ONE of the rites of passage is passing your test and getting your driving licence. There is nothing better than turning the ignition, checking the mirrors and driving off with no one in the passenger seat next to you.
For many youngsters, the process is daunting and their ambitions for life on four wheels gets stuck in first gear.
Young Driver aims to give children a head start – by getting them behind the wheel long before they are 17.
Their research shows that teenagers who have driving lessons before they reach the minimum age for driving are 84% less likely to have an accident in their critical first six months after passing their test – compared to the national average.
The company offers lessons from Mereoak Park and Ride in Grazeleys on Sundays when it’s not in use by Reading Buses. It asked 450 if its former pupils about their experiences, to find out if it had made a difference – and compared to a national average of 20%, just 3.3% of Young Driver past pupils had had an accident in the six months after they had passed their test.
Almost nine in 10 felt it made them a safer driver, and a similar number of parents (94%) said they thought it helped their children.
Mereoak is a perfect place for giving young drivers their first taste of getting behind the wheel. Young Driver welcomes children aged 10 (and at least 142cm tall) upwards for its ‘adult’ cars, and it has a fleet of electric vehicles for under 10s to get a taste for mirror, signal, manoeuvre.
The car park is carefully rearranged to become a safe space to try driving, and focuses on everything they’d learn in real driving lessons – even the dreaded parallel parking.
Lessons can be booked in half-hour or hour-long slots, and there are qualified instructors on hand to ensure the teenage drivers are not boy (or girl) racers, but competent motorists out for a Sunday drive.
Driving instructor Anaya Saddall added: “When you’re teaching someone aged 17 or 18, they are not always ‘in the car’ for much of their lesson time. Their minds may not be focused on driving, they are thinking about other stuff – be it work or exams, friends, social media or what they’re doing that evening.
“Younger kids concentrate and focus – when you deliver a driving lesson to a 12-year-old, you can see that their mind is focusing 100% on driving. They are in the moment, not thinking of other things.
“That’s one reason they often learn more in half an hour than 17-year-olds learn in an hour.
“The older age group also tend to have more preconceived ideas from parents and peers which can add complications.”
Those signing up get a drive diary to keep a record of their experiences and pick up additional tips. As they undertake activities, the instructor chalks them off, ensuring there is a record of what is learnt, and when the lessons were held.
Sue Waterfield, head of marketing at Young Driver, said: “There are, of course, sensible reasons we don’t want young people driving on the roads before they reach 17. But that doesn’t mean they can’t start learning to drive before that age.
“We see it at all our events – younger children are sponges who soak up all the practical information about how to physically drive, but they’re also very alert to the safety aspects of driving.
“You can take your time and really help them to feel comfortable with the controls of the car and things like braking distances and blind spots before they get anywhere near a real road.
“Then at 17, on the roads, they can focus much more on how to drive safely around other road users.
“It also helps reduce the time and money spent on tuition once they are old enough to get their provisional licence and take their test.”
For our young driver, days after their 16th birthday, that is something they agreed with. Their session with Mike was so successful that future dates are being booked, with a determination to sit their test as soon as possible after they turn 17.
Young Driver also offers sessions at Newbury Showground and Newbury Racecource and, if you don’t mind travelling a little, Thorpe Park.
For more details, log on to: www.youngdriver.com
