My son just got his "L" plates

[GORGAR 1]

Well my first born turned 16 today and he also got his L plates. He had only driven a paddock bomb before so the road is new to him and now scary for me :-) he has driven twice today mainly back roads and I must say I'm more nervous than I thought, maybe we take it for granted but its all new to him but he'll get there I just wish he wouldn't drive in the gutter lol
Anyone one else have any stories or advice.

Peter

[pinnies4me]

Is he going to learn with a manual? Not only are equivalent cars much cheaper (if buying second hand), the additional car control and understanding of the dynamics are a must in my opinion, at least for the for few years. Learning in an automatic  makes it too easy to "point and squirt", I sometimes think it makes new drivers too confident.

[GORGAR 1]

Is he going to learn with a manual? Not only are equivalent cars much cheaper (if buying second hand), the additional car control and understanding of the dynamics are a must in my opinion, at least for the for few years. Learning in an automatic  makes it too easy to "point and squirt", I sometimes think it makes new drivers too confident.

I agree unfortunately both our cars are auto but I plan on getting him lessons in a manual :-)

When my twin girls turn 16 then I'll be a nervous wreak lol

Peter

[Wotto]

Hahaha - enjoy this time my friend.
Our daughter went through this 2 years ago - talk about CRAP ONES PANTS on those first few outings.
But it gets better - and it happens quickly.

She started on AUTO and then got a manul car around 2 months into her L's
At that point I got 'sacked' as teacher as she refused to have me in the car when she was queen of the bunny hops
It was TOUGH.

Please ensure to saty on VERY quiet back streets and non used roads for just a little while and then get him out amongst it.
Before you realise it you will be CURSING the 120 hours log book details required WAY MORE than you are worried about the current level of skills.

Have fun and be safe.

[Pintoxicated]

Well my first thoughts are you must be an old prick.  2nd thoughts are that you made it home by the looks of it so it couldn't have been worse......at least he can't fall off a car.  :o)

[goodolddays]

Agree with comments so far .. learning on a manual is the way to go as it teaches much more vehicle control IMO .

Stay on the back roads for at least the 1st few weeks , be patient , try and take your son out every day , and for the first couple of weeks I'd suggest keeping the lessons to no more than 30 mins .
Ideally try and find a quiet road that has a T intersection (I was lucky, one near me) as it gets them used to intersections early.

As Wotto says, the 120 hours seems to take forever .

IF you feel nervous now, wait till you are in traffic LOL

Professional lessons are a must (at least 4 - 6) , so that your son learns stuff you, your wife forget to teach, or don't know .

Been through it twice with both daughters , glad its over now .

[pinnies4me]

When my step daughter was learning, I really wanted her to learn in a manual, but it wasn't my place (not being dad). My wife sort of agreed but wouldn't push it, so I came up with an offer I thought too good to refuse - I'd buy her a car if she would learn manual.

Believe it or not she refused as it would take too long to learn......

And yes, she bought her own old (automatic) car....... and wrote it off two months later.

[GORGAR 1]

Cheers for the comments guys we are taking it slowly but geez there's alot I need to teach him like looking twice when turning not braking hard and we don't need to take off flat out lol my wife refuses to teach him until he's alot more experienced so its up to me :-) I never dreamt it would be this hard and we have only done 2hrs. 

And yes Blair I'm hoping he keeps this "upright". 

Peter

[Pintoxicated]

Cheers for the comments guys we are taking it slowly but geez there's alot I need to teach him like looking twice when turning not braking hard and we don't need to take off flat out lol my wife refuses to teach him until he's alot more experienced so its up to me :-) I never dreamt it would be this hard and we have only done 2hrs. 

And yes Blair I'm hoping he keeps this "upright". 

Peter

Mate if you get the chance before you go away, or even afterwards, I'd be happy to take Ben out for a drive or two up my way, sounds like a good excuse to come up really doesn't it!  I am still having weekends off and I have got 6 weeks leave approved from the 20/9 to 31/10.

[GORGAR 1]

Cheers for the comments guys we are taking it slowly but geez there's alot I need to teach him like looking twice when turning not braking hard and we don't need to take off flat out lol my wife refuses to teach him until he's alot more experienced so its up to me :-) I never dreamt it would be this hard and we have only done 2hrs. 

And yes Blair I'm hoping he keeps this "upright". 

Peter

Mate if you get the chance before you go away, or even afterwards, I'd be happy to take Ben out for a drive or two up my way, sounds like a good excuse to come up really doesn't it!  I am still having weekends off and I have got 6 weeks leave approved from the 20/9 to 31/10.

Yep we will have to plan a weekend for sure :-)

Peter

[Wotto]

Re hard braking - I took Kayla to a car park at night in the first few lessons and made here learn to judge 'distances off' by using the parking lines next to the car ( as we rolled along to get used to how long she needed to brake in advance) What I did was told her to just cruise along and roll off the accelarator with around 8 car spaces to go before the T intersection ( in the car park )......then had her brake slowly and comfortably and see where she came to a stop. After a very short time she realised that she didn't need to 'panic brake' as she ended up stopped ( say ) 2 or 3 car space distances off the T intersection and by doing this she also learnt about engine braking at the same time. In a couple of nights she was braking , in general driving, MUCH better.

The other thing I did was ALWAYS ask her 'whats behind you' - I must have said it 10,000 times at all random times JUST to ensure she was conscious of that and got in the habit of always looking in all the rear mirrors ( not just the windscreen mounted one ).

Also - these days they will be expected in thier test to glance left and right before moving through intersections ( yes even when they have a green light at a intersection with lights ) - it is a safety thing brought across from the motorbike courses and inspectors watch for it.

And yes - as GOODOLDDAYS stated - get some PRO lessons toward the back half of the 'season' - very important.

Cheers

[pinball god]

Peter could you give us Caroline springs guys the heads up if your intending driving near us 

[Crashramp]

Well done to Ben! 
Also hopefully now he'll spend less time playing the pins and won't wipe the floor with us on all of your machines. 

[wiredoug]

Years ago when I was taught by a relative who is a professional driver his advice was - any idiot can hold on while a car goes forwards - if you want to learn car control - drive backwards.

Find a big gravel carpark and get him to practise driving backwards *in straight lines* and cornering without skidding. .. does wonders for car awareness skills

[Crashramp]

Years ago when I was taught by a relative who is a professional driver his advice was - any idiot can hold on while a car goes forwards - if you want to learn car control - drive backwards.

For some reason that reminded me of this scene from the movie dodge ball.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZXHsNqkDI4&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D1ZXHsNqkDI4