Well done, that man!

[John Turner]

http://www.parentdish.co.uk/2014/05/...ukpare00000648

[Tim Falce]

I think his dad is being a bit harsh, I'd just be thankful that his son walked away from that with his neck intact. When I think back to how I used to drive at 17 I now wince and I think we've all driven like arses unless you were a super whiter than white angel.

[John Turner]

Pretty sure that I was too quick when I was younger Tim, but traffic was less then and stopping distances were longer and handling almost non existent and you knew pretty quickly where the line was and where you would get unstuck. These days cars have so much greater ability, so finding the limit is harder and you will be going substantially faster when it happens. Trouble is they don't learn; maybe this one will. Around here there are a lot of youngsters driving too quickly on dodgy roads in cars they can't handle and sadly we have lost a few of them. It's tragic.

[nicanary]

I think it depends on the generation in which you grew up. As a teenager in the 60s, I was terrified of my dad and the power he could wield over family decisions. I drove as steady as him, simply because I was aware of the backlash if anything went wrong. I used to buy the most ridiculously "sensible" cars (my first was a Viva HA, and you don't get more boring than that) because I was frightened to attempt to "dare" anything else. Many homes at that time were patriarchal like that.

I probably drive faster now at the age of 63 than I ever did as a lad - my father passed away 7 years ago. Nobody now who can tell me off.

(NB I probably shouldn't exaggerate, because my third car (the second was an Austin 1100 in beige - seriously!) was a Flame Red MG Midget RWA, probably the car I would most like to have back in my garage. Loved that little thing. He moaned a bit, but came round in the end.)

[John Turner]

I was never terrified of my Dad, and I learned to drive (in 1967) in his Triumph 2000. My own first car was a 1955 Sunbeam (Talbot 90) MkIII which was a reasonably quick old car at the time but it was tatty and cheap. Brakes and steering pretty shot if I remember (was nearly 50 years ago). I've actually slowed down quite a lot over the last 10 years (some of it due to the cost of fuel!) but am still likely to be cornering and accelerating quicker than all those years ago. I think we forget the incredible advances in every department over the years.

[Tim Falce]

I passed my test in 1973ish but had been driving for ages before that. I don't know about brakes being bad, they all seemed pretty good to me and apart from the mini I passed my test on everything had discs up front and one thing my dad insisted on were good tyres so we all had the likes of Michelin zx's (I've still got a set sitting on some Wolferaces outside) or there was a better version but the name escapes me now. How many people pay for top name brands now when you can get a set of budget tyres (which are probably a damn sight worse than those 40 year old Michelins) for less than a tank full of petrol.
The thing we didn't have then were ABS, ECT, TCP and traction control and TBH I still don't have a car with traction control and ABS frightens the bejesus out of me every time it operates.
The main problem then and now when you're young is lack of experience and TBH I don't think traffic levels are much worse now than they were then, we just have different roads to divert some of it but in cities they just block all the short cuts off, put in speed bumps and badly phased lights to artificially slow traffic down and cause more congestion.

[VIVA GT]

I think that something more important here needs to be considered. It's not just that 'cars of today have more safety systems fitted as standard'. I think what's even more important that 40 odd years ago, 'our' driving (and pre-driving) experience was from real vehicles. This would be from riding in cars with family & friends, plus possibly the occasional chance off-road to have a go ourselves. (One of my own early memory of driving myself was sat on my dad's knee in the driving seat of his Vauxhall Victor on Pendine sands. I could only just reach the pedals, but by sliding down I managed to push the accelerator far enough to get it up to 60 MPH before dad dragged me backwards!).
Nowadays youngsters think they're invincible drivers because they've had years of experience driving in the safe environment of computer and PlayStation games, where if it all goes wrong, they just press 'Re-Start'.
Sadly, in the real world, we don't get a Re-Start option...

[GORDON STREETER]

One thing I will ad regards this is that I didn't have the "bank of parents" and I had to buy any of my motorised transport with my own hard earned money !!!!!

