driving lessons, advice etc..

[jollymum]

OK he's 17 soon and I want him to fail his test miserably about 100 times. BUT if he has to drive, what's the cost of lessons nowadays, how many should he have (none according to him 'cos he's a great driverand does anyone think this 2 day croppy extensive lesson stuff is OK? By my reckoning and it's legal, which is worse, he could have a weekend driving course, take his test and be out on a bank holiday motorway week in May accompanying me. dh and the other three. WTF is going on these days? There are so many kids killed because they're going too fast and think we never did! There by the grace etc...I drove too fast and THB drove over the limit when I started because I was invincible and couldn't die. BUT he's mine and he's not dying young or killing someone else.

Help please

around 20 quid an hour is the cost

plus he has too pass his theory before he can even go in for a test

tests are very strict these days

I failed once for going too slow behind a horse

if he is a sort of boy racer they will know and fail him

It is so much harder to pass a test now. When I passed 13 years ago, I just had to drive for 20 minutes and answer 6 highway code questions.

my ds passed his test on the third attempt a short while ago. He was just 18. We bought him a little saxo with some money his grandad left him. We talked to him at length about speed etc but on the third day out he drove into a set of traffic lights. Thank goodness him and his friend were ok and he didn't hurt anyone else. He wrote the car off and is now driving something nowhere near as nice. He swore he wasn't going too fast and he just lost control but it tells me that he just wasn't ready to be on the roads on his own. I am terrified every time he goes out, but he is an adult with a driving licence and insurance so what can you do except worry??? I personally think that the age to drive should be more 21 instead of 17. I think my sons accident has really shook him up and that he is a lot more careful now but it shouldn't take something like that to happen!

Good luck and here's hoping he takes ages to pass!

I just keep telling him "I didn't get you through chicken pox, sick, poo etc etc for you to screw up and wrap your car around a tree, killing yourself and god knows who because you're a boy racer and think that you're a good driver"

He's still my baby and I think 21 should be the legal age, however if you're disabled apparently you can drive at sixteen? What's that about then ?

When DD was younger, she'd say - it's Ok, I'm getting a lift home with Emma - meaning Emma's mum or dad. Now she's 17 & several of her friends are older, I have to check she still means the parent, not the teenager.It's pretty much my worst fear, because groups of teenagers in cars so often seem to end up wrapped round a tree.

I'm just glad that DS who's 19 isn't very interested in learning yet, because it's difficult to park a car at his uni.

jollymum maybe because public transport is that crap

a disabled person finds it harder to get around
or didnt you know that

It is such a worry... DD1, now 18, passed her test after 4 attempts. She was overconfident and that is why she kept failing.

She is still overconfident and the trouble is, you only really 'learn' how to drive when you actually pass your test and drive on your own, again and again. Experience is the key....

DD1 had 30 lessons (at 20 quid each!)even though she was a capable, if over confident driver.

I worry myself sick when she goes out at night in her car. She knows not to get lifts home with anyone from college who may have been drinking. They are all sensible on the drinking, no driving thing BUT they all have the music on deafening and there are usually 5 in the car coming home from a party or whatever.

I just reinforce everything with her and as for motorway driving.... very very scary!

That's the problem - they learn to drive with two people in the front of the car & then go out at night with 3 big 18 year olds in the back seat & lose control. I see so many trees with bunches of flowers on them round here & my heart always skips a beat - one of Dd's friends older sister turned her car over the other week - they were very lucky no-one was killed.

I am on my 3rd lesson (bit older then your son though I am 38).I pay 20 pounds an hour.My instructor has said that it will take as long as it takes and steady and well practised is better than over confident racing ahead.On my lesson today i encountered 2 boy racers and I was scared at the speed they were doing one also had a young child in the car.
I also had someone turn out of a drive in a big transit van back nearly into me and I had to do an emergency stop to avoid being totalled.It isnt always you on the road who is at fault its the others who have disregard and think it will never be them.

I watched a programme the other night about young/new drivers.The point of the program was that they are not taughtor tested on how to drive in the dark/on motorways/dual carriageways.
The program recommended the advanced driving course, so more money I guess but worth it.
It also said that the no.1 killer of teenage girls was their boyfriend's bad driving

My driving lessons were £19 an hour although my driving instructor did do bulk buys which worked out cheaper. I passed my test last year at the grand age of 29.

I did the pass plus after I passed my test, driving in the dark, country roads, motorway driving etc. It was brilliant and my council pays half of the costs if you're a newly qualified driver, not sure if every council does this.
It was really useful and I think it should be a legal part of passing your test.

There is also the theory test to do and you have to know about things under the bonnet as well as learning the questions about the tyre treads minimum, tyre pressures, etc My driving instructor had a sheet with the list of questions on it so I could learn them then when asked a question I'd know the answer there are something like 12 questions of which you could be asked any 2. Would have learnt the answers anyway but it was good to have them written down in one place.

hiya jollymum, my son is 17, e has filled in his provisional - and has to get a photo. its been on the shelf since xmas and i'm in no hurry to remind him.

i did say that if he got a job i would pay half - he has a great job and is doing well so i will - but i'm not paying all.

i wont pay for the provisional.
i wont pay for the written test
or the hazard perception ( if thats extra can't remember)
i wont pay for the test fee
i wont pay for a car
and i wont pay for the tax or insurance.

i think thats quite enough to put him off for a year.

so maybe explaining finance to him is an option?

lessons are about £20 - i personally would do the rush job - becuase like you i want to string it out as long as poss before some mad lunatic 17 year old get behind the wheel with music blaring.

my lessons are £17.50 for an hour, that's with masterclass.

