I'm sorry, but as a former driving instructor who has taught hundreds of teens how to pass their (UK) driving test, and as a former police traffic patrol officer who specialised in talking with groups of kids in the 15-25 year-old age bracket about how to stay alive on today's roads, and as someone who has now driven for several years on America's roads, I found this book to be utterly useless!The only thing it portrays succesfully is: "Won't it be fun to be a driver" and, although there is nothing wrong with that sentiment, it would have been hugely improved by some in-depth additions concerning the serious side of driving.
In some ways, the book is summed up best by its own glossary. This contains just eight definitions, the first of which - quite mind-numbingly - is 'Aromatherapy!' The fourth entry tells us that 'Fatigue' is (quote) 'Tiredness,' even though that rather redundant point was clearly made in the section on falling asleep at the wheel. And a 'Skid' is defined as 'To slip sideways because of a lack of traction.' But if one assumes - given that 'fatigue' had to be defined for Mr. Winters' target audience - that 'traction' might also need explaining, this also consumately fails to mention that there are several types of skid.
'Everything You Need To Know About Being A Teen Driver' is no more than a story book; it even has excessively large text, in an attempt to fill extra pages. Speaking of pages, it only has 49 actual pages of 'information,' and ten of those are fully taken by some generally very poor photographs. Another six pages are taken up by third-person, short stories that are presumably intended to illustrate some points. So that leaves just 33 pages of generally rather weightless information, in large text. And how much does this book cost?
This book may serve to get some youngsters excited about the possibility of driving, but sadly it will achieve precious little else.
