Get the kid behind the wheel.......

[EVENKEEL]

At what age do you tell the kid to get behind the wheel and drive around? 

 

Yesterday while cruising around exploring neighborhoods I pulled over and the 13 yr old got behind the wheel. Big road in an affluent multi village area, not many cars, lots of speed bumps. While in the US the kid has already started driving there down country roads.

 

Next will be manual transmission training. Being competent driving  a stick shift is a valuable life lesson.

[CharlieH]

Unless its private land, the legal age limit!

 

Otherwise its not insured, totally illegal and frankly very irresponsible, encouraging someone at a young age to not only break the law but putting them in harms way, in z worst case scenario, ruins their life!

[EVENKEEL]

10 minutes ago, CharlieH said:

Unless its private land, the legal age limit!

 

Otherwise its not insured, totally illegal and frankly very irresponsible, encouraging someone at a young age to not only break the law but putting them in harms way, in z worst case scenario, ruins their life!

I did start the kid on private land in the US. In my view it's more irresponsible to let a kid get a license and turn them loose on the road with no experience. 

[Ralf001]

I grew up on acreage... started driving at 8.

 

My kids started at 14.

[blaze master]

53 minutes ago, EVENKEEL said:

At what age do you tell the kid to get behind the wheel and drive around? 

 

Yesterday while cruising around exploring neighborhoods I pulled over and the 13 yr old got behind the wheel. Big road in an affluent multi village area, not many cars, lots of speed bumps. While in the US the kid has already started driving there down country roads.

 

Next will be manual transmission training. Being competent driving  a stick shift is a valuable life lesson.

 

I was taken to my school parking lot when I was 14. My sister was 16 at the time practicing for her road test. My dad gave me some introduction to it all. 

[fredwiggy]

36 minutes ago, EVENKEEL said:

I did start the kid on private land in the US. In my view it's more irresponsible to let a kid get a license and turn them loose on the road with no experience. 

On private land with nothing around to hit, and you sitting next to him, there's still a chance they can hit the gas instead of the brake, but it all depends on how much acreage of fields you have. They are better off knowing the controls of the car before just letting them drive with no experience at 15. Not around buildings or other cars.

 

I taught a cousin here to drive who was already in her 20's with no car experience. Scooter experience does help in this instance, especially seeing they've already been on roads. She learned pretty quick with my help, and was driving her car on the roads after a few lessons, and is still doing okay.

 

I first drove a car, a full size Lincoln Continental that was my friend's mom's car, in the early 70's. It was scary, seeing the care was close to others parked on a street on both sides. 

[Yellowtail]

Being from the US, most everyone was driving by 16. In California you passed the written and got a permit at 15 1/2. Pretty much everyone I knew had a car or motorcycle before they were 17. 

 

We four kids all started driving on my dad's lap before we could reach the pedals. My dad took us to an industrial area on the weekends when it was a ghost town. I did the same with my boy in Thailand. He was 13 or 14 when I taught him to drive a stick. 

 

In the mid-'70s, everyone in my family had a car, so we had six cars and had to park three on the street, so it was a goat-fu*k every Thursday morning when everything had to be off the street by 05:00 for the street-sweeper...

 

 

In Montana you could get a farm license at 14 that allowed you to drive for farm work, to go to school and to go to town and buy feed and whatnot.

 

 

 

[EVENKEEL]

I was driving our farm truck on the road at age 14 in Calif, solo. Used it to get to my part time job when weather was bad and didn't want to ride MC.

 

I think it's good for the kid to shake off the nervousness and be comfortable driving. My kid was up for the task, first had to break the habit of using both feet in an auto car. Myself at land office renewing my license and at the reaction test, I was surprised at the number of adults using left foot for brake.