Introducing your kid/s to driving cars.

[rhinochopig]

As my Son is soon to be two, it's a way off yet, but he has already had a go at steering with me controlling the pedals, which he loved - off road of course and on tick-over before anyone asks.

His utter enjoyment at doing this - something my own father did in his old S1 Landy - got me wondering what is the best way to introduce your kids to cars, so they become safe responsible drivers when they in their teens?

Is it better to get your kids karting, track days, off-roading, etc. very young so that they understand handling up to and beyond the limit and develop the hand eye skills, or is this likely to give them a false sense of confidence when they finally get their own car, or do you just let a driving school do the job of teaching them to shuffle away?

[v8will]

Start 'em young. My youngest cousin for example has been racing bikes and carts since he was 4 or 5. He's 13 now and quite competent to drive around the yard in either of his parents cars.

[rhinochopig]

v8will said:

Start 'em young. My youngest cousin for example has been racing bikes and carts since he was 4 or 5. He's 13 now and quite competent to drive around the yard in either of his parents cars.

But do you think that experience will temper his "watch this" urge when he's 17 in a car with his mates, or make it worse as he assumes he has the skills to pull it off?

[varsas]

I don't see what harm it'll do to get them used to cars, and interested in them. It seems to be the people who care about cars, also care about driving, and so care about doing it well.

I took my little brother to a few first drive type events before he was 17, and he had done karting etc. I dare say he was a bit confident but I expect the first real lesson on real roads cured that. Sometime soon I'm going to take him to a skid pan/handling course, just in case passing his test has got him confident again...

Edited by varsas on Friday 21st January 15:38

[hman]

do the karting thing and IMO keep them away from vehicles that normally get driven on the road until they are legal to drive.

My dad taught me to drive on a disused airfield when I was 13ish, I would ferry the car between him and the car park which was about a mile away so I got used to parking, slow speed manuevering and hooning it down an empty 1/2 - 3/4 mile strip at above motorway speeds.

Guess what I did everytime he left the car keys at home and went out of the house?, yup - take his car out - driving to school was a regular occurance - which must have looked odd as I turned up in a 3.9 Range Rover vogue SE aged 15!.

My son will not be getting road car lessons from me till he is legal age- however karting, dirtbiking etc. no probs - I will also be locking my keys away too!

I think its just as important to teach them how a car works too - so that they have a mechanical understanding before they learn to drive the machine..

[Baryonyx]

Well, most people seem to pass their test and spend their lives tootling about the roads with no major issues after starting driving in their late teens/early 20's. While it's nice to let your kids have a bit of a drive around in a safe environment I don't think there is a huge benefit in it. Learning car control and operation is generally easy for most people, it's developing road sense that is the hard part, and that only comes from being on the roads and observing how they work.

[anonymous-user]

I started doing the steering whilst my parents did the pedals when I was about 5.

I believe I drove fully in control of our Discovery with a parent in the passenger seat by the age of 10. By the time I was 12 I was able to reverse around corners and do steep hill starts.

Every child is differant but its well worth getting them driving as soon as they are physically able to.

[russy01]

v8will said:

Start 'em young. My youngest cousin for example has been racing bikes and carts since he was 4 or 5. He's 13 now and quite competent to drive around the yard in either of his parents cars.

My little brother is 15 and one of his mates has been driving his grandads landy at the farm for a couple years. He probably drives it a couple times a month and overall has probably driven no more than 100 miles around fields and the yard etc.

With this experience however he feels that he is a racing driver, quite possibly the best racing driver in the world. So much that he even puts money on being a better driver than me (im only a nipper 23, but have still had 6 years of driving approx 20k p/a.) I am quite often told that he always does wheel spins, (this tells me he has no ability to control or even reach the clutch, hence a rev and dump approach)

So although it may be good to get your kid on it early, make sure he isnt a cocky little st and tries to prove to everyone he can drive before hes legally allowed. No doubt this kid will take a car out on a back road before hes 17, (or whatever age it will be by then.)

[varsas]

Baryonyx said:

Well, most people seem to pass their test and spend their lives tootling about the roads with no major issues after starting driving in their late teens/early 20's.

I would disagree with that. All my friends (yes, including me) had fault accidents within 4 years of passing our test, and you only have to look at the stats. 17-21 year old drivers are 7x more likely to cause an accident then those older then 21.

Now, I'm not saying it's because of how they are taught, maybe it's some other factor (or, more likely, a combination of factors), but to say they have 'no major issues' is clearly wrong.

[OMNIO]

I remember steering while standin on my dads lap

We had an alley way at our first house and i used to help my dad change the oil / tinker with our old cars as a kid. As a reward for cleaning it afterwards on a sunday i was allowed to drive to the end of the alley do a 3 point (ok maybe it was a 30 point ) and drive back!! i did about 5mph each way with my dad in the passenger seat ready to yank the handbrake if it all went tits up, but it was awesome as a 12 / 13 year old lol.

I did karting with the school frome age 12 till when i left at 18. We wernt competitive at all but it was great fun. It does teach you spacial awareness, limits of grip, how fast you can go before you lose it on a bent etc you just have to be reminded that karting on a track is monumentally different to driving on the road! Having a driving lesson the monday after a racing weekend put the instructor on the edge of his seat if you aret

When it came time to take lessons the 5 years of driving up and down an alley once or twice a month meant that i had clutch control pretty much sorted and braking - albeit from about 15mph max. the 6 years of karting gave me overall awareness of others on the road and i suppose as i had been in an aggressive driving situation 9 times a year for 6 years when other drivers got impatiant and moronic it didnt phase me.

