New driver!

[tulip]

Good for you for teaching your daughter to drive standard transmission. It's so important to be able to drive stick shift cars; you never know when you might have to drive one even if you choose to drive an automatic.

I'm convinced that people who know how to drive stick shift cars are better drivers because they are aware of what the car is doing mechanically. Awareness is #1 when driving, and so many people float about completely on autopilot. That's where many problems arise. So Big Kudos to you!

Here's what my father did for me: I took drivers ed. It was offered at school. