Teaching my niece to drive - should we purposely set her up to encounter "real" dangers while driving?

Question

My brother wants to follow us around and kind of come at her like running a stop sign, to see how she'll react if she almost gets hit. I also thought maybe I'd yell something while she was driving like LOOK OUT - even if nothing bad is happening.

Perhaps tell her "turn left at the next stop sign" when I know it's actually a one way, and left would be the wrong way - just to see if she's really paying attention and would do it, or would look carefully first.

I just want her to be really ready in real-life situations, not just some nice pleasant unrealistic driving practice?

Thoughts?

Answer 1

Well, this is going to sound really corny, BUT, how about just doing these fake scenarios in your house, on the couch, or in a PARKED car? That way there's no real risk of her panicking or accidentally jerking the wheel out of fright?

Sit in the car and 'pretend' to drive - give her instructions, as if you're both cruising along. Then you really could yell "look out - a dog!" or something. Or you could say "Okay turn left up here" - then say "Oops that was a one way street" or something.

I don't know, I've never taught anyone to drive. But, I have a daughter who will be learning how in a couple years, and I'm thinking I wouldn't put her out on the real road and startle her! If not for other's safety, at least mine and hers! :)

Good luck.

Answer 2

My parents taught me to drive about two years ago, and here's some of my insight from the learner's perspective:

When I was learning, I completely trusted the parent in the passenger seat. I knew they would be careful about giving me instructions. I also thought that, since I was just learning, there might be things I don't know yet, so I should listen to my mom or dad. Of course, they let me know that I should ask questions or use my own judgement if I thought something risky was about to happen. The most important thing was that I knew I could trust my parents when I had questions or needed help. Every learner needs people he or she trusts, right?

I think if you were to purposely give your niece false instructions, you should clearly tell her beforehand that you may do things like that and that she should be very careful before following your instructions. That way, she understands that she, and not her teachers, has complete control (and therefore, complete responsibilty) over the car. She will know that, when she is driving, she has to think about everything going on around her on her own.

I think it might be a bad idea to break the law when trying to set up dangers, like running a stop sign. As for yelling "Look Out!" or something when there's no actual danger, that might turn into a "boy who cried wolf" situation; after the first false alarm, she might not react when there really is danger later on. And purposely setting up a possible accident may make her lose trust in you, or lose confidence in herself. I think if my family had done something like that and an accident had happened, I would be afraid of driving for a long time. I was in an accident recently, and while driving soon afterward, I tended concentrate more on being nervous than on being careful.

As a recent learner, I think the best thing for learning to drive is just to practice both in the city and on highways. I came across dangerous situations anyway--and sometimes almost caused them. I learned how handle driving, and knew there was someone I could trust to tell me the right way to do things.

Answer 3

It may sound like a good idea, but the part about having your brother come at her with another vehicle may not be such a good idea. If she is not prepared for such a situation, she may freak out and accelerate or swerve and hit his car or someone else's, or even lose control and strike a pedestrian or object and cause damage or even get hurt. The part about yelling "LOOK OUT "would be fine if you set up cones in a large, unused parking lot, and tried this using the cones as other vehicles. This way she will gain some knowledge of what it's like to ultimately be surprised in a driving situation... don't tell her in advance because this would ruin the effect of surprise. I've actually done this on a road test while training new tractor trailer drivers, but only in unused parking lots where nothing can get struck and nobody can get hurt !!!

Answer 4

What U propose is dangerous in the extreme. She knows nothing of driving, would be terrified, in all probability panic or whatever, make the wrong move and in so doing create a real life crisis! Plus no doubt putting her off driving for life!

No. Let her be initially and correctly trained by the pro's. Later, put her thru advanced driving courses where all sorts of crisis are part of the course, again with the pro's demonstrating what to do, how to react, what to expect.

I was driver trained by the military and in reverting to civvy street went to all the advanced courses I could and learnt a lot more.

Have license to drive everything on the road - solely of course old transport was a major hobby + I wanted to be able to drive them as well.

Never had a smash. Although on 3 separate occasions, would u believe, motorists ran into me when I was stationary at lights and a T junction.

Answer 5

Pleasant for you perhaps.......traumatic for her I think.
Leave the "training" for the professionals who know what they are doing.
She must first learn the basic skills necessary to operate a vehicle, and then, with daily driving experience and discussions about what's happening around her as she drives, she will eventually build up the skills and confidence she requires to become a better driver.
Most drivers are weak at lane changing in heavy traffic, making left turns at traffic lights during high volume traffic, and scanning ahead. I would encourage you to promote these areas of practice.
She is in a learning mode right now, and so will be more nervous and become easily intimidated and discouraged by giving her "tricky" situations while she is behind the wheel. You may also end up in a crash due to her "panicking".
There are also "advanced" driving courses available for "collision avoidance", "winter driving", etc.
I would recommend a good driving course first, and 50-60 hours of normal driving experience on city roads, and when she feels confident about her level of expertise, she can try a road test which is a very basic test of skills required to operate a vehicle.
Once she has her Operators License, she will continue to learn and gain valuable knowledge from her experiences throughout her lifetime, just as you and I do.

Answer 6

What are you...sadistic? I understand where you're coming from, but you wouldn't want to cause an accident with your "real life" scenarios. When I was training my sons to drive, I would take them to industrial/commercial parks on a Sunday. There's usually little traffic, and there are real streets with stop signs and traffic signals for practice. It's more "real" than driving in a parking lot, yet is still a somehwat controlled environment. Once they became confident there, we went to residential streets, then graduated to major roads. Until they reach a certain level of experience and start thinking as a driver, new drivers can be unpredictable and what you're suggesting could have disastrous consequences.

Answer 7

As a mother of 2, and someone who learned to drive later than most my age, I don't feel those things would be a good idea. You could scare her into not wanting to drive at all. What if she really did turn the wrong way on a one way? What if she panicked and didn't swerve or stop when someone was running a stop sign? You could cause some lasting damage to her, I know it would have to me.

Answer 8

You will have a really hard time explaining your thinking to a cop if she has an accident due to your "help". No licensed driving school uses these tactics. She will probably not want you teaching her any more either.

Answer 9

Leave it to the professionals to many lives are at stake..Take a good classroom and road course