I would say that when your kids a bit older take him/her karting at your local track and if they enjoy it do it more regularly or if funds and commitment permit buy yourself a honda 4 stroke kart (cheap to buy, run forever, very easy to fix) and have a blast on practice days. when they are older move up to a Rotax maybe for the extra speed

[Petrolhead_Rich]

rhinochopig said:

v8will said:

Start 'em young. My youngest cousin for example has been racing bikes and carts since he was 4 or 5. He's 13 now and quite competent to drive around the yard in either of his parents cars.

But do you think that experience will temper his "watch this" urge when he's 17 in a car with his mates, or make it worse as he assumes he has the skills to pull it off?

His experience will teach him that it hurts to crash, but he will still do the "watch this" when he gets on the road, the difference is his years of driving experience will teach him where the limits are so he will actually be able to pull off the manoeuvres or chicken out knowing he is getting to the edge of grip!

I was driving land rovers sat on knees from 3, driving with wooden blocks screwed to pedals from 6 and racing cars round fields and chopping them up from age 9.

I'm an utter loon on the roads, but have only had a couple of minor bumps so must be doing something right (Driving on road for 6 years, well over 300,000 miles already!)

[v8will]

rhinochopig said:

v8will said:

Start 'em young. My youngest cousin for example has been racing bikes and carts since he was 4 or 5. He's 13 now and quite competent to drive around the yard in either of his parents cars.

But do you think that experience will temper his "watch this" urge when he's 17 in a car with his mates, or make it worse as he assumes he has the skills to pull it off?

Too early to say but individual temperament (the lad isn't a show off) has alot to do with it and a healthy respect for having had the odd crash on track.

Definately preferable to someone let loose on the roads with only a dozen hours or so of practical driving experience.

[Rollcage]

I started to teach my 11 year old daughter to drive last year. I was going to teach her over the summer holidays, but she told her mum (it was going to be a surprise) and it was deemed to be NOT APPROPRIATE and that was the end of that!

Might give it another go this year.

[al1991]

I used to 'drive' sat on my parents knee from as young as I can remember.

We were lucky to have a big drive and some land with the house we moved in to when I was 13. By the time I was taking lessons I'd cracked clutch control, gears, reversing, parking etc., and it was more about being aware, and 'passing the test'.

It was a helpful start as it meant on my first lesson I wasn't learning just how to get the car moving.

Edited by al1991 on Friday 21st January 16:32

[fulvia griff]

One of my friends was lucky enough to have had a field by the side of his house when he was younger and a couple of old motors to slide about, as a result he does drive like a nutter on the twisty stuff but when it oversteps the mark he can catch it very impressively (which helps as he's had a few interesting motors, MGBGT, Peerless GT etc). Me on the other hand got a license after 20 hours at the wheel of a Hyundai Getz and have since done IAM, but if I ever get into trouble I'm more likely to lose it...so which is safer? Personally, I would have loved to be able to drive anything as soon as possible!

Edited by fulvia griff on Friday 21st January 16:35

Edited by fulvia griff on Friday 21st January 16:39

[Dunclane]

I remember when I was a kid my dad operating the pedals and me steering his Jag onto the driveway, I loved it up until my mums friends husband let me steer his brand spanking new Scania artic. Now that was awesome!

[al1991]

fulvia griff said:

One of my friends was lucky enough to have had a field by the side of his house when he was younger and a couple of old motors to slide about, as a result he does drive like a nutter on the twisty stuff but when it oversteps the mark he can catch it very impressivly

I learnt to drift a 300TDI Discovery in the winters in our field

[snotrag]

I agree on starting young to foster Kids with a proper interest in cars - motoring, the engineering in them, how they work, motorsport etc.

When there 17, they might admittedly want to drive a bit quick, but at least they should also have better understanding of mechanical sympathy, handling, the physics of driving a car, and take a bit of pride in the quality of their driving.

That's certainly how I learnt, and when I passed my test I did drive a bit quick occasionally but I also cared about my driving, enjoyed it, and used my brain a bit, thus managed to get through the teenage phase with nowt but a carpark scratch.


I have good memories of riding in Caterham 7s, of driving a TVR Griffith off the ramps at my Uncles garage, and driving my Dads Espace round a disused airfield. Brill.

[Zip106]

Had my 5 year old son steering the pick-up around the field.
Seemed to enjoy it!

I remember my Dad back in the mid-70's letting my older brother steer the car as we drove on some beach up north (or it may have been Wales).

Don't see any harm in it.
The more they learn now I think, the better.

[chriscoates]

Logitech G27, GT5, clutch control, gear change, steering, pedals, sorted!

Seriously though, I am just coming up to being old enough to take my driving test, but my first time being in full control of a car was actually in Florida. We took a wrong turn onto a dead-end road. Automatic so all I had to do was steer and operate the pedals, got up to about 50mph! It was a Toyota Avalon (Avensis size) so it was a big thing. Road was straight as a ruler though.