Toddlers Feature
How to prepare your toddler for driving Isn’t it too soon?
can detect hazards, understand these hazards, and project how these hazards might change and might result in a crash.
Some parents or carers with a toddler may think that preparing them for driving is quite ridiculous – it will be at least 14 years before they get behind the wheel, so why start now?!?! As a mother of teenagers (one of whom has a Learner licence) it didn’t occur to me that I should start teaching ‘driving’ to my children when they were toddlers. I wish it had! Rather, it is only through my own studies, and then through my own research, that I realised the importance of starting early, and teaching often.
Unfortunately, it can take many years to build situation awareness skills, and young drivers are most vulnerable to being hurt or killed in a car crash when they start driving independently with a red P plate (the first provisional licence). Therefore, much of my efforts focus on trying to reduce risks for young drivers by building situation awareness skills before they no longer can draw on parents and carers driving experience sitting in the seat right next to them.
Why is road safety important for my child? Despite what many parents believe, learning to drive is actually the safest time for a young driver. I know, it can be scary and I too have screamed as I thought my Learner was going to kill us in a crash! Why is it so safe? The main reason is that an experienced driver like parents and carers usually sit in the passenger seat. Experienced drivers play a really important role in teaching safe road use such as learning how to use complex infrastructure like roundabouts and traffic lights. parents and carers also play a vital role in detecting, and then appropriately responding, to hazards. This helps the young driver to build situation awareness skills, in which they themselves
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Your Local Families Magazine October/November 2016
There are two realities you need to know to help keep your child safe as a young driver: 1. You are already teaching your toddler to drive, even if you don’t know it. 2. It is never too soon to start teaching road safety. You are already teaching your toddler to drive, even if you don’t know it Think about what your child notices about your behaviour and your speech. I am sure we can all recall at least one toddler (maybe our own?) who has uttered a swear word at a completely inopportune time. Their