Driving Lessons

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
04/08/2020 at 10:04 • Filed to: None

My oldest son is 17 (will be 18 this September ) and we are now starting to work again in earnest on getting his license. He took driver’s ed back in the fall of 2018, but never showed much interest. Perhaps he was intimidated by it. Then he had a minor incident in a parking lot (no damage, no injuries, except to his pride and confidence) and he didn’t want to drive any more. Fast forward to this spring, and he’s bugging me to get his !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! finished. I’m sure it has a lot to do with more of his friends driving now.

It’s interesting to me how so many kids are putting off driving these days. I’m sure a lot of it has to do with so much of the kids’ social lives being online these days. I will say, though, that I’m much more comfortable in the car with him this time around. He seems much more confident, and I’m not cringing in the right seat as we pass parked cars. Even though he hasn’t driven much, his decision making process is much better, and he doesn’t get flustered as easily.

Maybe 16 is just too young to get a license?

DISCUSSION (32)

Nibby > ttyymmnn
04/08/2020 at 10:19

everyone is different, some people aren’t ready until they’re in their 20s

so what’s he gonna drive when he gets his license ?

bob and john > ttyymmnn
04/08/2020 at 10:23

I think it depends on the person and their maturity.

there are 100% some 16 year olds that can drive.

and just as certainly , there are some that need to stay the fuck away from the drivers seat. I distinctly remember a girl in my high school who used her parents cayenne and I wanted nothing more then to be on the 2nd floor of the closest building.

Aremmes > ttyymmnn
04/08/2020 at 10:23

Every kid is different, some may be ready at 16, some may have to wait until their 30s. Nothing wrong with putting it off if one doesn't feel ready for it. Me, I was ready at 16 but only because Dad had me practice since the age of 12. My wife, OTOH, didn't get hers until she turned 31, and only after seven attempts at the driving test.

E90M3 > ttyymmnn
04/08/2020 at 10:24

It took my youngest sister until after her 18th birthday to show any interest. It took me a while to show interest once I had my permit to show much interest, I actually didn’t get my license until a few months after I turned 16.

haveacarortwoorthree2 > ttyymmnn
04/08/2020 at 10:32

My middle son waited until he was 18. Just wasn’t interested in driving. Now we can’t keep him out of the damn car.

WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAnowbacktoGTI > ttyymmnn
04/08/2020 at 10:36

I got my license the day I turned 16. Growing up in a rural area, you kind of had to if you wanted any semblance of a social life. That being said, I did have a few accidents and tickets as a teen, so I totally get the argument that it’s too soon.

ttyymmnn > Nibby
04/08/2020 at 10:37

Either his mom’s 13 Civic or my 03 Odyssey. He won’t have his own car.

TheRealBicycleBuck > ttyymmnn
04/08/2020 at 10:38

When my daughter was old enough to drive, we started looking into the process. One of th e interesting things I discovered is that in states with delayed or g ra duated licensing, the accident rate went down for 16-yr-olds, but went up for 18-yr-olds. They surmised that graduated licensing simply delays learning the skills required to drive. This suggests that maturity has little to do with driving performance and experience is the best proof against accidents.

My son has been dragging his feet about getting his license. Part of that is because he always has someone to chauffeur him around. With my daughter graduating, my son needs to complete his driving hours to get his full license so he can drive himself to school next fall.

ttyymmnn > TheRealBicycleBuck
04/08/2020 at 10:40

Maybe the rates went up because the 18yos weren’t required to do the graduated learning?

Tripper > ttyymmnn
04/08/2020 at 10:44

My parents made me follow all of the rules and log all of my hours. Professional on road instruction is not required in PA but they made me do that too. Which honestly was great.

I was ready to gooooooooooooooooooooooooo the moment I was eligible to get my license. However, almost all of my friends who aren’t car heads couldn’t have cared less about driving as long as they had a seat in someone else’s car. I’m 35 so this was a long time ago, and I think the youth has only become less interested. Unless, they happen to be a car/vehicle enthusiast.

My driving history:

16-18.5 years old - careful appreciative driver.

18.5 - 23 years old - abject moronicle a.k.a Tickets McGee

24 - 33 years old - Consistently taking less risks, appreciating nice things

33 - now years old - Dad.

Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo > ttyymmnn
04/08/2020 at 10:47

Yeah certainly a case-by-case thing. My brother and I were both raised and taught to drive by the same people, both started driving (on private roads) at 10 or so, both had the same first car , and both got our licences at 16. I got rear ended once when I was 16 and had my only “at fault” accident when I was 20 (backed into an double parked car). My brother, on the other hand, was probably averaging 4 incidents a year starting at 16? Stuff like hitting retaining walls, driving into ditches, rolling the car, and fender benders... I think he has only totaled two cars, but I stopped paying attention when I went to college.

ttyymmnn > Tripper
04/08/2020 at 10:48

I got a key to the car on my 16th birthday and I was on my way. That’s an interesting breakdown. I was a much more careful driver than my brother, who fell somewhat into the Tickets McGee category at that age. I’ve been driving for 38 years, and have gotten one ticket , and that was just a few years ago. And it was a stupid ticket for not wearing a seatbelt. I was just being lazy.

