I think it comes down to a combination of individual differences and
training. The obvious tack to take to is train everyone as though they are
innately unsafe. That is, assume that left to their own devises, every
human will drive poorly. I vividly remember my driver's ed days. In our
class, the better and safer drivers were taught in the class by the
instructors and at home by parents who gutted it out and really spent _a
lot_ of time with their teens. I hated going out in the driver's ed car
with kids whose only experience had been from the last time we were in the
car together (we went out with 3 kids and one instructor). As each kid in
my family reached the age of driving instruction, he or she became the
family chauffeur and had to drive every errand with a licensed driver. Not
so with my classmates. Somehow everyone passed the course, but not all were
safe on graduation day. I feel fortunate that I had tough instructors AND
parents who spent a lot of time with me.
Of course, there is never any way to know how people will turn out as
drivers. Our "kid car" survived my sister and me for 6 years. My kid bro,
who got the same instruction and parenting, laid waste that car in 6
months. He became a safe driver the day his twin boys were born.
So I guess the answer is: It's a crap-shoot. One thing is for sure: Given
the same driver, there is no way that a spridget is as safe as, say, a new
Mercedes. Period. No need to kid ourselves here. The question is, is a
spridget _safe enough_?
If it were me, I'd start training my kid in a car with auto transmission -
one less thing to worry about. See how it goes. Within a couple of weeks,
I'd transition to a rental standard (get a weekend rate). Finally, if all
goes well, try a spridget, but not full time. I would not let a brand new
driver drive my Sprite at night on Atlanta streets.
Jeff
Who has no kids but lots of opinions
Jeff Boatright '65 Sprite MkIII __o_\__
http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~jboatri/
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