Surviving driver's ed

SURVIVING DRIVER'S ED (AGAIN): A TRUE STORY By Bill Allison

I picked up my fifteen year old son from school. When he got into the car, he announced, "I can drive now."

Having been through this with his older sister, I saw the teachable moment and tried to lean into it. "Just because the state of Illinois gives you a permit and says you can now start driving with your parents in no way means that you can actually drive."

Unrelenting, my son spit back, "I'm a great driver."

Just as unrelenting, I shot back, "Driving the riding lawn mower at home in the yard and driving a car between the lines without actually hitting another car, stationary object, or a person are two different things."

"But I took a test in Driver's Ed today and passed. See, I'm a great driver," he affirmed waving a piece of paper in his hands.

"Passing a written driving test in a classroom in no way whatsoever means that you can actually drive a real car on a real road with other real cars around you. Really."

Then he threw down the challenge. He played the ace in his hand. "What's wrong old man? Afraid my driving is better than yours?"

The teacher/trainer in me kicked in. You see, when the learner is not getting the obvious point, the teacher/trainer may opt for "creative" teaching measures. This would be a good time to call his bluff and attempt to bring him back to reality. I calmly pulled the car over into a McDonald's parking lot. Put it into park. Got out and walked around to the passenger side front door. Opened it and said, "Let's go Mr. World's-Greatest-Driver-whose-never-actually-driven-a-car-before. Show me what you've got."

He looked stunned, but he quickly got out his seat and situated himself behind the driver's side of the car. He adjusted the seat, the mirrors, and fastened his seatbelt. So far so good. Then he stopped and looked down at the floor for what seemed an inordinate amount of time. I entertained the thought that he might be praying. Then suddenly he looked up at me and with complete seriousness and asked, "Now which one of these pedals is the brake?"

I rest my case.

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Copyright 2012 Bill Allison. Reprinted from his blog: http://cupojoewithbill.blogspot.com Permission is granted to send this to others, with attribution, but not for commercial purposes.

today'sTHOT============================

"My greatest fear in life is that no-one will remember me after I'm dead." - Some dead guy

A long time ago I asked my GF to pump the brake pedal to help me bleed. Then, over the next few days and months she embarked on a "manual transmission driver training program" which was very tough to deal with, but she eventually passed.

My wife bought her S2000 without even knowing how to drive stick. I taught her in a parking lot over the weekend and she drove it to work on Monday and autocrossed it the following weekend. Now she refuses to own an automatic/DCT/DSG and I have to budget for her to own a sports car too....big mistake on my part.

My sister in law drives a pep boyed out automatic mini and thinks she's a great driver. She's really looking forward to the mini club's trip to the Dragon.

I've told her that I'd take her to an autocross but my brother knows better and has asked me to play along with her fantasy :)

My Dad and I were talking over Christmas about when I learned to drive a stick. When I bought my first 5-speed, he did the test drive and drove it home on a Thursday night, telling me that he would teach me to drive it on Saturday. In our recent discussion, he told me how he was always shocked out what an incredible job I did that Saturday. I then had to burst his bubble, letting him in on the secret that I had been holding on to for 21 years... I skipped school Friday and taught myself how to do it. :mrgreen:

It is amazing how we learn as our kids mature. I bought our oldest som a 66 Mustang, with a toploader 4-speed, and WAY too much cam. He spent hours, and a set of rear tires, learning (and practicing) and then we put a new stock engine and an automatic in it. Son #2, four years later, got a clean, used, Prelude with an automatic.

I have a very similar story to Bill Allison Story.

My daughter who was just 15 at the time kept asking how hard could it be to drive a stick shift car. So I take her up to the local high school parking lot and in a mater of minutes she has it all figured out... Darn Kid! ;)

I was planning to teach the wifey in the Miata last time it ran. I'm sure she'll love learning on a boosted car with a puck-type clutch and a lightweight flywheel that needs a good deal of pressure to push down. Figure she'll learn quickly since you can't slip the thing :burnrubr:

I learned at 8 years old in Suzuki Brute with a 2 stroke motor.