Flynn can’t believe his luck. Autocar’s photographer needs a picture of the 12-year-old at the wheel of the Vauxhall Corsa as he steers it around the driving route laid out at Kempton Park Racecourse in Sunbury, Surrey.
The thing is, the lad has only just returned from doing the same thing – a gift from his dad, Steve, who bought the 30-minute driving experience offered by Young Driver, an organisation that offers 10-to-17-year-olds their first taste of driving in a dual-control car. In the company of a qualified instructor, Flynn and his fellow youngsters follow a route on a closed circuit marked out with cones and road signs and which, depending on the venue (there are 70 across the UK) might also feature a hill start and other technical challenges.
Flynn returned from his first drive cock-a-hoop at the experience – “I got the car to 26mph in third gear and did an emergency stop!” – and now he’s being offered another go, which, frankly, has stunned him.
I’ve dropped by Kempton Park this hot Saturday morning to see a Young Driver experience for myself and to find out, against a backdrop of conflicting attitudes towards the car, what today’s youngsters – the drivers of tomorrow – think about this mode of transport and, crucially, its future. Obviously, the many youngsters who, over the course of the day, will guide Young Driver’s 17 Corsas around Kempton Park are already sold on driving, but even so, their views are bound to be nuanced. I’m expecting to hear Greta Thunberg’s name mentioned…
By the time the youngest drivers at today’s event begin their driving lessons on the road at 17, the current drift to EVs will have gathered pace and their instructor’s car could very well be an electric model with an automatic gearbox. That’s fine if mum and dad can afford to furnish them with a new or used EV when they pass their test, but most will have to make sure they learn in a manual car to take advantage of the many thousands of used petrol models that will still be around at lower prices. They can always step up to an EV later.
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@ 567, whilst sbagnalls comment was a bit blunt regarding yours, he has a point as you're asserting that this story implies we are adopting an American style system where children can drive from 14, no where is this implied, this is a driving experience, not legal driving lessons, this experience is, if anything a good thing as it highlights how different it is in real life to doing it on PlayStation.
Seems like a good idea to me, though learning clutch control would be a benefit, I think.
I did take him driving on private land from 14 but not a lot. From 16 as a primer was vital as driving lessons are so expensive too. There is already a shortage of affordable starter cars, looking at valuations, my lads car despite another 18 months older and 10K miles is worth more than we bought it for.
People are just not going to be able to get on the road until much older in the eco future.
How?, how is it not a good idea to let this age group get experience of what they've watched their parents do?, could they pass today's test with less tuition?, it's not cheap learning to drive these days ( £2.50p when I learned), as for buying there first car, usually they inherit the second car, my first car was a Vauxhall Chevette estate, then an Escort estate, so, this early taster of driving must be a help,build confidence, and it's good to read how these children have a sensible approach to driving, as for public transport, well, even before the pandemic public transport was getting too expensive.