I totally agree with the exposure to real accidents like you described Trillian. My mother worked at the base hospital here when i was younger and used to come home quite regularly upset by the weekends carnage on the roads... maybe that affected my attitude to driving... not blaming her BTW.

My 16yo DD witnessed a fatal accident on the day she got her L's. Driving home from the license office in Melbourne they were caught up in traffic and had no option but to drive slowly past a truck with a teenaged boy lying under it. DD said she didn't really want to look but "had" to. I think that has affected her. Some might say 'what a shame she had to see that'... i say "well that's the reality of driving" and i wish more teens (especially boys) got to experience that degree of reality.