We taught our dds the basics of driving (start engine, 1st gear ... 2nd gear ... that's enough ... on industrial estates on Sunday afternoons!) before paying for professional lessons. The lessons taught them the correct way to drive to pass their tests.

I don't like the quick intensive way of learning to drive (well, not for teens, anyway). I made our dds drive if we went anywhere at the weekend, just to get lots and lots of practice. It meant they did some relatively boring journeys, but lots of experience of roundabouts, junctions, traffic lights, pulling over to allow ambulances to pass (it happened twice!), busy town roads, long and winding country lanes, and rain. I think they need lots and lots of practice before they're let loose on the world.

I worked on the premise that if our dds had their own driving licences and cars, then they wouldn't be driving with anyone else!

Sorry, I wasn't trying to be offensive about young disabled drivers, mind you, knowing some of the kids I work with I'll bet they will be boy racers too, SN or not. I have been flattened against the wall at school by countless wheelcahirs and keep telling them there's a speed limit! Custy, he's applied for his licence and has the forms ready. I am not buying him a car or insurance etc. His dad has said (my ex) that he'll match £750 if he can save it, well he's in debt to me now for loans and h/keeping, so it'll be a while BTW, changing the subject, who pays what for housekeeping and what's reasonable?

DS1 had around 20 lessons and passed on third attempt. The test is very strict now - especially about speed - you fail if you drive too slow or fast. Ten days later he rolled my car into a field writing it off (no physical damage to him). Five days after that he passed his Pass Plus. Lots of people have told me similar stories. Teenage boys (and a good proportion of girls) are a danger on the roads! However, if they don't learn to drive when they are 17 or 18 it is much more difficult to arrange when they have left home and don't have access to a practice car.

Ive always thought I'd buy my daughter a two seater when she passes her test to stop that filling the car up with teenagers thing, higher insurance proably but might help keep her safe.

Message withdrawn

South Australia have, what I think is a good way to learn to drive. I think the other states in Australia have simething similar. No intensive courses here. I am on my Learners at the mo, so it's all fresh in my head!

You have to do an 8 question 'Give Way' test. Exactly what it says, answer 8 questions, choosing which car has to give way. If you pass that (you HAVE to get 8/8), you have to do a 42 question multiple choice theory test (where you have to get at least 32/42). If you pass these 2 (and you have to pass the give way or no multiple choice) you get your learners licence.

You then have to do 50 hours of driving in all sorts of weather conditions, traffic weight etc. 10 of those HAVE to be at night. You have to log all this info to prove it has been done & your Qualified Supervising Driver has to sign off the lesson too.You can do your 50 hrs with a instructor or with a Qualified Supervising Driver. This can be anyone over 21 who has had a full licence for at least years 2.

You have to hold your Learners for 6 months before you are allowed to take a test. You can do an on road test (as in UK) or a log book test, where an instructor marks off each detail of driving as you reach a satisfactory level of compatency (sp). Once he feels you are competent, he signs you off & you are fit to drive.

When you pass either way, you HAVE to have a Provisonal Licence for 2 years. The P's do allow you to drive alone & you have to display P plates in the car.

P1, you get as soon as you pass. You have certain driving restrictions (speed, size of engine etc) and have to hold it for 6 months or until you are 19 (whichever is a greater length of time). Then you do a hazard perception test, on a PC where you have to touch the screen when you see a hazard. If you pass (full marks only, not sure what the marks are yet) you get your P2. Less restrictions. You hold this for the remainder of the 2 years. Then you get your full licence.

If you get points on your Learners or P's you may have to go back & redo your tests (depending what level you are at)

My eldest 2 learned to drive a while ago. DD has now failed 3 tests and is in no hurry to retake. DS1 failed the first one then went off to uni so no money/ incentive to take it again. We don't pay for lessons/ tests etc- driving is a luxury so they have to pay for themselves. Also the car we had at the time was an auto with a "no under 28s" restriction on the insurance (bizarre number) so they couldn't practice with us anyway.

I think 17 is too young. It was set at the time when people went out to work at 14 or 15. Now most kids are in education until 21 so what's the point? DDs boyf passed first time but had already written off 2 cars in the first few months of driving.

DS2 (17) has the forms for his provisional licence but like Custy I'm in no hurry to remind him to send them in. He's spending £24 a week on horse riding lessons. Long may that continue!

Saying all that, no roads are restricted here for learner drivers, so there is no having to 'get used to' motorways etc.

You have to make sure you cover al sorts of roads too.

My son passed his test on the second attempt. I worried every day, he crashed it at twenty and was banned from driving for a year and I was able to relax for the whole of that year. DD passed at first attempt. I used to take her out driving at night to car parks, country roads etc. I realised she was capable of driving when I stopped being scared when I was in the car when she was driving. She also had about ten driving lessons. The day she passed I came home from work and her car was gone. I was phoning every one I knew trying to find her. She was fine.

have told kids they can learn to drive as soon as they want but
they have to organise it themselves
they can't drive my car as under 25 restriction
on insurance

oh yes and they have to pay for the whole thing themselves, licence, test, theory test, car, insurance, tax, mot and maintenance

fortunately public transport isn't too bad near us

Sure a lot of kids are in education until 21 but not all of them. Not all kids are boy racers. Some have jobs and responsibilities and need a car to get around.