TheRealBicycleBuck > ttyymmnn
04/08/2020 at 10:48

If I remember correctly, they controlled for required training. It really came down to experience behind the wheel.

3point8isgreat > ttyymmnn
04/08/2020 at 10:56

It seems that even as states keep moving the ages up, the same question of whether “X” age is too early to start driving.

I started with my learner’s permit at 14, got my restricted at 15, and regular at 16. This was considered completely normal. I agree with the sentiment that experience seems to be possibly more important than age. A lot of bad habits we attribute to teens are super common among adult drivers as well, like cell phone use, speeding, and complete disregard for rules. So people are definitely not getting more “mature” about it. They’re just somehow getting better at being bad drivers.

barnie > ttyymmnn
04/08/2020 at 11:03

W ent thru drivers’ ed in high school when I was 15 . Didn’t care for cars much except at the race track (Wilkesboro, NC) . All I wanted to do was ride my bicycles. Then broke my knee at 17 and got my license. Mom offered to get me a car but I asked for a new bicycle instead. Got a Motobecane Le Champion ! Pulled a ‘49 Ferd PU out of a field but never got it running. Then a neighbor needed to sell his ‘56 Chevy. Bought it because I could sit on the seat and swing my casted leg right in the doo r and drop it on the gas pedal (one of those foot shaped things with the fiddle on the bottom.) . Loved that car - had many adventures in it. Toted 4 bicycles, tools, and spares easily because it had no backseat and a huge trunk.

Snuze: Needs another Swede > ttyymmnn
04/08/2020 at 11:10

I got my learners permit as soon as I could, at 15 and 9 months, but waited on the license till I was closer to 17. Part of that was a strategic move - my parents were definitely more protective, not overly so, but enough that I knew that my license didn’t equal automatic total freedom. Eventually my parents started to push a little because they realized they still had to drive me places when I could be doing it myself, and that’s when I went for it because I knew it meant I’d get a little more freedom.

One thing I absolutely can’t recommend enough is to take a Defensive Driving / Accident Avoidance class. I took this shortly after I got my license up at BSR at Summit Point Raceway in West Virginia. I don’t know if there’s anything similar in Texas, but it’s worth looking into. It increased my confidence and driving ability by orders of magnitude. The problem is getting your license really only means you know traffic laws, and maybe how to parallel park. In a class like that you actually learn how to control a vehicle. It’s old cop cars on a wide open raceway, so you get to practice all the dangerous stuff you wouldn’t want to do in your car - panic braking, high speed swerves, recovery from running off road. It’s save my bacon more than a few times.

WRXforScience > ttyymmnn
04/08/2020 at 11:15

Whenever the global pandemic subsides and things get close to normal again, sign him up for one of these: https://streetsurvival.org/ .

I run the Texas Region SCCA’s program and it is the single best way for new drivers to develop skills and confidence behind the wheel.

You can always sign him up for an Autox School afterwards too, no better way to learn car control than autox.

WRXforScience > ttyymmnn
04/08/2020 at 11:15

Whenever the global pandemic subsides and things get close to normal again, sign him up for one of these: https://streetsurvival.org/ .

I run the Texas Region SCCA’s program and it is the single best way for new drivers to develop skills and confidence behind the wheel.

You can always sign him up for an Autox School afterwards too, no better way to learn car control than autox.

ttyymmnn > Snuze: Needs another Swede
04/08/2020 at 11:19

If I could swing it, I would put everybody in the family through such a course. I’m sure they have them around here.

Nibby > ttyymmnn
04/08/2020 at 11:28

what kind of parent are you, not even buying your kid a cullinan

Tripper > ttyymmnn
04/08/2020 at 11:28

I don’t know why as it’s usually the other way around, but as soon as I traded in my hand me down explorer and started really paying my own way....I was like “Ok, I can do whatever I want now”. I think the guilt of using my parents car/insurance kept me in line.

I’d get a speeding ticket, even a bad one. I’d be nice to the officer and be honest about my speed and why I was speeding and he/she would almost always give me a no points violation. Even when I was hit with a real ticket, I went to court, waited my turn and politely asked that the ticket be reduced to a no points violation.

The only real trouble that came about was from the state of Vermont from my college years . When I went to get my motorcycle permit in 2015 I found out from the PA DMV that Vermont had suspended my license for 10 years! Luckily it had been 10 years and 3 months since I graduated so I had to pay them $4xx and wait for them to re-instate my VT license in order to get my PA moto permit.

Anyway, I was very lucky. Also being polite to people goes a really long way. I was not directly involved with but a spectator to (not that that’s any better maybe worse ) a street racing incident in my late teens. EVERYONE except me including all of my friends were ticketed. The officer running the show says to another officer “Hey, I want you to run a sobriety check on the kid in that silver Subaru. If he’s sober he and his passenger can go” They made me run through the tests 4 times...but then they let me go! I think they thought I was on something because I was pretty relaxed about the whole thing. Everyone else was either in tears, or like “FUC DA POLICE!”

