Drivers education

[nemo]

After reading some of the recent forums it got me to thinking about drivers education. What level of or type of drivers education have you had. Many of the public schools here in the the US today offer no or very limited actual driving experience. Because of this, after my son got his license I took him to a one day performance driving school.

They offered things like panic breaking and wet pavement panic breaking and evasive maneuvers. He actually did quite well. The instructor commented “I didn't realize that car doesn't have any lock breaks” after he locked them one time in the wet breaking. The best part was I actually got to try one of the evasive maneuvers at the end of the day. I would highly recommend this type of program for all new drivers.

My question is what type of formal drivers training did you have? None, typical school or performance / race school? Anything you remember from your training. The only thing I remember from my drivers education class was that one day we the students had to clean the tar off with kerosene, because we drove a freshly paved road.

If you had typical school and performance / race school please check both.

[Sporty Modder]

I had no formal training. But mad dad alowed me to drive when I was 14 in the desert, as fast as I was comfotabl. I think it helped in looking ahead, and reading terrain, ie rocks dips turns ect... It helps in my driving today as I tend to look way ahead of where I am an anticpate what other cars will do.

[Ang84Indy]

I've just had the typical school driver's ed. I have wanted to go to a performance school, but haven't gotten around to it.

[roosterk0031]

My 14 yo is doing drivers ed right now, I think they have to have 6 hours of driving with the instructor. She can and probably will get her school permit in a few months, 6 months after getting her learners permit and passing drivers ed she can get a school permit that will allow her to drive to school and back for school activities. I look at it as 4 miles each way per day is great expereince before getting a full license.

Don't remember mine but it was during the school year vs her's during the summer and didn't cost extra, now $300 unless on free or reduced lunches then you get free or reduced drivers ed.

[Ryland]

I only took a class on motorcycle safety then I waited until I was old enough to skip the drivers ed requirement, didn't even read the handbook until after I took the road test.

[euromodder]

20 hours with a driving instructor - that's mandatory here to get a learner's permit that allows you to drive alone, rather than being accompanied by somebody who's teaching you to drive.

10 years later, I voluntarily took 4 hours learning to ride a motorcycle.

[Gealii]

the driving school i took was mandatory to get a license and was quite pointless for actual in class time. They told you things like if your throttle gets stuck to shift into neutral, thus blowing up your engine because it was still on and was to remain on... at that point i had already had the throttle stick 3 times and just laughed at em

[Piwoslaw]

My driving school was 40h of theory and 20h of driving with an instructor. Then an extra 5h to get ready for the exam. Then the exam, which I passed on my second try. Then driving ~5-6 years with my Grandma next to me what to do and not to do (while she herself drives much faster, and in a much more egoistic manner, than I do!). I may go through the schooling process again if I ever decide to get a motorcycle, without Grandma this time

So did all of that schooling get me ready for the real world? Yes and no. Yes, I learned how to make the car do what I want and I got many of those motions hardwired. But no, that's not enough to set a young person free on the streets of Warsaw, where the only cars that obey the law are the ones with driver's ed instructors in them.

Other than the basics I got from driver's school, two other things helped me survive:

1. Hours and hours behind the wheel. 20h of driving with an instructor is not enough.
2. Being a pedestrian and a cyclist gave different points of view, showed me things which many drivers just don't notice.

[gone-ot]

• typical High School Driver's Ed class before I got my AZ driver's license.

• Military (USN) International Driver's License, Newfoundland, Canada.

• National Safety Council 'Driver Improvement Program' Defensive Driving Course while at U. S. Army Yuma Proving Ground.

[ecomodded]

Bought my first car when i was 15.
Taught myself, gravel roads, power
sliding and learning throttle slide control, in a 1972 Toyota Corolla.
Practiced emergency braking and timing full braking stops, Got it down to an art where i would hit my brakes at various dead ends coming to a skidding stop a few feet from the ditch.I also practiced power stops in the snow.
Lots of winding country roads for afternoon drives.
I drove that little Corolla everywhere, carried a small bottle jack as i was always getting it stuck in the sand on beaches or in a rut / bottom out on a over grown logging road. Oddly enough, giving my predisposition to power sliding, I was not a speeder back then, or now, have had two speeding tickets in my 30 years of driving.
In Canada it is mandatory to take a motorcycle riding course but not a automobile driving course.