by Meredith Vaugh, DrivingMBA On-Road, Beginner and Classroom Program Instructor

Instructor: Where should you stop at the intersection when the light is red?

Student: Behind the stop line so I can see it over the hood of my car?

Instructor: You are right! So tell me, why are you are stopping over the stop line, so close to the crosswalk?

 Student: Well my parents keep telling me to move up when I stop back behind the line because they say I am too far back and need to stop where other cars stop.

 Instructor: Have your parents attended the Parent Class?

Student: No, I don’t think they have.

Instructor: Well we need to encourage them to attend the class so they learn what we expect from you and why we teach what we teach.

Parents, this is just one example of a conversation that I have with students every day out on the road. Here at DrivingMBA it is our mission to train our students to be responsible decision makers, defensive and actively involved drivers. We teach them specific skills and techniques that are research-based and proven to reduce the likelihood of a collision. Many of these techniques are different from what you learned or are different from how you drive today. This is why we provide parents with a class that is designed to be informational and help level expectations.

When you attend a Parent Class you are able to use the same terminology when you practice with your teen driver  that we use in our instruction.  As instructors we can tell which of our parents have attended the Parent Class and which parents have not, simply based on how their student performs during their on road time with us. When parents choose not to attend the class there can be some confusion for the student as to how they perform specific objectives and what is expected of them while out on the road. While the Parent Class is 3 hours long, it is packed full of important information that our parents need to know to help their students be successful drivers.  I, and all of the DrivingMBA instructors encourage you to take the time to attend a Parent Class, you just might find it is the best 3 hours you’ve invested in your new driver’s safety.