Thisismydisplayname > ttyymmnn
04/08/2020 at 11:33

Ford offers a course like that, but it’s tough to get into it.

Thisismydisplayname > ttyymmnn
04/08/2020 at 11:42

I couldn’t wait to get my license. As soon as legally allowed I was bugging my parents to take me to the BMV. I had to do drivers ed through school so it took 3-4 months instead of 2 weeks at a private school, but I couldn’t wait to get on the road. Of course by the time i got my permit my Dad had already had me driving in a parking lot. Skoal can on the dash (ala-coffee cup in license to drive) and he taught me how to be smooth on and off the pedals and steering inputs. Then when the snow flew for the first time after I had my license, he took me to our church parking lot for a lesson in modulating a brake pedal and how to do controlled oversteer maneuvers (snonuts). It was a fun couple of years. Then my first day of having my license I nearly sideswiped three vehicles at different times. But I got it figured out pretty quick.

I can’t imagine not driving. It’s been such a part of my life that I don’t understand how kids don’t want to rush out and get their license. But it’s different nowadays.

I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker > ttyymmnn
04/08/2020 at 11:55

Maybe 16 is just too young to get a license?

Maybe. I got my learner’s permit at 16, even though Ohio allows you to get it at 15 and 6 months. I didn’t get my driver’s license until I was well into 17. I didn’t feel truly comfortable driving until I was 18 or 19.

Snuze: Needs another Swede > ttyymmnn
04/08/2020 at 12:07

I took the class almost 20 years ago, I don’t remember what it cost, it was a gift, but I know it’s now about $350. But it’s $350 well spent.

One thing I’ve also noticed is that it didn’t just help me become a better driver, it also helped me to recognize common failures in other drivers. In other words I became better able to read other drivers, anticipate their screw ups, and react before something happened.

Real life example: I was on a 2 way divided highway, 2 lanes in each direction. I’m in the left lane after passing someone, going at or slightly above the speed limit. Another motorist weaves around the car I had passed and then proceeds to pass me on the right. He gets slightly ahead of me and suddenly his tire blows out and he drifts to the right, off the asphalt. One of the things they teach in the class is recovery techniques because when you drift off the pavement, the wheel tends to get hung up on the asphalt “lip ”, making it hard to get back on the pavement, and it’s natural for people to panic, jerk the wheel, and come flying across the road. As I’m watching this I’m already off the gas and starting to feather the brake to bleed speed (I’m on a highway after all, didn’t want to lock ‘em up and get rear ended). Well sure enough the guy does what I was thinking - he panics, over corrects and comes back across the highway. At this point I throw the anchor out, braking as hard as I can.

We still tangled - we hit corner to corner - but at this point I’m going probably like 30-35 MPH instead of 55 -6 0. If I wasn’t paying attention and didn’t know what to look for, he probably would T-boned me. One thing I haven’t mentioned yet is the highway as also on a hill side, the south bound lanes I was in were up a very steep embankment, about 15-20 yards above the north bound lanes, with only a rope-wire guard rail. If he’d hit me it’s likely I would have gone over the rail and rolled down the hill into oncoming traffic.

benn454 > bob and john
04/08/2020 at 12:47

Kinja'd!!!

WHERE IS YOUR GOD NOW

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > ttyymmnn
04/08/2020 at 12:48

Even car obsessed lil old me didn’t get my permit immediately, though I was one of the oldest at the school so you would think I would want to do it even more.

I actually failed my permit test the first time around because there is maybe one test combination you could fail with any amount of studying and I got it. No on else I knew studied and they all passed. I ’m still mad. I am young enough to have taken it on a computer and it told you how many questions you could miss before you failed in big letters, and I saw it slowly approach 0 as I stumbled through questions about license points which no one else got.

But I fall solidly into the careful driver category, for now. No tickets or wrecks so far.

bob and john > benn454
04/08/2020 at 12:57

thats....jesus, WTF did they DO?!?1

Derpwagon > benn454
04/08/2020 at 14:18

dead, and we killed it.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > ttyymmnn
04/08/2020 at 14:36

We have a great public transit system where I live and almost a third of kids don’t get their license a t the exp ected time because it’s so easy to get around here. I have a friend who’s pushing thirty and she’s just now working o n it.

ttyymmnn > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent
04/08/2020 at 14:46

When my mom moved to Chicago way back in the day, she sold her car. Did everything by El or train or cab. She would rent a car when we visited, though. Sometimes, I think it would be nice to live in such a place. TX is so spread out, though, and our mass transit sucks so hard, that you have to have a car.

benn454 > bob and john
04/08/2020 at 16:23

Ran out of talent, then ran out of road, then ran up an embankment and temporarily became an airplane. Very temporarily.