A Real Driving Experience with Young Driver

Letting your eleven year old drive a car?  Really?

Absolutely and it was thanks to Admiral Young Driver who offer driving lessons to children and teenagers between the age of 11 and 17.  The thinking behind Young Driver is simple; it is lack of driving experience that causes 1 in 5 newly qualified drivers to have an accident in the first six months after they have passed their test.  By giving children and teenagers the chance to learn the basic skills before they start taking proper lessons on the road, these lessons give them an amazing opportunity to learn the basic skills and to learn about road safety at an age when they are more likely to listen and take the safety side of driving on board.

Young Driver have 37 venues nationwide and offer lessons of 30 or 60 minutes.  Those lessons are spent in the car and I was impressed that even during his first lesson, the theory is taught in the car as they go along so it is a really interactive experience.  Skills are taught in a natural sequence and you can work through six levels, with the activities in each level building on previous lessons.  Lessons cost £34.95 for half-an-hour or £64.95 for an hour and all instructors are fully qualified and have CRB checks.  The venues are designed to give all of the young drivers a ‘real’ experience of driving with road signs and cones to help test their skills and knowledge.

R worked on Level 1 which taught him pre-drive checks and adjustments, starting the car, moving away and stopping and steering.  He completed all of those in his first 60 minute lesson and started to look at some of the Level 2 activities.  Each learner is given a log book with lots of information about Learner Driver in and a progress log where the instructors sign off the activities in each level and also a lesson diary which records the date of each lesson, which activities were covered and which areas need more progress.

R had mixed feelings about his first lesson; he was excited at the prospect of driving a real car but also terrified.  Perfectly understandable and I pointed out to him that he would be in the car with a fully trained instructor and that the car would have dual controls, so that he wouldn’t be able to crash (this was his biggest worry).  He had an hour lesson (you can book for 30 minutes or 60 minutes) and when he came out he had the biggest smile on his face and he loved it.

This is what he had to say about his experience:

“Firstly I met my instructor and we got into the car . He explained about how i should drive the car and what the parts of the car are used for. Then we both got on the course. The first few things he showed me were level 1 skills like turning, starting the car and stopping. When I got the hang of that, he showed me some more complex stuff like braking, going round a roundabout and a track where I had to drive around cones. I had to practice this a few times but my instructor was very helpful and I finally managed a lap of the course without any help! by then we had 10 minutes left so he did a gear change with me which is a Level 2 skill! When my hour was up I felt like I knew how to drive a car on a real road (even though I would probably crash). At the end I got my young drivers book stamped to show i have passed Level 1 and I can’t wait to do it again (if mum lets me)!”

-R aged 11

R is very keen to carry on with these lessons and I have to say that I would be happy to pay for him to complete the six levels, it is a rewarding experience for the young drivers but it also helps to prepare them for learning to drive when they are 17.  It will help to give him an awareness of road safety and I am certain that it will make him a safer driver when the time comes.

You can find out more about Young Drivers on their website, where there is lots of information about the lessons, prices and venues and you can also book your first lesson online.

We were given a one hour Young Driver lesson free of charge in return for this post.  All images and opinions are our own.