The thrill of under-age driving

I don’t know about your kids, but my youngest daughter is fiercely independent and loves to learn new skills, whether it’s riding her bike across busy roads to school, teaching herself to play a new musical instrument, or making jewellery from shells collected on a beach.

The problem is she’s also itching to get behind the wheel of a car and learn how to drive – although she’s only 13 years old. But rather than let her loose in a ‘paddock bomb’ or conduct a late-night, clandestine carpark run, I found a much safer and more sensible solution – throwing her the keys to some-one else’s car and letting them handle all the risk (and stress)!

I did this through a new course run by Melbourne-based driver training specialists Driver Dynamics which recently kicked off its new driving ‘school’ for 12 to 16 year olds.

Believed to be the only course of its type in Australia, the Junior Driver Experience is similar to a number of ‘Young Driver’ programs that have been running successfully in the UK over the past decade, catering to kids as young as 10 who want to get a taste of a ‘grown ups’ car just like their parents’.

Kicking off in early-2019, the Junior Driver Experience has already attracted more than 100 participants to the Melbourne venue, with courses mainly run on week-ends and during school holidays. There are also plans to start up Junior Driving ‘schools’ in other states.

The Melbourne program runs three Toyota Yaris automatic hatchbacks, which are compact enough for the shortest and youngest participants to reach the pedals while being able to peer over the steering wheel. The cars are fitted with dual controls so a friendly instructor can step in at any time to avoid any more damage than a knocked over orange witches hat.

The Junior Driver course is essentially a watered-down version of an ‘adult’ defensive driving program, incorporating some relatively tame but still challenging exercises including a slalom run, double lane change and hard-braking stop, that might mimic a ‘real life’ emergency situation.

Held in a large fenced off carpark at Melbourne’s Sandown Raceway, the two hour program kicks off with a safety briefing led by Driver Dynamics boss Kevin Flynn.

After telling the assembled kids and parents that “driving a car is very easy to do, you don’t have to be a brain surgeon”, he goes on to outline some of the basics like adopting a ‘9-3’ steering position, and where to look when driving.

“The only thing that determines where you go is where you look, so look where you want to go,” explains the 30-year driver training veteran.

With the paperwork signed and formalities completed (and distracting mobile phones handed over to parents), it’s not long before the rookie drivers are behind the wheel.

It’s two-up in each car, with drivers swapping over every 15 minutes, and the instructor spends some time getting each driver in a comfortable driving position before running through the basic controls. It’s then off for a few warm-up laps of the carpark.

All up, there are 283 strategically located cones spread around the carpark, partly designed to minimise the chance of collisions during the various exercises.

For the parents watching, there’s little excitement apart from the occasional honking horn until the emergency braking exercise, where the rookie drivers are instructed to “viciously” stomp on the brake pedal to activate the ABS and come to a screeching halt on the wet bitumen.

Some of the participants are obviously nervous to start, proceeding at snail’s pace around the cones, but by the end of their hour-long drive most are whipping through the cones like stunt drivers.

In fact, my daughter Celine confesses to me afterwards that she wanted to go faster than the 40km/h limit, despite also admitting she had some trouble slowing down for the hairpin turns. She also confessed her instructor was forced to use the back-up brake pedal a couple of times, once to avoid nudging a side wall!

However, like other kids that completed the course you couldn’t wipe the smile off her face for days afterwards. “I can’t believe I’ll have to wait another three years to get my L-plates!” was one of her more memorable comments.

Surprisingly, of the four other participants in her course (one sibling opted out at the last minute), three were aged 15 or 16, making them close to or eligible for L-plate driving.

One parent told me that were using the course as a stepping stone in their daughter’s driver education, with six professional driving lessons booked to follow and a defensive driving course lined up as a school leaver’s present.

Another ‘revhead’ parent was hoping to push his child through other ‘junior’ courses being proposed by Driver Dynamics, including the possibility of a racetrack experience for those who progress through the other levels.

Some of the parents had undertaken defensive driver training in the past, so appreciated the value of professional tuition in a safe and controlled environment.

Then there was the mother from a semi-rural town on the outskirts of Melbourne, who was giving her 13-year-old son a chance to experience something many of his mates who lived on farms and hooned about in paddock bombs, already had.

At the end of the course each participant is awarded a certificate of completion, which apparently also allows them to compete in CAMS motorsport over the next 12 months.

However, the limited scope and brevity of the course means it’s more about entertainment than education, something Driver Dynamics’ Kevin Flynn was keen to point out at the end.

“The course was really about enjoyment but we hope you learned a couple of things too,” he told participants in the wrap-up.

Flynn is also cautious about spruiking any future ‘road toll’ benefits from putting young people through a course like this.

“You have to be careful about saying there’s going to be any road safety benefit because there’s not any road safety benefit in learning this stuff. It’s a bit of grey area when you start making claims like that,” he said.

However, if being a good parent is allowing your child to experience new things that will help grow their confidence and prepare them for adult life, then the $199 course fee appears money well spent.

Feedback from parents on the day was overly positive, with comments including “It was a fabulous education and fun experience and well worth the investment,” and “Both boys came away smiling and feeling confident. A fantastic introduction to safe driving.”

But once they’ve got a taste for it, there’s a good chance your budding driver will hit you up for another $299 for the three-hour, Junior Driver Experience Level 2 program, which introduces more advanced driving skills including skid control.
Parents, you’ve been warned!