I know some do on farms and private estates, but the rest of kids?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17072181
A number of companies are now offering courses for children as young as 11, in the hope that giving them early driving experience might ultimately make them safer on the road.
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>> A number of companies are now offering courses for children as young as 11, in
>> the hope that giving them early driving experience might ultimately make them safer on the
>> road.
They won't be making any money out of it then? :)
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>> and private estates,
>>
you mean council estates?
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>> ........... in
>> the hope that giving them early driving experience might ultimately make them safer on >> the road.
I doubt if it would. One reason that young drivers are involved in so many accidents is that they haven't learned to see approaching hazardous situations soon enough. Learning to drive before they are allowed on the road wouldn't change that.
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It wont change the "I am invincible and a driving god" attitude of the young male driver.
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I was taught to drive at an early age between 8 and 10 years, private estate roads where we lived.
Lucky enough to learn fine clutch control gearchanging etc on old cars.
Didn't do me any harm, and taught me sympathetic smooth driving, if it does that alone then it won't be a bad thing.
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I learned to drive on Formby beach and various wasteland sites at the age of 14 or so. It was in a Mini so I learned the necessary clutch control to allow gearchanges of any sort. This undoubtably contributed to me passing my driving test 2 months after my 17th birthday. At the time I put it down to being a talented expert driver and drove accordingly. I've no idea how I made it through to the age of 21 without a serious accident - certainly wasn't skill.
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The Institute of Advanced Motoring believes a lack of driving experience, rather than age, is the reason one in 10 young drivers crash within a year of passing their test.
I suspect the IAM would object to the use of that quote in support of this idea. The 'driving experience' they're concerned about is the ability to perceive hazards and to regulate one's own behaviour in response to them, which is something that can be learned only in real road conditions. Car control skills are a relatively trivial aspect of safety on the road; I'd suggest that the children who will eventually become better drivers are the ones who've learned about roads and traffic while in charge of something easy to control - like a bicycle or even a pair of feet.
What this company is offering is a bit of expensive half-term fun - which is fine; just don't dress it up as 'driver education' or 'building future safety'.
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>> I suspect the IAM would object to the use of that quote in support of
>> this idea. The 'driving experience' they're concerned about is the ability to perceive hazards and
>> to regulate one's own behaviour in response to them, which is something that can be
>> learned only in real road conditions. Car control skills are a relatively trivial aspect of
>> safety on the road; I'd suggest that the children who will eventually become better drivers
>> are the ones who've learned about roads and traffic while in charge of something easy
>> to control - like a bicycle or even a pair of feet.
>>
I disagree.
When learning to drive in the conventional way, the learner has two main things to learn.
1/ How to control the vehicle - that in itself is no mean feat, competent drivers on the whole operate the controls pretty much without thinking what they are doing.
2/ Also they must learn what the Police (used to?) call 'Roadcraft'
That's the ability to read the road, and what other road users are doing, (and really good drivers can pre-empt what may happen) or IMO what they MAY do.....
IF one of those 2 disciplines is fully understood, then the other becomes much easier to learn.
The problem, as I see it is, many people struggle with roadcraft, even after passing the test, others can't grasp vehicle control much past the basics, and others can't manage either - but still manage to get a licence!
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>> IF one of those 2 disciplines is fully understood, then the other becomes much easier
>> to learn.
>>
I'd agree with that. Farmers kids for example tend not to fail their car tests, because they've been driving tractors since they were old enough to reach the pedals,and consequently already have clutch control mastered when they start on a car.
Last edited by: Harleyman on Sat 18 Feb 12 at 16:18
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11 year olds doing the TWOCCING thing?
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thinks this would be for the upper classes rich kids. invite all their friends for a driving day ,birthday party.
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11 year olds learning to drive. - Focusless
