My Son's learners permit

[RavenStarr]

Well about 2 weeks ago, my oldest son got his learners permit. Here in NC that means he can drive as long as there is an approved adult riding with him.

He has driven with just me and him in the van. I don't take his two younger brothers with him as I fear they will be a distraction.

He has done the usual just practice going up and down the road a bit.
About a week ago I let him drive up to his school for football practice with me sitting in the passenger seat. Let me tell you I was ready to throw up by the time we got to school. He doesn't start straightening the wheel right after he turns so he almost took out a row of mailboxes. Then he almost goes into the grass, because he thought that the oncoming car was going to come over into his lane.

I know the best place to take him is an empty parking lot, which I plan to do real soon. However, I still get real nervous about the thought of him driving. I don't know if it is because I know he's growing up, or if it is because I'm just nervous about him actually driving a vehicle.

I wish I had a time machine so that he could go back to being 6 yrs. old, an I wouldn't worry so much.:cry:

[Greenday]

Heh, the fun of learning to drive. Some of the things I was taught which helped: keep the inspection sticker over the lines in the middle of the road. Won't go too far towards the curb and you won't cross lanes. I remember when I first got my license, I was a nervous wreck. Now I have no problem riding around with one hand on the steering wheel and the other out the window. I'm sure he will do fine after driving around for awhile.

[thegiraffe]

If we don't have inspection stickers (Florida...), then what do we line up? [sarcasm :) ]

[Greenday]

Does it matter in Florida? I'm to understand that if you lose your license for some reason or another in Florida, you can still get a temperary one anyway. REALLY pointless if you ask me.

[protege]

I know the best place to take him is an empty parking lot, which I plan to do real soon.

I learned to drive my parents' minivan in a parking lot. They figured I should start with that, then the other cars. At first, I thought it was a pain, simply because the 'van was so big. Then, I realized that if I could handle that, the Tempo would be no problem. Little did I realize it was a POS :D

Once I got the basics down, they took me to the local cemetary. There are many winding roads in there, and very little (if any) traffic. Plus, it also had this going for it--as soon as I passed the gates, my father said something like "you wreck the van, you'll end up in here" :devil:

[Crazyredhead]

I didn't get my license until I was 25. My father tried to teach me with his truck, but it was a stick and I couldnt' get it.

My hubby is the one that taught me to drive. At first he tried on the car that was a stick and I started to get the hang of it. Then later we got an automatic and he started to let me drive on the highway. It was Crain Highway in Maryland and then to my Reserve meetings in Baltimore. But I never got my license cause of parallel parking. Then I came to Ft Campbell KY. I went to Tennessee and got it easy, no parallel parking.

Tennessee is easy to get your license in. All I had to do was drive around the block and pull into the parking lot. No lights, no traffic, no backing up or parallel parking. Just basically four or five right turns and park. They said that they wanted to see if you gave right of way and used your blinkers. ??? there was noone on the road.

My daughter turns 16 this Feb. She does't seem to have any desire to drive. But I know that will change. http://www.my-smileys.de/smileys2/bibber_2.gif

[Becks]

I'm working on getting my driver's license, and I just turned 27. (Remember my thread a couple boards ago, titled "You're making me do this, but telling me 'Not now!'?"

Hopefully next week, I'll be going through a driving school. Wish me luck!!!!!

I want to go to Tennessee for my license!!!!!!! That sounds like the way the DMV near where I grew up in WI had the 2nd timers earn their licenses, after they failed the first time...

ANYTHING but driving in Northern New Jersey!!!!!!

Oh, and Raven...back in the day when my mommy tried teaching me, I think my driving made her a nervous wreck, too...but then, having her in the passenger seat made ME one...

[BunnyJas]

Golly, I can't believe that it's been 10 years since I had my learners' permit! I remember my mom was a nervous wreck too. Whenever I used the brakes (not suddenly at all), she would grab on to the dashboard! This started to make me nervous and finally I told her that if we actually got into a wreck, holding on to the dashboard would not do her any good! She didn't take very kindly to that advice........

Best of luck to you and your son Raven!

[digilight]

My parents did the parking lot thing with me to. The majority of my driving was actually with my grandparents, my grandfather was as mellow and layed back as they come. I remember one time I hit the curb and he didn't even bat an eye. My dad was a horrible teacher though on stick. First time trying to drive stick happened to be in his 79 or 80 RX7 (first year they were made) and he wanted to go across town to get some tobacco from smart and final. Keep in mind I had never driven stick before, so we try and and go, I get about 2 miles away from home, nervous and freaken out as hell. Remember sports car, lots of power, tight clutch, etc. He finally lets me pull over and takes over for me. about a year later he trades that car in and buys a toyota p/u that was also a manual tranny. My mom ended up teaching me to drive that one (surprising she was a great teacher on it).

