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.

 

[IsaanT]

On 6/22/2025 at 7:56 AM, 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.

My dad started me and my siblings on farm tracks as soon as we were able to sit on his lap and do the steering.  For me, that was 7.  By 10 or 11 I was driving myself on the tracks (clutch, brakes, steering), with him sitting beside me.

There's nothing wrong with acquiring these skills at a young age - I'm all for it - but only, ever, on private land where there is no risk to others.
 

[Yellowtail]

There is risk in everything. Which is riskier, spending ten years teaching a kid how to drive under extremely controlled conditions, having them get their license, turning them loose and praying. 

 

Or, waiting until they're 18, spending a week teaching them and then having them get their license, turning them loose and praying.

 

I taught my kid to drive for ten years and then put him in a driving school for week, he aced the test, and then I turned him loose and prayed. 

 

 

[Frank au]

How about teaching them to reverse Park

any monkey can drive forward?

[KhunLA]

My daughter enjoyed driving (throttle & steering) the MB at 5 years old, as earliest she could reach the handlebars.  Almost lost me off the back one time, as she cracked the throttle as soon as I change the gear.  Never let her out of 3rd gear, as fast enough, and just village roads.

 

I let her drive the car on long stretches of highway, with minimal cross traffic around 13 / 14 years old.  Been driving in Krung Thep area, for about 7 years.  First few, no issue, as Uni area driving.   Then moved 'downtown', and dinged all 4 sides of the car, mostly while parking 

 

Never having an oops with another vehicle.  Seem to like scraping walls & steel poles.

 

Why you always give the kid, the 2nd hander when you upgrade.  Issue free with her new Atto 3, having over 1 year now, again, in downtown Krung Thep area, Asoke, Suk, Silom, Sathorn, and back & forth to Rangsit, along with long over the road trips.  Quite a good driver.

[AgMech Cowboy]

On 6/22/2025 at 7:56 AM, 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.

Yes, I started my son driving on a wide road that leads to our subdivision and even on the more narrow streets inside it when he was 14.  It was in my SUV.  He did pretty good.  His Mother never let him drive her vehicle, a sedan.  He's 22 now and scares me to death when I ride with him, which means I use a taxi.  He's already totaled one car and had an additional 2 or 3 accidents requiring extensive body work since he turned 20.

 

Sadly, we (the wife and I) don't know where we went wrong.  He was always careful with me when he was a teenager.

[richard_smith237]

Wife used to drive to school at 16 with her Mum sat next to her !!! (in Thailand).

 

I think there is no great harm in what the Op did, also a couple of 'over reactions' - its clear caution was taken and this isn't such a dramatic action as some seem to suggest...   

 

I don't see any harm in getting kids familiar with vehicles and driving...

 

In our Moo-baan (wide open roads), I've had my son sat on my lap and steering etc... not really driver training, just a bit of fun (though I fully expect some karen now to tell me how dangerous that is because of the airbag etc)...

 

 

 

At what age would I start: Maybe about 13 years old in a manual in private field.

Perhaps about 15 in an empty car-park (if in Thailand).

 

On the road - here... Obviously only when legal... 

 

 

 

[motdaeng]

On 6/22/2025 at 7:56 AM, EVENKEEL said:

Yesterday while cruising around exploring neighborhoods I pulled over and the 13 yr old got behind the wheel.

 

that's a good lesson for your 13-year-old, who now learns that it's okay not to follow the laws in thailand ... you're truly a valuable role model ...

 

just wait till your child have the legal age to drive ... or is that not an option for you?

what do you or your child lose? 

[SAFETY FIRST]

On 6/22/2025 at 7:56 AM, EVENKEEL said:

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

I worked in Saudi Arabia for a few years, common to see 8 and 9 year old kids driving the family car with mum sat in the back seat 

[Yellowtail]

23 minutes ago, motdaeng said:

 

that's a good lesson for your 13-year-old, who now learns that it's okay not to follow the laws in thailand ... you're truly a valuable role model ...

 

just wait till your child have the legal age to drive ... or is that not an option for you?

what do you or your child lose? 

It's against the law on public roads, not on private property, such has housing tracts, industrial parks, parking lots and whatnot. 

[Srikcir]

On 6/22/2025 at 8:01 AM, 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!

Find a big parking lot after business hours

[DezLez]

8 minutes ago, Srikcir said:

Find a big parking lot after business hours

My father would take me up to an industrial estate car park in the early, still light, evenings for driving practice well before my 17th birthday.

[Yellowtail]

In the US:

https://www.parents.com/driving-age-by-state-8607683

Legal Driving Age by State

[proton]

Did not past test until 39, never bothered driving afterwards