Oregon Behind-the-Wheel Practice: A Parent's Coaching Plan

If you choose the course: what the instructor hours look like

ODOT's Transportation Safety Office fixes the minimum shape of every approved program. It must last at least 35 days and include 30 classroom hours in person, 6 hours behind the wheel with an instructor, and 6 hours riding along while another student drives. Caps on daily and weekly driving keep a school from packing everything into one weekend.

The first time behind the wheel comes early, somewhere between classroom hours 4 and 10, so classroom lessons get tried on the road quickly. Every lesson follows a written route, and ODOT reviews the final route as part of the DMV test waiver.

School cars have a second brake for the instructor, extra mirrors, and Student Driver signs. Instructors carry an ODOT Approved Instructor Certificate and must keep their own driving record up to ODOT's standard.

If you choose the course: your part as a parent

Parents are built into approved courses. ODOT requires a parent meeting and documented practice at home, so expect the school to ask you to drive with your teen and record those sessions while the course is under way.

ODOT also gives away two helpful items on its parent and teen resources page: a Parent-Teen Driving and Vehicle Usage Agreement and the booklet How to Guide Your Teen Driver (Form 7190, with a Spanish version, 7190s).

Before the first drive: who is allowed to supervise

The adult must have a valid license, be 21 or older, and sit in the front passenger seat. For the hours to count, they also need 3 or more years of licensed driving. That usually rules out a 22 year old sibling who got licensed last year.

Nothing says it has to be a parent. A grandparent, a family friend or a paid instructor can supervise if they meet the age and license rules. DMV recommends keeping it to just the teen and the adult in the car to cut distractions.

During the permit months: using the log well

The log is a single page. Columns cover the date, what the session focused on, time in hours and minutes, the running total, and initials from both of you. Leave it in the glove box and fill it in after every drive; rebuilding it from memory weeks later is how hours go missing.

Oregon sets no separate requirement for night or bad weather hours. DMV's parent guide still advises adding darkness, rain and different kinds of roads gradually, and notes that teens improve the most over their first 1,000 to 5,000 miles.

During the permit months: a 100 hour plan

The shortest permit period is 6 months, and 100 hours in 6 months is about four hours a week. On the 50 hour course route, two hours a week does it, with room left for the course's homework drives.

Blend short errands with longer trips. The drive test looks hard at freeway merging, left turns across traffic, parking and backing, so give those skills plenty of log lines.

• Weeks 1 to 4: empty lots and quiet streets; starting, stopping, turning
• Months 2 and 3: neighborhood and arterial roads; lane changes and signals
• Months 4 to 6: highways, merging, night and wet roads
• Every session: backing, parking, and a mirror check every 6 to 8 seconds

If you hire lessons outside a course

DMV certifies commercial driving schools that teach in passenger cars, and many sell one-off lessons in addition to the approved course. Hours with a hired instructor can be logged, provided that instructor clears the usual age and years-licensed bar; check with DMV if you are not sure.

One-off lessons do not cut the hours in half or remove the drive test. Only completing the full ODOT-approved course does, so ask the school which product you are buying.

At the end: test or waiver

Teens who skipped the course need a road test, either DMV's ($45) or one from a private Class C tester. Expect to be marked on how your teen turns, reverses, parks, switches lanes, keeps speed in check, signals and generally controls the car, which itself must be registered, insured and in working order.

A teen who completed an approved course within the past 2 years skips that step entirely, because the school notifies DMV electronically. Your teen still brings proof of the 50 hours and passes the eye check at the counter.