My family’s safety is important to me.  We stay on top of health care, eat well and wear helmets while bike riding. What I can’t do is monitor them when they aren’t home. This past weekend Sabreena and I attended the Toyota Teen Driver Safety Clinic to learn how to keep her safe on the road.
The clinic is an interactive program held at select Toyota dealerships across the US that teach teens and their families ways to stay safe behind the wheel. The program shows so much more than keeping your eyes on the road but also providing driver education, recognizing real life distractions and experiencing driving simulators to evaluate driving habits.
Sabreena has 2 years of driving experience under her belt and so far it’s been quite uneventful. This is a good thing but that doesn’t mean I don’t worry about her when she leaves the house. Whether she’s behind the wheel or a passenger in a friend’s car the stress level is the same. We went into the safety clinic prepared to learn something new. Sabreena isn’t naive to think that she’s a perfect driver and she can’t learn something new. In fact she took a spot in the front row during the lecture part of the event.
Arriving at Holman Toyota we were greeting with an invitation to hop in the driving simulator to assess Sabreena’s driving performance while encountering distractions such as cyclists on the road, oncoming traffic and fiddling around in the glove box. She scored ok, she didn’t hit any virtual cars or pedestrians but did exceed the speed limit a couple times and crossed her lane of traffic. 
The program then led us into a presentation from a Toyota representative on the dangers of distracted driving, general vehicle maintenance and establishing good driving habits. We were then introduced to different vehicles and given a scavenger hunt to look for specific items such as the spare tire, recommended tire pressure for the car, fuel door release, brake fluid and more.
We left the event agreeing that we would each be better role models for each other and for our family and friends. We can’t avoid every accident in life but we can take necessary steps to become more aware and defensive behind the wheel to prevent crashes.
I encourage you to research the upcoming events in your area and attend this FREE clinic. It’s only 2.5 hours of your time but could provide the needed education to keep you and your teen safe and alive while driving.
