Automatic handbrake to manual learner

Sapindus

I would not at this stage be confusing him by making him practice in his own car when he is about to do his test in another car.  Once he has passed, help him make the transition to the manual handbrake.  Yes once he has passed his test he will legally be free to go out in his own car by himself but if he has any sense at all he will accept some help from you to improve his skills.  If he's got no sense, helping him learn to use his handbrake before he passes the test isn't going to make much difference. 

He may not pass first time anyway.

Sapindus

Bigwheels1111 said:

You only learn to drive by driving, hitting kurbs trees cars lamp post etc.
I hope you son does not end up upside down in a hedge like I did with my first car.

This is one of the most astonishing things I've read on a forum for a while.  I'm not surprised you ended up in a hedge, it's a wonder you're still alive.  Just for the record, the vast majority of people do NOT learn to drive by going round having RTAs crashing into trees, other cars and lamp-posts!

chrisw

Sapindus said:

Bigwheels1111 said:

You only learn to drive by driving, hitting kurbs trees cars lamp post etc.
I hope you son does not end up upside down in a hedge like I did with my first car.

This is one of the most astonishing things I've read on a forum for a while.  I'm not surprised you ended up in a hedge, it's a wonder you're still alive.  Just for the record, the vast majority of people do NOT learn to drive by going round having RTAs crashing into trees, other cars and lamp-posts!

Then why are insurance premiums so high for newly qualified drivers? Both myself and my brother went backwards through hedges in our teens. Mind you, cars were mostly rear wheel drive then.

Ditzy_Mitzy

chrisw said:

Sapindus said:

Bigwheels1111 said:

You only learn to drive by driving, hitting kurbs trees cars lamp post etc.
I hope you son does not end up upside down in a hedge like I did with my first car.

This is one of the most astonishing things I've read on a forum for a while.  I'm not surprised you ended up in a hedge, it's a wonder you're still alive.  Just for the record, the vast majority of people do NOT learn to drive by going round having RTAs crashing into trees, other cars and lamp-posts!

Then why are insurance premiums so high for newly qualified drivers? Both myself and my brother went backwards through hedges in our teens. Mind you, cars were mostly rear wheel drive then.

And a generation later, I managed to put a front wheel drive car through a hedge forwards!  C'est la vie...  

I do wonder about all these assistance features, the don't half sound like they make driving difficult.  

MikeJXE

One might assume a car accident is bad driving when you are young, it's inexperience 

My very first accident was with a provisional licence 

Black ice on a bend in 1961, spun and hit the high verge, rolled over including bonnet to boot and that was at less than 20mph 

Thankfully not injured

It learned me and I have never had an accident since, touch wood. 

chrisw

MikeJXE said:

One might assume a car accident is bad driving when you are young, it's inexperience.

Or stupidity. I was trying to drift my Opel Manta round the bends a la Jimmy McRae.

MikeJXE said:

It learned me and I have never had an accident since, touch wood. 

Yep, taught me a life-long lesson as well.

bobbybuttons

Thanks everyone , I've taken all your comments on board and we will stop using his own car from now on until his test, we did do a good run out today and I made him use his handbrake at pretty much every set of lights and he hasn't stalled the car once, but it's not this car he needs to learn to drive at the moment it's the car he's taking his test in so i completely get your point. He's managed to fit in a driving lesson pretty much every day before his test now in his instructors car so he should be used to driving that again by the time his test comes .
He loves his instructors car though and seems to drive it well usually so fingers crossed for him 🤞.
Thanks once again 

molerat

Ditzy_Mitzy said: 
I do wonder about all these assistance features, the don't half sound like they make driving difficult.  

Never needing to turn the lights on

Never having to release the handbrake

Never rolling backwards on a hill

Never having to turn the wipers on

Never having to dip the interior mirror

Never having to worry if the parking space is long enough

And that is pretty basic

The worst habit it can breed though is not looking when reversing.

HillStreetBlues

Bigwheels1111 said:

You only learn to drive by driving, hitting kurbs trees cars lamp post etc.

I've never hit a lamp post in all my years of driving, although I've had a couple reverse into me!

Sapindus

chrisw said:

Sapindus said:

Just for the record, the vast majority of people do NOT learn to drive by going round having RTAs crashing into trees, other cars and lamp-posts!

Then why are insurance premiums so high for newly qualified drivers? Both myself and my brother went backwards through hedges in our teens. Mind you, cars were mostly rear wheel drive then.

Insurance premiums are high for newly qualified drivers because they tend to have more accidents.  That's not the same as saying having accidents is the only way to learn.  If that were the case, your insurance premium would go down every time you had one.