I am in the process of surviving my son's adventure of becoming a new automobile driver. Back in the days of fully funded public education, the school taught kids how to drive a car. We got a two month course driving simulators (a double wide trailer parked on the school grounds where students would practice "driving" a desk with a steering wheel and pedals while a movie was projected at the front of the room. When we had enough simulator time, five students at a time would cram into donated Chrysler land yachts of the early 1970's while an instructor rode shotgun with and auxiliary brake pedal to bring the massive
vehicle to a semblance of a quick stop if the young trainee was in danger of hitting something.
But today the schools do not have the time or money to train drivers and no manufacturer wants to be exposed to liability problems associated with allowing 16 year olds to drive their donated cars. So it is up to the parents to train their kids to drive with the state mandating that the young driver take a prescribed education course and behind the wheel training with an approved driving school.
The behind the wheel portion of driving school is only 6 hours, the state of California wants the new driver to also get six months of practical driving experience with a licensed driver in the front passenger seat.
My son Andrew has never been much interested in cars previously, but as he sees his friends get behind the wheel, his interest has been sparked. Knowing that the inevitable was unavoidable, I have started the mandated driving lessons combined with some good old fashioned Father-Son bonding behind the wheel of the family car, an automatic transmission equipped '03 Honda Accord. But once his feet were wet with the automatic it soon became time to transition to driving a manual transmission '90 Honda Prelude. It is a time of building experience and burning clutches.
The most dangerous period in a young driver's career is once the novelty and fear have worn off and the noob thinks he or she has it "down." Right now my son Andrew, after twenty hours of behind the wheel, has gravely informed me that driving an automatic is "easy." And oh yes, driving is nothing likeGTA, or Simpson's Road Rage.
Knowing that he is in the danger zone of too much comfort with the
automatic, I have upped the ante by giving him time with a clutch and five forward gears which will focus a young person's mind.
It is a whole new ball game for Andrew. An uphill start with traffic on your tail and your dad aughing his @ss off at your expense will teach a little humility. But he is learning quickly and is working on his heal-toe down shifting technique. Maybe one day I will let him drive the race prepared '87 CRX that I have in my garage.
So when it comes time teach a young person to drive I suggest you start them on an automatic and then get them on a stick to keep them focused.
On the horizon for Andrew- Vehicle dynamics school (accident avoidance and skid pad time) and Autocross school.