New Rules Radio Spot (mp3)
Graduated Driver Licensing: Questions and Answers
Driver's Licence (Class 5) - New Rules for New Drivers Brochure (pdf)
Motorcycle Licence (Class 6 ) - New Rules for New Riders Brochure (pdf)
Tips for Parents of Teen Drivers (pdf)

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Tips for New Drivers

A Teen's Perspective

A licence to drive is a ticket to freedom for 16 year-olds and, for many of their parents. Gone are the days of being the chauffeur service for the whole family.

Sometimes though, in their excitement to gain this new found freedom, teenagers forget to keep safety and responsibility top-of-mind. In other instances, peer pressure can lead to unsafe driving habits, or the new driver does not have enough experience to respond well in an emergency situation.

Here are a few tips provided by young drivers that might help as you enter the world of driving.

1. Get to school five to ten minutes early and leave five minutes late to avoid the mad dash into and out of the parking lots. Many accidents happen when kids are rushing around.
2. Watch for kids getting on and off school buses; if a school bus has stopped and its lights are flashing - Do Not Pass
3. Go slow - obey the speed limits. Speeding doesn't get you there quicker and it could get you or someone else killed.
4. While you are learning and improving your skills, avoid making left-hand turns across busy intersections that don't have turn signals. It takes a while to learn how to gage the oncoming traffic and eventually this will be easier for you.
5. Don't make assumptions about what other drivers are going to do. The only thing you can assume about another driver with a turn signal on is that he has a turn signal on. He might not be turning at all.
6. When there's an obstruction in your lane, wait for oncoming traffic to clear before you pull around. Just because someone's blocking your lane doesn't mean you have the right of way in the next or oncoming lane.
7. Always wear your seat belt--and make sure all your passengers buckle up, too.
8. Never try to fit more people in the car than you have seatbelts for.
9. Don't run red lights.
10. Use turn signals to tell other drivers what you are doing. Turn signals on to give the cars behind time to react before you take the action.
11. When the traffic light turns green, make sure intersection clears before you go.
12. Don't drive like you own the road; drive like you own the car.

New Drivers in Bad Weather

Keeping control of a motor vehicle can be challenging in the best of conditions. Here are a few tips on driving in bad weather conditions:

• Turn your headlights on when you need to turn your windshield wipers on--in rain, fog, sleet, freezing rain, or snow. In fog, heavy rain or snow, don't use your high beams, they only make it harder to see.
• Double the space you normally leave between you and the next car. You'll need more room to stop on slippery roads.
• Brake gently.

• If you have ABS (anti-lock) brakes, do not pump brakes.
• If you skid with non-ABS brakes let up on the brakes to unlock the wheels, then brake gently.

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General Tips

Tips for Parents of Teen Drivers

Your teenagers have been begging you for months to allow them to get their driver's licence. They've taken a defensive driving course, had plenty of practise and say they're ready. You know your teenager is a responsible safety conscious person, and can handle the responsibility of driving a motor vehicle.

Still, your head tells you that attitudes can change when your teenager is confronted with the biggest of all teen challenges - peer pressure.

Teen attitudes can change rapidly from the moment a teen leaves the house. Teens naturally tend to rebel against adult standards and regulations. Also, peer pressure can have a much greater influence than advice from an adult.

Teens are also slower to sense danger. Who hasn't seen a teen in action and said to themselves "they have no fear of danger"? While you can't control your teenager when they leave the house, there are some things you can to help ensure they return home safely:

1. Make sure your teen gets as much supervised driving time as possible. Even after they get their licences, supervised driving time will help to reinforce safe, responsible driving habits.
2. Restrict driving to a limited number of hours initially.
3. Realize that teens may act differently driving in a car with you than they will with their friends. Make sure they have had plenty of training before you allow them to drive with friends.
4. Because your teenager is learning to drive and roads can be more dangerous after dark, it is best to restrict their time behind the wheel to daylight hours.
5. Start with seat belts on your children as soon as they are born, and set the example yourself. If buckling up is a habit, it is one they will probably keep.
6. Choose safe cars for your teens. Muscle cars and teens make for a deadly combination.
7. Set a zero tolerance policy for car use and alcohol consumption. Although, the legal drinking limit in Alberta is 18, many younger teens unfortunately experiment with alcohol use. If you ever sense your teen has been drinking and driving, revoke their driving privileges immediately.

   Did you know that in Alberta, a parent or guardian of a driver under 18 years of age must give their written consent to allow their teen to get their drivers licence? You can revoke that permission at anytime, and your teen's operator's licence will be suspended.

Parents are encouraged to check out a new Canadian initiative designed to improve
young driver safety - www.ipromiseprogram.com. For more information you can also
read the following report on what driving instructors would like to tell parents, Driving Instructors Remind Parents: Practice Practice Practice.

Tips for Parents of Teen Drivers (pdf)

This initiative, which views parents as role models of safe and responsible driving, has parents and youth enter into a multi-item, mutual safe driving contract and provides a means to hold parent and youth accountable to their family promise of safe driving.

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Updated 2006