Tips and resources for teaching for tough conditions

Here are some other defensive driving skills you can teach learner drivers.

1. Always look twice. By double checking over their shoulders in their blind spots or in the mirror, young drivers can significantly reduce the risk of crashes.
2. Indicate, indicate, indicate. This is about communicating with others on the road. Signalling is especially important when changing lanes, turning, or pulling out of a parking space. Remember: the indicating rule is 3 seconds.
3. Plan ahead. Young drivers can reduce their on-road stress by planning their route and learning what conditions to expect.
4. Don’t drive impaired. There are numerous things that can impair a driver, including fatigue, alcohol, and prescription or illegal drugs. They all prevent a driver's ability to focus and react safely to hazards and can lead to an increased risk of a crash.
5. Minimise distractions. To stay focused on the road, encourage young drivers to turn off phone notifications, get their playlist sorted before they start driving, and to avoid eating and having intense conversations.
6. Knowing their car. Making sure their vehicle is in a condition to travel safely. This includes checking tyres and getting their brakes checked regularly. Also, making sure windows are clean, mirrors are correctly positioned, and understanding how to use their lights / heating controls all adds to a young driver’s confidence.

Our resources

Drive’s resources can help students learn about various conditions and how to respond to them. The Drive Road Code card game in the Drive Community toolkit is a great way to test student’s understanding of the road rules, as well as how to deal with tough conditions.

Drive Road Code card game

There are also the free online chapter tests on Drive’s interactive road code, with the conditions and distractions module and chapters to read.

Drive Road Code