coaching, perform amazing feats in sports. Driving is no different. They just need someone to give them the right tools—so that they don’t have to learn from experience.
Introducing Crash Proof: A Parent’s Guide to Coaching Safe Drivers
This revolutionary program from Driving Hero Academy combines video learning with practical coaching guidance to help you teach your teen genuine crash prevention skills. Here’s how it works:
First, you and your teen watch the theory sessions together, where we:
- Break down the problems and patterns that lead to fatal crashes
- Explain exactly why these crashes happen
- How to identify danger developing and mitigate it before it becomes life threatening
- Reveal the specific tactics that could have prevented them
- Show how any driver can avoid a crash, regardless of who’s legally at fault
Then, our comprehensive printed guide becomes your roadmap to success. It provides:
- Lesson-by-lesson, step-by-step instruction plans
- Links to demonstration videos showing exactly how to teach critical habits
- Guidance on coaching these habits while your teen is learning to drive
- Specific strategies that prevent over 90% of crashes
Don’t let your teen become another statistic. Don’t settle for teaching them just enough to pass a road test. Give them the tools to become a true Driving Hero—one who knows how to recognize and avoid risks before they become emergencies.