Blog
Parents Are Set Up to Fail – The system assumes any experienced driver can teach, but driving and teaching driving require entirely different skills.
Experience Creates a Communication Gap – Parents instinctively react to danger but struggle to put their knowledge into words, leaving new drivers unaware of risks.
Running Commentary Is Key – Speaking thoughts aloud while driving helps parents articulate critical decision-making processes, making it easier to coach their teen.
Taking Control in Emergencies – Parents should practice using emergency controls from the passenger seat to ensure they can intervene if needed.
Serious Training Requires More Than a Road Test – Crash Proof: A Parent’s Guide to Coaching Safe Drivers provides structured, step-by-step coaching to teach real crash prevention skills.
Parents trying to teach their teen to drive are set up for failure by a system that has lied to them. In every province in Canada and every state in the U.S., anyone with a bit of driving experience and of legal age can teach someone else to drive. But even if you’re the most skilled driver on the road, driving and teaching driving are two completely different skills. That reality doesn’t truly hit until you’re sitting helpless in the passenger seat, realizing your new driver is oblivious to what seems obvious to you.
“WATCH! WATCH! WATCH!” you yell. It’s an excellent way to make sure your new driver knows something is wrong. Unfortunately, it does nothing to help them understand what that is—or what they should be doing about it.
We Know What We Want Them To Know - Why Can't We Spit It Out?
If this sounds familiar, here’s the problem: You are an experienced driver.
Since getting your license, you’ve learned—through experience—how to recognize and respond to risks. You instinctively take action to eliminate danger before it even registers as a conscious thought. But this increase in skill has been gradual. It’s easy to assume your new driver knows what you know and will react as you would—but they don’t have your experience. They need to be taught.
On top of that, you’ve never had to put these actions into words, let alone explain them in real time.
Now, you sit helpless in the passenger seat. Despite your exceptional skills, you struggle to find the right words to explain what you know—certainly not in time for your new driver (who has no idea why you think there’s a problem) to react and avoid disaster. It’s a scenario that plays out over and over in the lives of well-meaning parents everywhere.
How Can You Get The Words You Want To Say To Come Out?
The most highly trained instructors in the world use a running commentary to train new drivers and also to help improve the skills of experienced drivers. It’s challenging at first, but the more you practice this skill, the easier it becomes and the safer you and your new driver will be when you’re navigating the streets of your community.
Start by simply talking your way through traffic as you drive. It might sound like: “The lights ahead are red so I am checking my mirror to make sure it is safe to brake. There is nobody behind me so I will leave a little extra room ahead of me. If a car is coming in behind me and not stopping, I will quickly put the car in that space over there…” or “The next set of lights is green and I didn’t see it turn green and so they could turn amber any moment. I will check behind me to see what is there, how big it is, and how close it is so that I know where my last safe opportunity to brake is if the light changes…”. The more you practice putting your thought process into words you are saying out loud, the more easily those words will come when you are teaching your new driver.
Taking Control From The Passenger's Side
Beyond good running commentary skills, it’s important to consider how you could take control from the passenger’s side if needed.
Take some time to practice with a friend in an empty parking lot. Try steering around corners (both forward and backward) and braking with the hand brake. Pro tip: Hold the button in while using the hand brake to stop smoothly.
Does your car have an electronic parking brake? If so, it’s worth testing what happens when you engage it at speed. After checking your mirrors to ensure it’s safe, try pressing the button and note how the car reacts.
In some cars—especially older models—you can shift from Drive to Neutral without pressing a button, and the selector will stop at Neutral. This instantly cuts power to the drive wheels, which could be useful in an emergency.
If your car has a traditional key start, turning it one click back will shut off the engine without locking the steering—another potential lifesaver.
Whatever method you may need, practice first with a licensed driver in the driver’s seat so you’re confident before using it in a real situation with a new driver.
If You're Really Serious About Serious Training...
Then it’s time to go beyond the basics.
Crash Proof: A Parent’s Guide to Coaching Safe Drivers
Is a revolutionary, one of a kind program from Driving Hero Academy that 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:
- Unpack the traffic patterns that lead up to serious crashes
- Analyze the specific actions drivers take that contribute to them
- Reveal the 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 in-car training success, providing:
- Step-by-step lesson plans
- 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 just enough to pass a road test. Give them the tools to become a true Driving Hero—one who knows how to predict and avoid risks before they turn into emergencies.
