Trust Our Online Driver Education and More
Our site is not just about selling our world class driver education course for California, but so much more. GoDriver New Driver education materials have been used by Driving Schools, Libraries across the US and incorporated into Prentice Hall driver education textbooks. We are now offering our Student and Parent Resource materials here for you for FREE.
This page is your index to the information and articles on this site designed for parents who are leading their teen – some with pride and enthusiasm, and some with dread – to learn to drive. This section provides resources for the parents of new drivers to better prepare themselves for the somewhat intimidating task of helping their teen learn to drive. (If you are the New Teen Driver, we promise that getting your parents to read the materials in this section will help them to feel better about your driving.)
Want to find out what stuff a parent should know? What stage in the process are you?
Before the Permit Test
Your teenager is understandably excited. He/she is probably enrolled in a drivers education course by now, either in high school or in a driving school and all he/she can think about is this new freedom, driving. Stay involved; insure your teen’s success and safety.
Select the Best Driver Education Course You Can
The Welcome Driver California Driver Education Program is the highest quality program available in California. The best price for this course can be found here.
Yes this is a sphiel for our driver education course but we are understandably proud of our course which combines the best lesson plan, with best in educational practices, with the best online course development and learning management system that can be offered.
Re-familiarize Yourself
When was the last time you read the drivers handbook yourself? Laws change all the time and the rules regarding teenage driving are changing quickly all across the country. See the hand book section of this website and take the Practice Tests yourself a few times to refresh your own familiarity with driving laws and courtesies.
Review the latest rules on graduated driving license requirements for teens and requirements for behind-the-wheel supervision. Get a head start on planning your childs practice time with our Parents STAND for Safety handout.
Reinforce Driver Education
Regardless of what driver education class your child is enrolled in, your involvement is key.
- Ask your new driver about what he/she is learning in their course daily as they they are learning it.
- Be available to explain the reasons for rules and the topics covered.
- Remember to talk about what they are learning while you are in the car driving with them. Demonstrate what you are doing and speak out loud about what you are doing while driving.
- Be clear about family expectations and rules.
- Open up a discussion with your teen about your expectations and rules regarding use of the car, as well as the sensitive and highly important subject of handling drugs and alcohol. Also, will friends be allowed in the car after he has held his permit for 6 months? Who is responsible for the cost of gas and making sure that the tank is full, etc.
- Get your GoDriver Parent/Teen Contract for FREE and use it to help you handle this potential awkward conversation with your son/daughter.
Schedule In-The-Car Training
Ask your new driver about what he/she is learning in Driver’s Ed. Be available to explain the reasons for rules and the topics covered. Be clear about family expectations and rules. Open up a discussion with your teen about your expectations and rules regarding use of the car, as well as the sensitive and highly important subject of handling drugs and alcohol. Also, will friends be allowed in the car after he has held his permit for 6 months? Who is responsible for the cost of gas and making sure that the tank is full, etc.
Plan for Practice Driving
STAND For Safety Parent Supervision Guide
In most states parents must sign an affidavit stating that they have supervised their under 18 teen for behind the wheel (In CA 50 hours are required). Allow time for at least a few hours of practice each week. Start reading the Parents STAND for Safety (Click below), print the section (lesson) that you wish to cover with your teen, and plan ahead in your calendar.
Check Your Insurance
Check your state’s DMV for any specific requirements regarding insurance on your car. You may need to sign an affidavit of financial responsibility for your new driver. Make sure you call up your insurance broker to validate the coverage on your automobile and be sure your new driver is insured as well
Before the Road Test
Your teenager passed the permit test and is ready to start learning to drive behind the wheel. There are things to do to get yourself ready for your teenager to climb behind the wheel of the family car?
Know the requirements
The trend across the country is to implement longer and more rigorous supervised driving requirements for new drivers prior to taking the road test; and once a new driver has a license these licenses are often restricted in various ways until the driver is 18.
Get ready for practice driving
Go through the lessons in the enclosed Parent Survival Guide: Parents STAND. (Supervise, Train and Advise New Drivers). This set of lessons provides a common sense guide to coach your Teen to become a safer, more responsible driver and to fulfill the behind-the-wheel supervision requirements of your state. Many states now require that you (or a competent, licensed adult) supervise your teen before he/she may take the road test. It is a good idea to do this even if your state is one of the few that do not make it a requirement.
After the Road Test
GoDriver Ready-to-Drive Checklists
Review the checklists we have prepared for you to make sure that the car is ready for your new driver (and you)! The two basic checklists cover what should be kept in the glove box and what should be kept in the trunk to handle anything from being stopped by a police officer or being involved in an accident to being stranded on the road with a flat or some sort of car problem. When reviewing the lists check off the items that you are missing so that you can fill the list as soon as is possible.
Our guide on Drugs and Alcohol describes several situations, that your new driver may experience. You may have different ways of handling these situations and different viewpoints, but an open discussion with your new driver helps to prepare them to handle themselves maturely.
GoDriver Parent-Teen Contract
Parent/Teen Contract
Do you remember when your got your license and your folks first let you “borrow the car? If it was anything like my home, there was a lot of stress (and even a few heated arguments) that could have been avoided if the responsibilities were spelled out (like who puts gas in the car and even who washes the family wheels). A parent/teen contract does just that. It spells it out.
The “GoDriver Parent/Teen Contract“ is a document that you can cut and paste to meet the specific needs of yourself and your new driver. Its purpose is to set forth responsibilities and expectations in a formal written form. You will find that discussing the points before they occur will go a long way towards avoiding emotional flare ups in the family. You might also agree to renegotiate all of the terms several months after the contract goes into effect to change those items that don’t seem to work as well as you thought they would.