One trick I do that may help your son since he seems to have a hard time keeping it straight and coming out of his turns correctly is to keep on side of his car lined up based on the lines on the road. I base it on the drivers side, my wife uses the passenger side. The trick is to make him think he is following a line and not veer off of the line. In my town we had the local county govt center with several parking lots and its own self contained street between the lots. This was great for learning to drive (both stick and auto).

Good luck, My kids are only 4 and 2, and i'm allready dreading when its that time for us.

[ladodger34]

My parents did the parking lot thing with me to. The majority of my driving was actually with my grandparents, my grandfather was as mellow and layed back as they come. I remember one time I hit the curb and he didn't even bat an eye. My dad was a horrible teacher though on stick. First time trying to drive stick happened to be in his 79 or 80 RX7 (first year they were made) and he wanted to go across town to get some tobacco from smart and final. Keep in mind I had never driven stick before, so we try and and go, I get about 2 miles away from home, nervous and freaken out as hell. Remember sports car, lots of power, tight clutch, etc. He finally lets me pull over and takes over for me. about a year later he trades that car in and buys a toyota p/u that was also a manual tranny. My mom ended up teaching me to drive that one (surprising she was a great teacher on it).

I did most of my driving when I had my permit with my grandmother. She was already 70+ at the time and could barely see over the steering wheel. I was already nervous when she drove, so I figured I couldn't do any worse. As a matter of fact, I don't think she ever drove me anywhere again once I had my permit.

My mom on the other hand is another story. I drove with my dad quite a bit when I had my permit, but I avoided driving with my mom in the car. She was too darn nervous and played the backseat driver role all too well. I still don't like driving with her that much, but at least she doesn't say much anymore.

As for the clutch thing, I had already been driving for a couple of years before I learned how to drive a stick. The best advice I can give anyone is to teach yourself. Well, have someone give you the general basics but take yourself out to low traffic areas. I drove my old truck around the block. Once I was comfortable with that, I drove it out on the busier streets. It seems like quite a few people give up and have their teacher take over. If you are on your own, you have to do it yourself.

After this long post, just remember that your son is just as nervous as you are.

[BrassCowboy]

I passed my drivers test on accident. You see, the school I went to would take two students out at a time. Sometimes they would not be on the same lesson though. So, I am on the test, and the other guy was on the "Parallel Parking Lesson." She messed up big time and passed me so long as I didn't tell her boss. (She was new)

But something good that I learned was: The car goes where you are looking. I noticed a lot of new drivers were looking all around while driving. Finally he said, "If you look staight, you'll go straight. If you're looking at something on your left, you're gonna veer left, so be careful."

It took me about 2-3 months of driving by myself to get comfortable with my car, you know, not checking my speedomter every 3 seconds, not yeilding to everybody, and able to take people out without embaressment.

[Kiwi]

hehehe dont worry

I was a terrible driver when I started at 15

I was in 3 accidents, and suprizingly only one was my fault (I say suprizingly because I had so many near misses it wasnt funny, I had the attention span of a flea and would "faze out" while driving....)

90% of accidents are just prangs anyway

get him some professional instruction and it will help him ALOT

[strawbabies]

If you can afford to hire a driving school, I highly recommend doing it. I was much more relaxed with a paid professional teaching me how to drive than with my parents.

[Primer]

I took lessons through my high shool, got my license at 16 (a friend let me use her car), bought my own first car at 17, and it wasn't till I was 18 that my parents even let me SIT in the driver's seat in their car!

Now, 30 years later, I've been in only one wreck--a dump truck rear-ended my Pinto (anybody remember the exploding Pintos?) while I was yielding to an ambulance, and even that was over 26 years ago.

[gbm85]

When I got my drivers' education certificate, my teacher told me to get at least 100 hours of in-car experience in the year between getting my permit and getting my license. That's about 2 hours a week.

I found that the best thing for me was going with my mom to do errands. He's already had his driving education. Now is the time for him to gain driving experience. It's too much pressure to go out on a "lesson." Your son has already had driver's ed, and at the risk of sounding a little curt, his D' Ed instructor has a lot more experience with teaching new drivers than you do.

What's important for you to do is let him make his mistakes and learn from them. It'll be hard, but try to overcome your fears and let him drive as much as possible. Remember, in less than a year he'll have his full license, and you won't be in the passenger's seat anymore. So it's important that you let him get as much experience now as possible.

