By: Florida Virtual School

Driving comes with responsibility, and one of the best ways teen drivers can reduce risk is by making sure they’re truly ready—physically, mentally, and emotionally—before hitting the road. Does that mean being physically ready to operate the pedals and steering wheel? Is it being mentally prepared to watch the road carefully, think ahead, and not be distracted? How about the driver’s feelings? Yep, all of it matters.  

If drivers aren’t fit to drive, the responsible choice is to stay off the road. To help, I’ve put together some tips for teen drivers to evaluate how they’re feeling before getting behind the wheel.  

The Importance of Focusing Your Mind 

Taking responsibility and staying off the road also applies even if you’re already driving. If smoke starts billowing out from under the hood, pull over immediately. If you begin feeling fatigued, angry, or otherwise not perfectly fit to drive, it’s time to pull over. Continuing to drive when you’re not at full capacity creates an unacceptable risk. 

Assessing your fitness to drive isn’t only for special occasions or when you have passengers. Reducing risk behind the wheel means having full use of your hands, feet, arms, legs, neck, eyes, ears—and most importantly, your mind. Every single time you drive, it is important that you focus your mind on the driving task.  

You can’t always control whether you’re tired, sick, or emotionally charged. But you can always control whether you drive. Both behavior and decision-making, as well as your knowledge and skills, play a vital role in keeping you safe behind the wheel.  

In the same way, fatigue can alter your mind and take away the skills you need to drive safely, so can strong emotions. Every time you get behind the wheel, you need to be calm, rational, and focused. Strong emotions can: 

• Increase your heart rate, making you jittery and impulsive. 

• Take over your mood, making you hostile or spiteful. 

• Make you inattentive to what’s happening on the road. 

All emotions, including frustration, sadness, grief, anger, and excitement, can have negative impacts on your driving. The brain simply cannot focus on the skill-intensive task of driving while being distracted by intense emotions. 

Any strong emotion can affect your judgment and driving ability. When you let your emotions drive, you increase your risk and the risk of other roadway users. Check in with your emotions before you drive, and if you are not calm, focused, and in control, don’t drive at that time. 

Tips on How to Manage Your Emotions While Driving 

If you think your emotions are getting the best of you while driving: 

• Put on calming music and turn off anything that could wind you up. 

• Turn down the temperature or open the windows. 

• Unclench your teeth and lighten your grip on the wheel. 

• Be patient when other drivers make mistakes. 

• Find a safe place to stop and take a break from driving. 

Before you get behind the wheel, make sure to leave your emotions at the door. Distressed driving IS distracted driving. An appointment can be rescheduled, but a crash can’t be fixed so easily. Driving is a serious job, and if you can’t give it your full attention, you put everyone at risk. 

FLVS Driving Resources 

For Florida Virtual School (FLVS) Full Time or Flex students in grades 9-12 who want to learn more about reducing their risk while driving, check out our FLVS Teen Driving Club. 

The club meets once a month to discuss all things driving. Monthly topics include preparing for Florida’s Class E Knowledge Exam (the first step toward earning your learner’s driver license), distracted driving, driving in inclement weather, and parking on a hill.  

FLVS also offers an online Driver Education course. This course teaches you the rules of the road with interactive lessons and activities, helping you lower your driving risk and prepare for your licensing exam. Driver Education is available online 24/7, so you can learn whenever and wherever it is convenient for you. It is also free for Florida residents; however, unique requirements may apply to Florida students who receive a school choice scholarship or other educational services. 

For additional resources to assist teens in driving safely, check out the Florida Teen Safe Driving Coalition, a coalition of more than 47 organizations committed to helping teens leverage the proven principles of Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL).