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Teenagers

Parenting teenagers has its ups and downs. Get advice from Mumsnetters here.

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Original poster

Teenager driving in the snow

16 replies

bigbluebus · 20/01/2015 17:54

DS (18) said he was going out this evening to an activity he does but would be back at 7.30pm. The forecast was for light snow at 7.00 and heavier later. But it is snowing already and our road is covered. Most of the roads he will be driving on will be gritted but near to his destination will not.
He only passed his test 5 months ago and his journey isn't entirely necessary. Would you let your teenager borrow the car in this situation? Part of me says if he never drives in snow he will never learn but the other bit of me wants to keep him safe and not have an insurance claim to sort out
WWYD?

OP posts:

OhYouBadBadKitten · 20/01/2015 17:56

Can you go with him? he'd probably hate you!

morethanpotatoprints · 20/01/2015 17:58

Hello OP

I don't drive myself but remember dh talking to our lads and telling them about not breaking if they go into a skid.
Make sure they have spade and warm blankets and flask.
Keep your eye on weather and bbc gives timing for every area, well worth keeping up with latest.
let him go, one day he'll have to do it.

DealForTheKids · 20/01/2015 18:00

When I was at secondary school my best friends mum wouldn't drive if there was snow on the ground, because she was too scared. She called her kids in sick when it was snowy... She would have been in her 40s at this stage.

Give him all the good advice up thread, but let him

Original poster

bigbluebus · 20/01/2015 18:05

badKitten Can't go with him but could go and rescue him if he gets stuck. Only going 5 miles so no need for blankets and flask - he could walk back if necessary.

OP posts:

AnyFucker · 20/01/2015 18:12

I would let him

My dc (passed a couple of months ago) is driving back and forward to work on the motorway in this bad weather

CatsClaus · 20/01/2015 18:20

first year ds1 was driving was the worst we have had for snow in ages....

admittedly he was only just in and out to the train station, but deep snow, packed ice, no gritting

so he had a baptism of fire really. As said upthread, no exaggerated acceleration/braking, just take it all really steady

make sure to have warm gear in the car in case you have to get out, shovel just in case, but really if it is bad enough to be thinking blankets and food supplies then I don't think anyone should go out unless essential.

Original poster

bigbluebus · 20/01/2015 18:54

He's gone, with all the good advice which went over his head
It is still snowing lightly. DH has gone out to a meeting (on foot) so now I am left here biting my fingers on my own waiting for him to get back in one piece. Give me toddlers any day

OP posts:

PeaStalks · 21/01/2015 14:20

How did it go OP?
It's so scary letting them do this but they have to learn. This is one of the reasons I am so against intensive driving lessons. When DS1 learned to drive over a period of six months he had lessons in fog, snow, ice and night time.
In spite of that last winter there were almost no days with icy roads so this winter was his first time driving alone in ice and snow.
He went with all advice ringing in his ears and came home in one piece. We live out in the country, lots of windy ungritted lanes. He had skidded very slightly twice and it seemed to have helped him to understand that I was not exaggerating about driving sloooowly.

TheFairyCaravan · 21/01/2015 14:27

We had a lot of snow on Boxing night and DS2 had work a couple of days later. We live rurally, it hadn't cleared and I was worried about him driving so said DH had to take him. That went down like a cup of cold sick so DH took him out the day before so he could teach him how to drive in snow!

I agree with you about having toddlers over teens!

Original poster

bigbluebus · 21/01/2015 19:27

He got back fine thanks although he didn't stay out very long so not sure if it phased him a little no bumps on the car though so he didn't hit anything even if he did skid. We didn't actually get the heavy snow that was forecast though.
He has gone out again tonight and it might be icy when he comes back so he has had more 'guidance' on making sure the windscreen is clear before setting off and driving carefully.
I think I need to lay off the 'drive carefully' spech each time he leaves the house as he is now saying to me as he leaves "yes I'll drive carefully' before I have said it to him
YOu want them to be independent so much so you are relieved of your taxiing duties on cold winters nights but it is so stressful when they are out. Now I know why my dad used to wait up until I was home right up until I left home at 24.

OP posts:

TheFairyCaravan · 21/01/2015 20:15

DS1(20) has left home and joined the Army. He has bought himself a 2.0L BMW. He drove the 215 miles back to camp in it for the first time on Sunday and I couldn't settle until I got the text saying he had arrived safely. Before he left, DH was saying " make sure you do X, do Y, don't do Z" so DS1 said "if you keep telling me I won't be ok then I won't be, so just drop it!" He's right, but you can't help it can you?

PeaStalks · 22/01/2015 14:11

DS2 starts driving in a few weeks, gulp. I will never get used to it.
DS1 is unbelievably tolerant and accommodating of DH and me fussing. He is very good about giving us a text when he arrives /sets off. He is a good driver, I know he is because he has driven me a lot. It's everyone else....

elastamum · 22/01/2015 14:17

my dad took me out in the snow after I first passed my test and we spent a merry afternoon skidding a car round some empty roads on a not yet built housing estate. What I learnt that afternoon about controlling a skidding car saved my life a few years later. and taught me how to do a handbrake turn into a parking space

Cars are much safer now, but I plan to send my DS on a skidpan course as soon as they learn to drive.

Original poster

bigbluebus · 22/01/2015 15:45

fairy I guess there's a sort of irony in that story - he's in the army and you're worrying about him driving a car

OP posts:

TheFairyCaravan · 22/01/2015 15:49

He's still in training, he's learning to drive army vehicles atm. I worry about him when he is driving, when he is out with his mates and when he is working. If he ever goes to a warzone I wiil be a wreck, but DH is RAF so military life is the norm to us.

specialsubject · 23/01/2015 14:52

FWIW in these conditions the 'is your journey really necessary' rule applies for everyone.

however competent - because there are so many who are not competent. And they have all been driving into each other near me, and the one who got a roasting in the local paper for ending up in a ditch (Happily uninjured) simply cannot get her non-teenage head around the fact that she was going too fast and it is 100% her fault.

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