It’s that time of year when McHenry Community High Schools, East and West, are sending student drivers out onto the roads again. Some of them may be your progeny. For some of these young drivers, it represents an exciting crossroad as they take another step toward adulthood. For some, it’s merely an anxious experience they’re not so sure they’re ready for. Well, there’s probably some anxiety for all student drivers.

A student driver, in McHenry, who is too sure of him or herself isn’t always a good thing. If they feel a little trepidation about the process, they’ll probably approach learning to drive with a little more due caution.

Either way, you want your offspring to learn how to operate a motor vehicle safely. They’ve likely paid some degree of attention watching you drive. They have a rudimentary understanding of the controls involved in driving – the ignition, shifter, gas and brake pedals, the steering wheel. But there’s a difference between watching someone drive and actually driving themselves.

Learning to drive, it usually takes a little while to ‘get up to speed,’ both figuratively and literally. And when a student driver isn’t keeping up with the flow of traffic, some of those experienced drivers can prove short on patience. They can blow their horns. In some cases, they’ll yell out their windows and even make forms of “visual communication.”

These behaviors can rattle some already nervous new drivers. This is why a “Student Driver” bumper sticker isn’t a bad idea with student drivers. It let’s other drivers know that they’re dealing with a novice. This doesn’t guarantee patience on the part of other drivers; some will persist in showing their displeasure at having their trips delayed. But there are some drivers who will take this into account before blowing their tops.

The important thing is to have some patience with your young driver while they’re learning to safely operate a vehicle on the roadways. And “safely” is the keyword in that sentence.

Young drivers are more prone to have accidents. According to the National Highway Traffick Safety Administration, between 2010 and 2019, one out of every eight fatal auto accidents involved drivers between the ages of 15 and 20.

This is why you want to have patience while your child learns to drive. You want them to learn how to drive safely. You don’t want to rush them so they’ll miss some essential understanding about the process.

It’s also why you want to, figuratively,’ put the breaks on a young driver who is a little too eager and insufficiently cautious. 

Insurance rates are bad enough for young drivers. Add some tickets and/or accidents to the equation and insurance rates will skyrocket. Of course, traffic violations are the least of your concerns when compared to the other hazards of the road.

In the meantime, it’s important to teach young drivers the importance of maintaining their McHenry vehicles in safe operating condition. The safest driver is at risk when a motor vehicle failure causes unsafe driving conditions.