Quote Originally Posted by MikeT View Post
Har!!! That is the funniest and most true statement I've read all week. I'm gonna tell my wife, shes gonna laugh, lol.

Today I decided to start teaching my son how to drive.
He has plenty of time until he is 16. BUT I figure that some concepts would be great to get implanted in that brain long before he is behind the wheel.
Basic concepts.
1. Protect yourself from bad drivers.
2. Assume people are stupid.
3. Look both ways, even when the light is green.

I started with these. Keep it simple. Get him to sit in the middle on the back seat and watch my driving.
If he gets in the habit of watching my driving (around a million miles of perfect driving record), learning early to watch and be aware, should help..

The looking both ways thing is definitely NOT practiced by all. Every day I see people walk across the street, not one look. A mother pushing a baby in a stroller, no look!
The little green guy says walk.. No worries, he's got you covered..
Same with the green light for cars.. Green, no look just go. It's crazy. No it's just stupid.

Anyway, it all ties together...
Protect yourself from stupid people.
Automatons.
While I learned to drive in a 'Car' starting at age 10 with my grandmother allowing me to drive her '64 Plymouth Valiant around the farm and up to the main road and then progressing to drive to the highway where Granny would take over until I was 14 when I could drive all the way into town (even though I didn't have any kind of a license) and took my driver's test in my grandparents '62 Chrysler New Yorker my very first mode of transportation was a Honda 90 Scrambler.

I got my motorcycle endorsement that same year at the age of 16 and it was the very first year that Washington State required a 'Motorcycle Endorsement'.

I had a good friend who had a Yamaha 80 and he was riding down the road (in town) when someone didn't stop at the intersection and his leg was broken. When his leg was 'set' it wasn't right and to the day he passed his left foot looked like it was at a 45 deg to his right foot.

I learned early on to take extra care when driving and it's saved my ass more than a few times and not always on a motorcycle!!!!!!

You are doing a good job with letting your child know that they need to be aware. What I'm adding is that they 'MAY' have this preconceived notion that the sheet metal that surrounds them will protect them. They are very much mistaken as I can attest to the damage done when I was in several auto accidents (none of which I was the driver).

I on the other hand know that it's not 'might' but WHEN I'm on my bike it's me and the steel that will hit me so I'm EXTRA CAREFUL.

By the way I do hope that you instill that Cell Phones aren't used while driving.