Could you teach your children to drive?

Learning to drive is a complex skill and sadly parents and ‘experienced’ drivers often engender poorer skills and bad habits. Driving Instructors are highly trained professionals – trust me, I know how long it takes to become a professional instructor. Would you tell a supermarket that they shouldn’t bake cakes and bread just because you think you know how to cook?

Please don’t underestimate the skills of learning to drive. Just a few lessons telling you how to pass a test does not make good drivers as it is a skill for life.

Parents an friends can certainly help their offspring but please don’t think that teaching young people a safe and secure way to drive confidently is something we can all do – just look at all the ba habits and dangerous driving that is commonplace next time you are around.

Sadly I’ve seen bad habits and dangerous driving from driving instructors and there is certainly no real correlation between good driving and good instructors – It depends on the individual acting on their own – the fact they know how to do it properly does not mean they do it properly all the time – In fact it seems the younger the driver is the more likely they are to drive badly causing incidents (not accidents)

“Would you tell a supermarket that they shouldn’t bake cakes and bread just because you think you know how to cook? ”

I would not tell a supermarket to stop baking, but if I had the skills, I would do my own baking, to save money.

Similarly, whilst driving instructors can be in existence for learners who need them, I see no reason for suitably skilled relatives and friends to take the role of instructor, in order to save money.

By way of example, I am teaching my wife to drive. I have a career as a teacher, so teaching skills are there. I am a sensible driver. I still remember some of the advice imparted by my instructor decades ago. I have several books on driving skills and on teaching learners.

So what’s wrong with me teaching my wife to drive? Nothing! She may need a few professional lessons to bring her to test standards, but that’s all. She can learn the bulk of the skills from me.

With respect, I think you should let the professional driving instructor give the first lessons, Louis. A lot has changed in the last few decades and even though you are a safe driver, a driving instructor is likely to be better able to prepare your wife to meet the expectations of the examiner. Think about how your own teaching style has evolved over the years.

Another factor is that your wife will hopefully be comfortable with you in the passenger seat, but may be less at ease receiving instructions from a stranger. The driving examiner will not only be a complete stranger but also placing your wife under the stress of assessment. It’s not just children who can find examinations stressful.

What is wrong with driving at night? The roads are quieter, with less vulnerable users such as cyclists, motorcyclists and pedestrians. Many users drive more cautiously at night, and headlights provide a warning of vehicles approaching at corners and junctions. I believe that it is essential that all learners are comfortable with driving in the dark.

Starting off with just professional tuition makes a lot of sense, as John has explained.

One of the side-effects of introducing parental supervision is that older drivers will learn from what their children have been taught, and they are likely to be made aware that their own driving is not up to current standards. An important part of teaching is learning.

“I think the professional instructors will also have a better understanding of the correct technique looked for by the examiner on test. The problem with mixed tuition is that there could be a divergence on technique that might cause confusion; reverse parking is an obvious example where experienced drivers have fashioned their own approach that might differ from the orthodox model.”

What’s wrong with teaching a technique that is not the official way, as long as the end result is achieved safely and correctly?

This is just another example of the driving instructors trying to create their own cozy monopoly by persuading the government to make ‘professional’ instruction mandatory before taking the driving test.

So it has been, for every trade, since the medieval guilds and earlier. And, as for every other trade, we the public need to resist it.

My wife and I helped our four kids to learn to drive. Some also used professional driving instructors; some not. It was their choice. Those who used them were generally pleased that they did. Those that did not passed without their help.

Let’s keep it that way.

Driving instruction by qualified personnel is mandatory in France spanner48 as it is in Germany, and some other European countries, but practice is allowed in some. Professional tuition is considered to be mandatory in these countries because of safety and comprehensive expert tuition.
The problem is that learner drivers who do practice with relatives or friends are not shown the approved safe methods of driving, and pick-up “bad habits”, which is a synonym for careless and sometimes even dangerous behavior, because this is how the “teacher” drives.
Do you suppose that anyone other than an ADI knows the syllabus in driving skills before they begin teaching their children? Unlikely. There is nothing worse than amateurs pretending to do a qualified professional occupation.

If the UK is anything to go by then the example of other drivers on our roads is hardly something that we should pass on to our offspring, and by this I mean: tailgating, risky overtaking, jumping red lights, abusing speed and breaking speed limits, disregarding traffic signs and traffic lights: the list is quite endless.
How many mums or dads do you also suppose know an up to date highway code or the rules of the road, and even the last time they even looked at one.
Most parents I know who have sat a simulated “Theory Test” have failed miserably, even though they may have been driving for years.

As I have mentioned previously, even the DSA advertises that it is highly unlikely that anyone other than a professionally qualified tutor can teach all of the skills in being safe on the road; this is NOT about passing a test, it is about safe driving skills for life.

Perhaps you would rather have someone who “knows a bit about plumbing” to install your central heating or replace old pipework, rather than a qualified “gas-safe” (corgi-registered) plumber/engineer? you are free to do so, but is this your safest and most reliable option?

Earlier in the Conversation, I said that I support novice drivers starting off with professional instruction, but I believe that it is also important that drivers get plenty of experience. It is much cheaper to get mum or dad to sit in the car. I have met a couple of driving instructors who recommended this.

It is obvious that not everyone has the right temperament or competence to supervise their children practising their driving skills, but there are many who could. No amount of professional instruction is going to prevent those who pass their tests from taking the risks that chrisb refers to.

EU Traffic Accident statistics 2012:

Fatalities per 100,000 road vehicles:

UK: 5.1
Germany: 6.9
France: 9.57

Those statistics are not abut “passing tests”, but about real safety for life.

And in response to your last paragraph: no, I DON’T have the right to install gas central heating. The gas engineers HAVE managed to create a mandatory monopoly for themselves.

That – the professional “Closed Shop” – is what we have to avoid.

Spanner48 – You CAN install your OWN central heating provided that the gas and electrical work are checked by qualified people before the system is commissioned.

I would be interested to see comparison of accident statistics for those who have had professional tuition throughout and those who have mainly been taught by their parents. My hypothesis is that that there will not be much difference. Professional tuition makes drivers better prepared for the test, taking their trainees on routes known to be used by examiners and coaching them to be prepared for the challenges they are likely to encounter.

spanner48,
I agree with you that the accident statistics you refer to are not about “passing tests”, but about “attitude” and “irresponsibility” on our roads, coupled with drivers who have about three brain cells, two of which are probably not working (mainly young males rather than females). This merely exemplifies what I have already mentioned in the common mentality of the majority of learners (and fee-paying parents) wanting to just “pass the test”, rather than learn all driving skills comprehensively, and as a result then “pass the test”.

It would seem that you are unaware that the “closed shop” that you mention is in place for “public safety” in for example only having a trained professional to do any job, such as installing gas central heating, properly, safely and competently.
What you are saying I think is that the bloke next-door who knows a bit about mathematics or history, or whatever subject you care to mention, would be fit to teach our children at school in preparation for their exams!!

I am not saying that it is not a good idea to practice skills in driving, because as the saying goes: “practice makes perfect”, but only professionally qualified persons can do any job to a high standard of competence, where others are highly unlikely to be able to.

Driving tuition is not a “closed shop” as you know, but to rely exclusively on non-qualified people such as mums and dads to teach their children to drive would lack the essential thoroughness and the appropriate skills needed, even though they may have scraped through a driving test.
Professionally qualified driving instructors also know “how to teach” and “what to teach” using teaching techniques that you are likely to be unaware of. Their aim is to allow their pupil to progress from a novice to an independent standard on all topics within the approved syllabus, and avoid under or over instruction: only a professional would know how to do this.