We're Driving Instructors. Here Are 6 Mistakes We See Every Driver Make.

Driving teachers meet us when we are most panicked and anxious behind the wheel. It’s their job to help new and nervous drivers stay calm and alert, and although the students will change over time, the mistakes teachers often encounter will not.

“After you do this job for six months, you start to know what the students are going to do before they even do it,” said Mike Thomas, a driving instructor for 27 years and co-founder of AllGood Driving School in Northern California.

HuffPost asked veteran instructors about the most common errors they see year after year ― and how to break those bad habits. Here’s what they shared:

1. They don’t pay attention in traffic.

New drivers do not scan their environment enough for hazards.

“Driving a car physically is not that difficult. Driving it safely is all brain work,” said Steve Frank, co-owner of Pinellas Driving School in Florida and a driving instructor for almost seven years. “It’s all thinking, planning, anticipating.”

Thomas gave the example of an inattentive driver that just drives forward through a green light while looking straight ahead, which would result in a point deduction on a driving exam.

Instead, “right before you enter the intersection, you are supposed to glance in all directions. So I would look to my left quickly, look at my right, check for pedestrians as well,” Thomas said.

This lack of focus is one of the most hazardous mistakes all drivers need to unlearn. Even seasoned drivers can make the mistake of zoning out or looking down at their phones. Distracted driving is dangerous, having led to the deaths of 3,308 people in 2022, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

“Some people get behind the wheel, and they do not