3. Novice Stage

Goal

Your to do's

Points to remember
Help your teen continue to develop good driving habits and a healthy attitude. Your efforts now may help your teen remain safe - for life.

As your teen spends more time behind the wheel and gains more driving experience, ensure that they do not become complacent about driving risks.

1. Re-visit your house rules and family contract. Modify to reflect fewer GLP restrictions, but only if you feel your teen is ready. 
2. Ensure your teen's friends know your rules and your teen's responsibilities.  
3. Although your teen can drive without a licensed adult, continue practice sessions. Practice driving under different conditions. Take their first longer or challenging trip together (e.g. to other side of town, on a highway).  
4. Encourage your teen to make use the pre-trip checklist themselves, before every driving trip.  
5. Remind your teen about the risks of teenage driving. 
6. Ensure your teen knows what to do if they're in a crash — information to gather, how to deal with injuries.  
7. If your teen is considering purchasing their own car, ensure they understand the cost of car insurance, and the financial risks of being in a crash. Your Autoplan broker will be glad to review this with your teen.
New drivers are unprepared and inexperienced. And they often cannot identify or assess risks the way more experienced drivers can. That's why crashes happen.

Keep your teen in low-risk driving environments (e.g., quiet streets, during daylight hours) for as long as you feel is necessary before moving on to more challenging sessions. Your teen may disagree, but remain firm.

Ensure your teen's first challenging drives have minimal risk. For example, if you are driving on a highway, ensure it's in daylight hours and in good weather conditions.

When conducting practice sessions, identify and minimize potential risks that perhaps your teen can't yet recognize. For example, don't let your teen drive on a new route during rush hour.

ICBC's Tuning Up booklet contains excellent suggestions to help you practice with and coach your teen. The booklet is provided free of charge with each learner's licence; it can also be downloaded from the ICBC Web site.

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