first of all...oh yeah, I get the whole beltway road rager thing. Boston and DC are absolutely at the top of "cities I have driven in that I *HATED*" list. (Weirdly, Dallas is the politest driving town I've encountered personally.)
When you're ready to start thinking about her driving...*if* it's not too distracting for you, I'd recommend you start talking about your decision process while you're driving. Just an ongoing commentary, so she learns what you're taking in. Some front-seat time before she starts trying to drive would be good, too. You don't get the same sense of the road from the back seat.
I learned to merge onto freeways by practicing on a surface street that had a similar "on ramp" type turn - no stop, just drive and learn to yield. I found it nervewracking, but until I could do that, I was trapped in suburban L.A.
Something I wish my parents had done for me is more training in learning how to adjust my mirrors, and to teach me what I could reasonably expect to see in my mirrors. I knew the mechanics, but not the conceptual tools. (The summer I got my license was full of parental marriage explosion drama, capped by suicide of a parent. It was not a good time, to put it mildly.)
I would park the car in a parking lot, set out some cones (or other appropriate height markers in all the spots where you should be able to see, and have your teen practice adjusting until they're visible. Set a few cones in the blind spots, or have people stand there, to give a real understanding of how that works.
I don't have a "learning to change lanes" exercise, but I note that it's one of my biggest points of nervousness in driving, even now.
(I'd do all my initial "learn how to steer a car" stuff in a deserted weekend morning parking lot, actually.)
Now, as far as learning defensive driving techniques...this may sound crazy, but I'd have her take the Motorcycle Safety Foundation's basic motorcycle skills class. Learning to think like a motorcyclist has done more for my car driving skills than anything else. Constantly scanning the road for my escape route made a huge difference.
That's my plan for how my kids will be learning. I haven't tested this out, and I'm sure I'm missing some major things. I'm guessing that you're planning on a professional teaching some basic driving skills, anyway. I've tried to just cover the fine-tuning bits. I hope someone else reading this has more ideas.
Learning to drive *smart*
When you're ready to start thinking about her driving...*if* it's not too distracting for you, I'd recommend you start talking about your decision process while you're driving. Just an ongoing commentary, so she learns what you're taking in. Some front-seat time before she starts trying to drive would be good, too. You don't get the same sense of the road from the back seat.
I learned to merge onto freeways by practicing on a surface street that had a similar "on ramp" type turn - no stop, just drive and learn to yield. I found it nervewracking, but until I could do that, I was trapped in suburban L.A.
Something I wish my parents had done for me is more training in learning how to adjust my mirrors, and to teach me what I could reasonably expect to see in my mirrors. I knew the mechanics, but not the conceptual tools. (The summer I got my license was full of parental marriage explosion drama, capped by suicide of a parent. It was not a good time, to put it mildly.)
I would park the car in a parking lot, set out some cones (or other appropriate height markers in all the spots where you should be able to see, and have your teen practice adjusting until they're visible. Set a few cones in the blind spots, or have people stand there, to give a real understanding of how that works.
I don't have a "learning to change lanes" exercise, but I note that it's one of my biggest points of nervousness in driving, even now.
(I'd do all my initial "learn how to steer a car" stuff in a deserted weekend morning parking lot, actually.)
Now, as far as learning defensive driving techniques...this may sound crazy, but I'd have her take the Motorcycle Safety Foundation's basic motorcycle skills class. Learning to think like a motorcyclist has done more for my car driving skills than anything else. Constantly scanning the road for my escape route made a huge difference.
That's my plan for how my kids will be learning. I haven't tested this out, and I'm sure I'm missing some major things. I'm guessing that you're planning on a professional teaching some basic driving skills, anyway. I've tried to just cover the fine-tuning bits. I hope someone else reading this has more ideas.