Any other supervisor drivers out there?

[ladybird11]

If I can come in at a different angle

I recall walking out of the Transport dept on my 16th birthday with my L's permit. Dad had driven me down in my car (I bought a car before I even had a licence lol), and in the time I had gone into get the permit, he'd changed seats and was sitting in the passenger side. *Insert a big GULP here*.

It was peak hour traffic, I'd only ever driven Dad's transport yard on the weekends prior, so it was all new to me. But my old man was so calm, and I felt that he trusted me to not kill him lol! And that did wonders for my confidence. If I did become over confident or maybe change lanes without checking my blind spot he'd gently say 'no 'Missy', that'll get you into trouble one day' and that was it. No yelling matches or anything. I recall one Saturday night when it was pouring down with rain, Dad came into my room and said 'Missy, we're going for a drive' - and Mum was bewildered saying 'but its pouring out there' - and Dad made a great point that 'she'll be driving in this weather when she has her P's, so its best to expose her to it now under instruction'. And again, as calm as anything Dad made me drive on roads I was really unfamiliar with, with limited vision and at night time - and again, my confidence rose; but I was never OVER confident.

I guess what I'm prattling on about is, to place some trust in the young driver, show them you trust them - and just be calm (despite how you may feel on the inside ).

And I am also a strong advocate of exposing new drivers to different terrains and environments, so go on dirt roads, get them to drive in multi story car parks (yup, with all those big concrete pillars around), driving into the sun, wet weather etc - and if they are environments which you're not 100% confident driving in then perhaps organise some lessons with a driving instructor where you can sit in the back seat to hear what the instructor says and how they 'instruct' etc. There are so many things we do whilst driving that many times we don't stop and think of the basic motor skills we've developed over time - a skill set the 'young-in's' don't have yet. So the more knowledge you can pass on, the better driver you'll be sending out onto the roads!

Good luck

[Cranky Kitten]

If I can come in at a different angle

I recall walking out of the Transport dept on my 16th birthday with my L's permit. Dad had driven me down in my car (I bought a car before I even had a licence lol), and in the time I had gone into get the permit, he'd changed seats and was sitting in the passenger side. *Insert a big GULP here*.

It was peak hour traffic, I'd only ever driven Dad's transport yard on the weekends prior, so it was all new to me. But my old man was so calm, and I felt that he trusted me to not kill him lol! And that did wonders for my confidence. If I did become over confident or maybe change lanes without checking my blind spot he'd gently say 'no 'Missy', that'll get you into trouble one day' and that was it. No yelling matches or anything. I recall one Saturday night when it was pouring down with rain, Dad came into my room and said 'Missy, we're going for a drive' - and Mum was bewildered saying 'but its pouring out there' - and Dad made a great point that 'she'll be driving in this weather when she has her P's, so its best to expose her to it now under instruction'. And again, as calm as anything Dad made me drive on roads I was really unfamiliar with, with limited vision and at night time - and again, my confidence rose; but I was never OVER confident.

I guess what I'm prattling on about is, to place some trust in the young driver, show them you trust them - and just be calm (despite how you may feel on the inside ).

And I am also a strong advocate of exposing new drivers to different terrains and environments, so go on dirt roads, get them to drive in multi story car parks (yup, with all those big concrete pillars around), driving into the sun, wet weather etc - and if they are environments which you're not 100% confident driving in then perhaps organise some lessons with a driving instructor where you can sit in the back seat to hear what the instructor says and how they 'instruct' etc. There are so many things we do whilst driving that many times we don't stop and think of the basic motor skills we've developed over time - a skill set the 'young-in's' don't have yet. So the more knowledge you can pass on, the better driver you'll be sending out onto the roads!

Good luck

Wow, your dad sounds awesome! I to this day have trouble with driving at night in the wet, and will generally try to avoid it (I make DH drive if it's raining at night) - will have to think about that for when DD starts....

[ladybird11]

Yeah, my old man is a cool dude! He has the patience of a saint and never gets frustrated or fired up EVER.

He even did things like make me get out of the car and walk around it JUST when I (thought I had) mastered the gear changes on his manual car. Then I'd get back in and I'd have to 're learn' it all again lol. But he taught me very well!

[Miss.September]

Taking him out of his comfort zone could help too. My first drive was in a Nissan Patrol, at twilight on a rainy night. I was pooing my pants! I was put into the drivers seat everywhere we went, even driving all the way from the northern suburbs of Melbourne, to Sorrento. My stepfather was my instructor for bigger trips, and each time I drove, he would give me a score out of 10.

I PM'd you about the driver courses, but thought of this too. Good luck, Dianne

[diannescruffy]

Thanks ladies, I'm definately going to look into a driving course I'm sure it would benefit him greatly. I think it is also the feeling of not being in control and for some reason when you're in the passenger seat it seems like he's driving faster than what he actually is. Takes a bit of getting use to.

Regards,
Dianne

[Cranky Kitten]

Also, if he doesn't already know how - make sure he knows how to change a tyre, check the oil/coolant and fit new windscreen wipers. My cousins (the ones who drove with me most often) even though they knew I'd grown up on a farm so had known how to do most of this stuff since the age of about 12 still made me take a wheel off and put it back on just to prove that I could. Came in really handy when I busted a tyre on a country road miles from anywhere