By KAREN ROCHESTER
The American Automobile Association has produced an instructional video and handbook titled “Teaching Your Teens to Drive” to help parents teach their teens beginning driving maneuvers.
Rolayne Fairclough, spokeswoman for the AAA of Utah, said these instructional videos and handbooks are a free service provided by AAA to all 104 Utah public high schools.
This video will provide parents with a guide of things to work on during the many hours of practice time needed to obtain a license, she said.
The video teaches things like parking a car, skidding and looking out for other vehicles, Fairclough said. These are all things that may be natural to experienced drivers and not thought about when teaching a teen to drive, she said.
Melayne Williams, a Pleasant Grove mother of teen-agers, said, “I think it is a great idea especially if it is free. I believe parents will use this packet if it is made aware to them that they are available. I think I will go over the video with my daughter who already drives.”
Williams said parents do not know what is taught in drivers education, and this will make it possible for the parent to make sure the children know everything they need to drive.
Kelvin Clayton, president of the Utah Drivers and Traffic Safety Educators Association and director of drivers education in the Alpine School District, said, “The six hours of drivers education taught in schools can not accomplish all one needs to learn to drive. So the involvement of parents is a great attribute these packets offer.”
Fairclough said students need more time with parents in a learning environment.
“These packets have been available to parents for a reduced price for years. But are now available for checkout at the schools in Utah and through the local AAA Utah offices,” Fairclough said.
The AAA offices offering the packets are in Ogden, Bountiful, Salt Lake, Draper, Orem and St. George. The packets are available in the media centers and parents can just go in and check them out, Clayton said
“It is scary when your teens go on the road and they think they know it all from their drivers education class and you know they don’t,” Williams said.
“These packets are very, very important because 11 percent of the drivers are under 20 years of age and they cause 25 percent of the crashes,” Fairclough said.
Clayton said these are not only valuable for students but parents can also learn some things to help with their driving skills. Things have greatly changed in cars since parents began driving and the parents can learn some tips to better driving with these new inventions, he said.
