Getting my Sons Driver Hours up

[Ghost]

Did you think to call another driving school and change instructors? If u complain and say he is falling asleep they will sack his arse

 

[Lazyr8]

maybe they need some things called simulators.
i

every heard of gran turismo the real driving simulater it must be true its on the cover

i passed my test first time thanks to this game :smoking:

 

[me&myVZ]

With where I live (Out West) there is only one driving school and even then they are traveling almost an hour to get to our house. I have called up and complained of course but considering they are a Husband and Wife duet there's not going to be any sacking and from what I understand she runs the office and he does the driving so we can't swap and have her instead.

 

[yZoH]

With where I live (Out West) there is only one driving school and even then they are traveling almost an hour to get to our house. I have called up and complained of course but considering they are a Husband and Wife duet there's not going to be any sacking and from what I understand she runs the office and he does the driving so we can't swap and have her instead.

Be a DAD, An teach your kid to drive!

 

[me&myVZ]

Jonesy Im not concerned about the Lexus at all. It's scary stuff teaching your kids to drive and when your very first drive with them ends with the rear of the car knocked up and a missing letterbox before you have even left the driveway is enough said. He has now had 10 hours behind the wheel with an instructor and Im ready to try again in his own car. Why would we sell the Cruze to get him a VT? It's more powerful, harder to park, More expensive to own and run when you consider Fuel, servicing and registration costs etc. This is a long term car not just a car to learn to drive in! As for the Lessons as I have explained prior I live out west and there is only one driving school and it's still based an hour from our house.

Im not expecting him to crash it at all, it's a safety pro-caution as well as a car I hope is going to serve him for many years to come. To be honest I would have loved to have got him a Commodore but there just not suited for inexperienced drivers!

who is the driving instructor? is he with a driving school such as racv, racq ect. Get a new driving instructor. sell the cruze get a vt commodore big reasonablty safe. have the new instructor teach him a few things then start letting him drive to school, to sport ect. i start when i was 16, i drove to school most days when i went for my licence i had over 160 logged hours and i hadn't logged for 3 months prior to my test. as for reversign the lexus into a mail box or whatever it is, who cares acidents happen you paid the excess. you wingeing about paying the excess, so you buy him a new cruze????

Excess = $1000 - $2000
Cruze = $19,000
hmm i doubt he's going to have 9 crashes while on his l's??

be smart about it. its not hard!

Rant over
Jonesy Out!

 

[MikeCuzzy]

Hi Greg,

I understand that teaching your son to drive is a somewhat daunting prospect given his propensity to back into parts of your house. I'm currently on my green P's so I can tell you all the mistakes my parents made In truth, my Dad was an excellent instructor, despite my arguing occasionally - being a 16 year old I knew so much! The key is, as many others have said, you need to show confidence. If you are appearing nervous, worried, get angry, or use your imaginary passenger brake (as my Mum did) you're only going to make him hate driving and get worked up. The best thing you can do is remain calm, despite how crazy your son may be driving, he needs to see that you are there to help him. You say you live out west, I'm guessing a decent ways out? Try and find a quiet town, with wide roads that he can practice. Don't take him down small, narrow roads - as my Mum found out on my first time out with her and a guy came over a crest at 80kph and just about killed me day 1 of driving luckily I got out of the way just in time (I was doing like 40kph made it easier).

Start in areas of town that have around 50kph as the limit, and he doesn't have to worry about much but keeping it between the lines. Then build up, maybe let him drive on a main road with maybe 60 as the limit. Then build up to 80 zones and freeways, and finally those goat track 100 zones between country towns. You need to build up step by step. I learned to drive in my Dad's old, very well travelled VT Exec, no driver assists and I learnt how to park really well and unlike my Mum and Dad, I haven't backed into anything.

As for the instructor lessons, yeah they're fine, but spread them out through the hours. Take him driving for say 15/20 hours, then throw a lesson in. If you're driving an hour to get to the instructors place, there's no reason he can't start driving that when he gets the skill and confidence.

Again, the key is for you as the adult to remain calm and in control, don't get angry because he can't do something properly. Every mistake we make as drivers, everytime we almost have a prang, everytime we bascially #### up - we get experience. And remember, he is very unlikely to back into your mailbox again, you need to teach him to learn from mistakes and that it's OKAY when he does, and that it's just a means of learning.

Mike.

