[Fot] What did you do?

[robert bownes]

I vividly remember learning how to drive in N. Ireland as a teenager. It's
*hard*.

Driving test was about an hour long, maybe more. Was very real world. Go to
this part of town. Parallel park. Parallel park on the *off* side on a one
way street. Eye test was 'What is the license plate number on that green car
over there?' Had to drive on city streets, residential streets, and highways
(though not limited access, but pretty darn close). The sadists at MOT
scheduled my first test for rush hour. Needless to say, I failed. Several
times.

The other thing that struck me as a teenager in NI was the zero tolerance to
drunk drivers amongst my peers. This was 1979 mind you, and no one ever
drove home drunk. There was always a DD. And plenty of drunk teenagers. :)

The having to drive with the big red 'L' on your learner's permit and the
'R' (restricted) for 6 months after getting your license was a help too.

As to sending your kid to performance driving school, I think it's a great
idea. If I had kids, I would. And I'd send 'em to the motorcycle Basic Rider
course, if for no other reason than to teach them to look out for bikes and
to be able to drive anything we own. (the first car *is* a manual trans,
right?)

iii


On Wed, Feb 25, 2009 at 4:58 PM, Bill Babcock <Billb at bnj.com> wrote:

> It's a fine idea, and it can be very cheap. Most car clubs offer
> racing license classes pretty inexpensively. Take the class with her.
> Another very useful skill is skid control. See if any of the local
> performance driving schools have a skid control class. If I were king
> I'd revamp driver licensing in the US completely. You'd have to really
> study and really learn how to control a car before you could get even
> a permit.
>
> the US has four times the death and injury rate per capita of most
> european countries. It doesn't all come down to education and
> experience, but a lot of it does.
>
> On Feb 25, 2009, at 11:23 AM, alfetta95 at optonline.net wrote:
>
> > Amici,
> >
> > My daughter just received her driving permit.  I've taken her out
> > driving many times before she received her permit.  I'm thinking
> > about sending her to driving school for car control, confidence
> > behind the wheel, not for a racing license, yet.  What have you done
> > or what are you thinking about doing when your kid gets to this point?
> >
> > Thanks!
> >
> > Look out Northern New Jersey Drivers!
> > Todd Redmond
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> Bill Babcock
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