Are Parents Good Driving Instructors?

Sunday, 1. June 2008

Are you a good parent? You may well think you are until your little darlings start driving and you realise that by being a passenger in the car that is one minute being driven away from the lights by someone who would happily take on Michael Schumacher, then turning into Bernard Manning as the car from a side road manages to squeeze into the 2 foot gap between you and the car in front was not good training for your little treasures when they eventually get behind the wheel. If you think that 20 lessons with a BSM driving instructor is going to change your offspring into an award winning driver forget it, they have had 17 years of training with you as the teacher. But you are not alone, Government research has found that 54% of parents admit to poor road safety behaviour in front of their children. On a serious note last year 169 children were killed and another 3,000 seriously injured in road accidents according to road safety minister John Fitzpatrick who warns parents to drive more responsibly. As a result workshops will be held in Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle, Birmingham and Bristol aimed at giving parents an insight into how their behaviour on the road can pass dangerous habits onto children. I’ve noted that most training is being provided north of Watford – I draw no conclusions!