[XCashier]

Oh, and Raven...back in the day when my mommy tried teaching me, I think my driving made her a nervous wreck, too...but then, having her in the passenger seat made ME one...
That is precisely why my mom enrolled me in a driving school. We would have made each other nervous wrecks, so she wanted a qualified driving instructor (a neutral party, I suppose) to work with me.

My first teacher was a nagger, so when we came back from vacation, I requested a different teacher, and got a much better one, more calm and laid back.

You may have to take that route with your kids, and may have to go through a few teachers to find the one who'll help your kids. It was a worthy investment, though. :)

[Bella_Vixen]

My mom made me a wreck (and vice versa), but my sisters were pretty OK. I was mostly practicing with Bear's nice Toyota, which made me nervous.

My driving teacher was AWESOME!! He never made me nervous at all. We would just talk about this and that, and he would mention anything that needed a bit of work, and that was that. Plus, he thought I was funy. :Þ

I canNOT take my nephew practicing (besides it being illegal, since I've only had my license for just over a year). He's a good driver, but I don't have the nerves for it. Oh well.

[RavenStarr]

Well he has a dr. appointment in the morning. I'm thinking of letting him drive if he wants to. I was thinking of letting him drive half-way till we get to the city limits. Traffic is a little more congested and I want him to have a little more driving experience.

I'll let you guys know how it goes.

[Think Blue]

My mom made me stay in the parking lot until she thought I could handle the street. It took about a week for her to feel confident enough for us to go on the street. Then she took me on a street(always at night at first) that went straight for miles and was really empty. Once I could keep the car steady and had the hang of it, I got to drive it home.

[Slave to the Phone]

I'm always extra cautious around cars that are labeled with "Student Driver" signs.

And, its not just me. A couple of months ago about 8 of us were riding along a 2 lane highway when we came upon a slow, erratic driver. I can't remember the exact words, but the car had a big sign on the back with LARGE letters that said something like "Pity me, I'm teaching him to drive."

With these guys, the normal reaction to a slow driver is to follow closely and then blow by as a group. This time, the group left a respectful distance between the car and group. When the driver found a safe pull-out, everyone quietly passed and waved.

BTW...I taught my 40 year-old mother to drive a stick :eek: Our relationship has recovered, but I wouldn't suggest this as a bonding experience.

[Kiwi]

at first my mum thought driving school was a waste of money, she took me for one of my very first lessons in a parking lot that happened to have alot of seagulls

for some stupid reason she thought it would be a good idea to take of her belt and turn sideways in the car to watch me, well I accelerated and when I was a couple of metres from the gulls I slammed on the brakes because they werent making a move and I didnt want to run them over (you can see were this is going right)

when I slammed on the brakes the car stopped, I stopped (or my belt stopped me) but... mum didnt stop, she lurched forward and her head when CRACK on the front window :eek: she looked like one of those cartoon characters who are knocked out with birds running around there head and she said in this kind of soft high pitched wisper " ok so your going to get driving lessons"

we both cracked up and we still laugh about it to this day, but it taught her two things... new drivers are dangerous and always wear your seat belt:p

[RavenStarr]

Well he has a dr. appointment in the morning. I'm thinking of letting him drive if he wants to. I was thinking of letting him drive half-way till we get to the city limits. Traffic is a little more congested and I want him to have a little more driving experience.

I'll let you guys know how it goes.

Hey I'm quoting myself:lol:

I asked my son if he wanted to drive but he didn't want to. It was early in the morning and he was tired.

That's OK though I'm not going to push him. After all he's 15 so there's no big hurry. I'll see if he wants to get some practice in an empty parking lot. Only if he wants to though.

[Tanasi]

My brother was trying to teach is wife to drive a stick and she was about to burn out the clutch. So instead of causing further damage to his car he rented one with insurance and two clutches later she could drive a stick.
I taught my wife by putting my truck in low-range 4WD and she master it fairly quick.
I taught my oldest daughter and two sons on my tractors. My youngest son (12) races go-carts and I really dread the day he's on the road. My oldest son got his motorcycle license at 14 so the road rules were old hat to him when he tested for his car license, however he managed to get his sisters car totaled last week. She graduates from Army basic next week and will be home in 2 weeks, so now I have to some up with something for her to drive. I'm thinking a Murono or Xtera.

[ArenaBoy]

I took drivers ed which I hated because the instructor always yelled and said I was going to kill somebody. (Been in 3 accidents and none of them were my fault.) I rode with my dad who was a great teacher but my mom well you get the point. When I got better, my dad would bring a newspaper along and read it while I drove.