 

[me&myVZ]

Thank you MikeCuzzy finally some advice
With living in a remote area it makes it just that bit harder as there are trucks, 4wds, caravans, Kangaroos and what ever else everywhere. The roads in places consist of what you just said narrow roads that you have to share with massive Trucks. There also VERY windy and sometimes slippery roads!!

It sounds hard but Im going to be as calm and full of confidence as I can possibly be! Perhaps if he wasn't learning Manual it wouldn't be so scary (my fear of him Stalling infront of a truck or something) but all will be good
Thanks again

Greg.
.

Hi Greg,

I understand that teaching your son to drive is a somewhat daunting prospect given his propensity to back into parts of your house. I'm currently on my green P's so I can tell you all the mistakes my parents made In truth, my Dad was an excellent instructor, despite my arguing occasionally - being a 16 year old I knew so much! The key is, as many others have said, you need to show confidence. If you are appearing nervous, worried, get angry, or use your imaginary passenger brake (as my Mum did) you're only going to make him hate driving and get worked up. The best thing you can do is remain calm, despite how crazy your son may be driving, he needs to see that you are there to help him. You say you live out west, I'm guessing a decent ways out? Try and find a quiet town, with wide roads that he can practice. Don't take him down small, narrow roads - as my Mum found out on my first time out with her and a guy came over a crest at 80kph and just about killed me day 1 of driving luckily I got out of the way just in time (I was doing like 40kph made it easier).

Start in areas of town that have around 50kph as the limit, and he doesn't have to worry about much but keeping it between the lines. Then build up, maybe let him drive on a main road with maybe 60 as the limit. Then build up to 80 zones and freeways, and finally those goat track 100 zones between country towns. You need to build up step by step. I learned to drive in my Dad's old, very well travelled VT Exec, no driver assists and I learnt how to park really well and unlike my Mum and Dad, I haven't backed into anything.

As for the instructor lessons, yeah they're fine, but spread them out through the hours. Take him driving for say 15/20 hours, then throw a lesson in. If you're driving an hour to get to the instructors place, there's no reason he can't start driving that when he gets the skill and confidence.

Again, the key is for you as the adult to remain calm and in control, don't get angry because he can't do something properly. Every mistake we make as drivers, everytime we almost have a prang, everytime we bascially #### up - we get experience. And remember, he is very unlikely to back into your mailbox again, you need to teach him to learn from mistakes and that it's OKAY when he does, and that it's just a means of learning.

Mike.

 

[Voodoo_SV6]

My daughter recently got her Ls. She had no idea how a car works.

The first lesson was in a quiet industrial estate at night (and in the rain). The first 30 minutes was showing her where the controls are and what they do. Indicators, lights, brake, handbrake, adjusting mirrors, seats, steering wheel, walking around the car to visually check tyres, lights, obsticales and then she started the car and we very slowly moved down the road so she could feel the brakes so she wouldn't nail them.

Then we swapped seats and I showed her a little about driving - hand position on the wheel, looking for traffic around and the dimensions of the car (touching rolled edge gutters to get an idea of width etc) three point turns. She started smiling and was surprised how calm I was.

Then I showed her how dangerous a car can be in the wet. In she hopped and at her own pace she started in straight lines, then a roundabout.

She loved it and we have been out a couple of times to the same area. She has not yet wanted to go into traffic or on main roads, but she is smiling and I guess best of all is the bonding.

She also has a greater respect for a car and drivers.

Whenever I drive her somewhere, she sits up front and tells me what she is seeing on the road ahead - kids, pets, items on the road to avoid. It's great

 

[monkeys437]

Just let him drive every time he's in the car with you and the hours and experience will build up. I was lucky to have 200+ hours on my L's but I had mate with as little as 8 hours driving before getting their P's (the days before log books) and they survived so there's no reason your son cant tackle any situation out roads can throw at him with you supervising. Night time, torrential rain, peak hour traffic, unfamiliar roads etc are all good timed for learners to drive. You don't want him experiencing this stuff for the first time when he's driving solo.

 

[me&myVZ]

Well that's what I did with Brendan in the Garage before we hit the letterbox, But I believe the driving instructor has since gone through that all again.
I can see it as a further bonding opportunity and once Im confident enough with his driving ability I will allow him to drive us to the many sporting activities that he is involved in and then advance to a road trip. Like yourself I want to take small steps to find out where he's at and work our way up. Good luck with your Daughter, she sounds like she's in great hands, Thanks for your Post.

Greg,