Many new drivers walk out of their first in-car lesson with the same feeling: that was harder than it looks. Kruzee instructors know from experience that driving starts to feel more natural with practice, but now we have the data to back it up.
We analyzed lesson data from over 6,400 Kruzee students across Ontario, tracking how their skills improved over their first few lessons.
In this blog post, we break down which driving skills improve the fastest after 2-3 lessons, and what that says about how new drivers learn.
What the In-Car Sheets Show
Every Kruzee student has a personalized in-car sheet that their instructor uses throughout their lessons. Instructors use it to grade student performance on 17 core driving maneuvers, such as steering, parking, and speed control. Scores are given on a scale of 1 to 4, where 1 means there’s lots of room for improvement and 4 means the student is performing the maneuver strongly.
For this post, we pulled in-car sheet data from over 6,400 Ontario students and calculated how much each maneuver’s average score improved between lesson 1 and lessons 2-3.
The driving skills that improve the fastest after 2-3 lessons are:
- U-Turns and 3-Point Turns
- Navigating Railway Crossings
- Parking
1. U-Turns and 3-Point Turns
Score Improvement: +0.99
U-turns and 3-point turns showed the biggest improvement of any maneuver on the in-car sheet, jumping nearly a full point in just a few lessons.
Part of the reason is that these turns follow a fixed sequence. For 3-point turns, for example, the sequence is: signal, check your mirrors and blind spots, turn, check again, reverse, straighten out. Once their instructor walks them through the steps and they practice it a few times, 3-point turns start feeling routine.
It ends up being a maneuver that many students say they feel the most confident about going into their road test – and it is almost always tested on the G2 road test.
2. Navigating Railway Crossings
Score Improvement: +0.97
Navigating railway crossings had the second-biggest improvement according to our data. And unlike 3-point turns, this skill isn’t predominantly about car control.
Most of what instructors look for is having the knowledge to navigate a railway crossing safely. This involves slowing down when approaching a crossing, looking in both directions, listening for train sounds, and if it’s safe to do so, continuing without stopping on the tracks.
Students often arrive to their first lessons with a rough sense of the rules from studying for their G1 written test. And similar to U-turns and 3-point turns, once instructors explain it, it tends to stick.
3. Parking
Score Improvement: +0.96
Parking rounds out the top three. Parallel parking, stall parking, and parking on a hill are grouped together under one score on the in-car sheet, since they all lean on the same underlying skills.
Parking is notoriously one of the hardest things for new drivers to nail, so it may seem a bit surprising to see it as one of the skills that improves the quickest. Similar to 3-point turns, parking comes down to a routine and understanding reference points, such as where to line the car up and when to turn the wheel. It feels unnatural at first, but Kruzee instructors work on parking with students during most, if not every, lesson – which results in a steady improvement.
Parking is also a skill that students tend to practice quite a bit between lessons (in an empty lot or on a quiet street) with a licensed driver in the passenger seat. That extra repetition outside of lesson time is likely part of why it climbs the rankings so fast.
Summary
As per data from over 6,700 Kruzee students across Ontario, the three driving skills that improve the most after 2-3 lessons are:
- U-Turns and 3-Point Turns
- Navigating Railway Crossings
- Parking
Final Thoughts
Learning to drive can feel overwhelming at first, but our data shows that improvement doesn’t take long. Some of the skills that are the most intimidating for new drivers, such as parking, are also the ones that improve the fastest within 2-3 lessons.
The skills that take a bit longer, such as lane changes and steering, rely more on ongoing judgement in traffic rather than a fixed routine – so naturally, they take more time and practice to build.
Overall, students improved on every single one of the 17 maneuvers on the in-car sheet after just a few lessons.
Curious how your own progress is tracking? Sign up with Kruzee and gain access to your in-car sheet after every lesson.
