Plan your learner's stage two drives

Help your learner drive on quiet, low-speed roads, using all the skills learnt in stage one.

In this topic

Building on your learner’s stage one skills

Stage two goals

How to achieve stage two goals

Your learner's legal requirements

Review these road rules for stage two

Your changing role as a supervisor

Building on your learner's stage one skills

In stage one, your learner started developing their skills in basic car controls and practised driving in quiet areas with no traffic.

In stage two, they’re going to apply their new skills on quiet, low-speed roads with other road users.

They’ll gradually develop a range of safe driving behaviours and skills in new situations and environments.

The key thing is to always go on drives that match their experience level, so they drive in low-risk through to more challenging situations over time.

Once they are ready, your learner can start to choose routes where they can develop their skills, without driving beyond their ability.

It’s important early in this stage to talk with your learner about how they’re going, so they only move on to new tasks when they’re ready.

Stage two goals

By the end of this stage, you and your learner should agree they’re able to do these tasks safely:

Move from and stop at the kerb.
Use mirrors and do head checks.
Check for hazards when moving off.
Drive on straight, quiet and low-speed roads.
Drive around curves on quiet, low-speed roads.
Turn left at intersections.
Use roundabouts on quiet, low-speed roads.
Slow down coming up to intersections.
Travel through quiet intersections.
Turn right at quiet intersections.
Keep to the speed limit or at safe speeds for the conditions.
Leave a safe space at the kerb and between your car and other cars.
Start and stop on hills.
Do a three-point turn and parallel park.
Reverse out of a driveway or out of a parking spot.
Use hazard perception of see, think and do on quiet streets.
Obey traffic lights and give way and stop signs.

How to achieve stage two goals

Here’s what you and your learner can do:

Plan drives in places with quiet, low-speed roads and little traffic, with a range of intersections, such as roundabouts and T-intersections.
Make the route of their first drive a rectangle with left turns only.
Talk with each other about potential hazards to look out for before they drive.
Direct where your learner is going, so they can focus on obeying signs, managing speed, seeing potential hazards and car control.
Get your learner to keep practising all the skills they’ve learnt so far, such as parking.
Gradually increase the complexity of drives as your learner gains more experience and when you both agree they’re ready.
Talk with each other about how they’re going at the end of each drive to check on their progress.