[John Turner]

Tim, when my eldest son drove my MGC a couple of years back, he said it didn't have any brakes. This was with disc/drum set up and a period servo. I had to explain that with these old cars you had to brake earlier and push harder!

We always had high traffic volumes in certain locations and at certain times of the day, of course, but statistically there are far greater numbers of cars on the road than there were then.

Good post Viva.

[275 GTB-4]

IMHO...with any luck, this Dad might just save the life of his son and some other road users...

[John Turner]

Yup, agreed; that was where I was coming from. No guarantees of course, but probably more effective than many parental responses!

[JohnD]

Twenty five years ago, the roads were completely different. In the 70's there were about 15 million cars on UK roads. By the 2000s there were over 25 million. IN 2013 there were 35 million. There is absolutley no place for drivign, anywhere, without the utmost attention to good driving and obedience to speed limits and the Highway Code. If you want yer jollies, go on a track day!

If I had a 17 yo son now - he's over thirty - I'd TAKE him to a track day. Let him scare himself sh*tless there.
John

[John Turner]

Yep, I agree; if you want to go quickly, the track really is the only sensible place to do it.

[Amaroo Park]

Definatly go to the track and also have them participate in some Advanced Driver Training

[GORDON STREETER]

Lets face it although today's cars are safer in collisions they are also a dammed sight faster !
A modern normal std road going diesel family car could easily have won a race against purpose built race cars from 30- 40 years back.
Playstation games and the "Fast and Furious" type of films can also take some of the blame for the carnage that happens today, in my day to day job I sometimes have people driving me back to their house so I can bring the car back for a service/repair/mot etc, even female drivers with young children in the car drive faster than I would consider safe especially in wet weather.
Add in texting and speaking on hand held phones I'm not surprised at all !

[John Turner]

All absolutely spot on, Gordon.

[GORDON STREETER]

The old saying that "you can't put an old head on young shoulders" does ring true as in my "yoof" I was just as bad.
I had several friends that were killed in road crashes that possibly today they could have walked away from with all the safety features in today's cars.
I suppose "seat of the pants" driving in muddy fields on two and four wheels and going onto ovals and motocross when I was younger possibly taught me respect and control for changing conditions on the road and not on a "playstation" !

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by GORDON STREETER

The old saying that "you can't put an old head on young shoulders" does ring true as in my "yoof" I was just as bad.
I had several friends that were killed in road crashes that possibly today they could have walked away from with all the safety features in today's cars.
I suppose "seat of the pants" driving in muddy fields on two and four wheels and going onto ovals and motocross when I was younger possibly taught me respect and control for changing conditions on the road and not on a "playstation" !

I honestly think that this is the biggest change to "when I was a lad". I had numerous 'conversations' with my son and his mates when they were teenagers, not just about driving, but life. They seemed to think they were invincible: "If someone came at me with a knife I'd just roundhouse kick him like we do in (such and such a game)". They appeared to genuinely think it was that simple and just didn't grasp the difference between reality and computer generated.
I have to admit that it scared the crap out of me, wondering what dangerous situations this naievety (sp?) would get them into. Luckily, now in his early 20's and some of his mates have received a mild kicking, they seem to realise that real life is't quite so easy...
I know that there's no simple answer to this, but I really do think it's a major part of the problem.

[wnut]

Originally Posted by VIVA GT

I honestly think that this is the biggest change to "when I was a lad". I had numerous 'conversations' with my son and his mates when they were teenagers, not just about driving, but life. They seemed to think they were invincible: "If someone came at me with a knife I'd just roundhouse kick him like we do in (such and such a game)". They appeared to genuinely think it was that simple and just didn't grasp the difference between reality and computer generated.
I have to admit that it scared the crap out of me, wondering what dangerous situations this naievety (sp?) would get them into. Luckily, now in his early 20's and some of his mates have received a mild kicking, they seem to realise that real life is't quite so easy...
I know that there's no simple answer to this, but I really do think it's a major part of the problem.

Why do you think the military recruits kids?