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Parents teaching their children to drive are raising a generation of poor motorists as they pass their bad driving habits on to their teenage learner drivers.

New research from Direct Line reveals Mum and Dad are prompting a range of bad behaviour behind the wheel, from aggressive driving to incompetent parking with a third of young drivers (31 per cent) admitting to picking up these bad driving habits from their parents.¹

Heading the league table of vehicle vices passed on by parents is the tendency to speed (44 per cent)² followed closely by swearing at other motorists (40 per cent) and tailgating (36 per cent).

Young drivers also inherit poor parking skills (14 per cent) and one in 10 (12 per cent) blame their folk for their propensity to race off at the lights.

Direct Line's motor spokeswoman, Emma Holyer, said: "Young drivers are more likely to speed than any other motorists on the roads and in fact, one in five has an accident in the first year after passing their driving test. We'd therefore encourage learners to take professional lessons in addition to help from their parents to ensure they receive the necessary teaching.

"It is with the best will in the world that most parents take it upon themselves to teach their teenagers to drive -- so we're urging them to set a good example by sticking to road laws -- from following speed limits to wearing seatbelts.⁶ This will help to reduce the risk associated with inexperience."

Worryingly, over 800,000 learner drivers have had an accident during a driving lesson with Mum or Dad,³ and four in 10 (41 per cent) parents have had to pull on the handbrake during a lesson with their teenager to avoid a collision.⁷

Plus it seems behind the wheel is not the best place for familial bonding; as well as picking up bad driving habits, four in 10 learners have had a blazing argument with their parent during a driving lesson.

The Direct Line research reveals professional lessons are the way forward for learner drivers. On average teenagers [in Britain] take 18 lessons at a cost of £270 [currently equivalent to US $515] to pass their test.

However, patient parents beware, darling daughters are likely to need six more professional lessons than their male counterparts --adding an extra £90 [US $172] to the final driving lesson bill.^{4 - 8}

Young men are more likely to suffer from overconfidence, with one in 10 (11 per cent) not bothering to take professional lessons before taking to the road.

There is hope for those wanting to pass their test with full colours even if it means uprooting to a different part of the country. Learners should head to Inveraray in Scotland as 80 per cent of drivers who take their test in this area pass. On the other hand Wood Green or Brentwood in London prove tougher driving courses with a less than 30 per cent pass rate.^{5 9}

Source: Direct Line 

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Notes that Accompanied the Press Release

1.  The overall research was carried out by YouGov during January 2005, and according to them, 31 per cent of 18-29 year-

     olds picked up bad habits from their parents during driving lessons.

2.  Young Drivers between the ages of 17-25 are more likely to speed. Department for Transport (Cohort study of learner

     and novice drivers. Part 3. TRL Project Report 111. 1995.)

3.  There are 33.8 million drivers in the UK (Census data, 2001) and according to the YouGov findings 37 per cent of all

     motorists have had driving lessons with their parents. 0.37 x 33,809,493 = 12,509,512. And seven per cent of these have

     had an accident during a driving lesson. 0.07 x 12,509,512 = 875,666.

4.  According to YouGov male learners on average take 15 professional lessons and female learners on average take 21

     professional lessons.

5.  NATIONAL DATA:  The percentage national pass rate from April 2003 to March 2004 was 42.8% 

     Source: Driving Standards Agency (DSA) [Not to be confused with the America-based Drive and Stay Alive "DSA"!]

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Additional Notes from Drive and Stay Alive

General (numbered notes below)

As implied at the top of this page, we are delighted at Drive and Stay Alive with the publication of this research. It never ceases to amaze and sadden road safety professionals around the world that so many otherwise sensible adults choose to ignore the terrifyingly high death toll involving young drivers on public roads and decide to teach their own children to drive.

Let's be totally blunt about this: In any country where the standards of professional driving instruction are themselves actually adequate, the only people one should trust with the future safety of one's own children are professional driving instructors.

Look at it another way: What is the extent of driver training that has typically been undertaken over many years by the average parent? At best, it is almost certainly no more than the few lessons mentioned in the above press release, when they -- themselves -- were teenagers. In countries where driver training is properly regulated, however, driving instructors have to undergo rigorous training and examinations in order to qualify for their job, and then undergo routine re-testing every few years. And in countries where this does not happen, it should do!

So, if you wish to give your son(s) and/or daughter(s) the best chance of staying safe over their future years as drivers, doesn't it make sense to forget about saving a few hundred pounds/dollars/francs/whatever on the cost of proper driving lessons?

As much as we all wish to believe we are good drivers, the fact remains that over 95 per cent of all crashes are at least partially attributable to driver error. And the only people generally capable of teaching young drivers the most up-to-date and safest methods are properly qualified driving instructors.... not parents who are merely trying to save money, and sadly not school teachers who are merely doing an extra subject, either. This is far too important, for the sake of your kids!

_____________________________

6.  For all that the wearing of seat belts is only touched upon in the above press release, U.S. research has shown that this

     is a key, and vital area in which parents can influence the lifelong actions -- and thereby the level or risks faced -- by

     their offspring. It is important that a child grows up to see its parents always wear their seat belts.

7.  This is a damning indictment of parental driver-training! A good driving instructor, using a car with a proper, dual-

     controlled footbrake will very rarely need to use it because he/she will have built up a young person's abilities

     progressively and will talk them calmly through situations in order to avoid frightening scenarios where urgent braking

     is necessary -- the basis of all safe driving.

8.  At the NTSB forum on "Standards in Driver Education" (Washington DC, October 2003) one driver education teacher

    commented that parents who would think nothing of paying many hundreds of dollars for their child to do sport, drama

    or social events, would argue strongly against paying a smaller amount towards the cost of driver education.

9.  This is the one statistic that surprised us, at DSA, as the UK Driving Standards Agency -- which supervises all driver

     training standards and driver testing in Britain -- strives assiduously to maintain "a level playing field" across the nation

     not only between places but also between individual examiners. We would therefore be curious to know the reasons for

     such a large disparity between the places named.

Eddie Wren, Executive Director, Drive and Stay Alive, Inc.

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