| We have begun behind the wheel laboratory phase of driver education. After
nearly five weeks of grueling classroom work, we have gotten to the actual
driving portion of the class. Schedules and been made and posted and all
students know their places and their roles and responsibilities in the
laboratory. We have been very busy since we began on Monday, September 8,
2008. The first week of the laboratory consisted of driver assessments,
where each student were given evaluations to determine their particular
driving levels. Students were taught lane changing and "covering the brake"
skills.
The second week, we began car control. This segment will last three weeks
with the first portion students will drive in the city with special emphasis
on difficult roads; those roads that are tight, narrow and difficult to
negotiate. This is particularly important since students will drive on
numerous roads that are less than ideal and they must have proficiency in
driving on them.
The third week students will begin basic curves, driving on difficult roads
that have lots of curves since many teenager deaths result from students not
being able to negotiate curves.
The fourth week students will take to the parking lots to learn tournabouts
and backing skills. It is important that students understand that car
control is not only important when ones goes forward but also when they are
driving backwards as well. Turnabouts are ways to turn around. Four
different types will be taught but the real lesson is car control, making
that car do what the driver requires. We all know that the car is a ton and
a half weapon that if isn't used correctly, can cause serious injury and
even death. Students will gain car control proficiency by driving forward
and backwards using the figure-eight technique. This activity will leadup
to parallel parking, a very popular skill that students look forward to
learning.
The fifth week students will get back on the road to study rural roads and
their implications for student drivers. They will test their newly found
car control skills and use them to become even safer drivers.
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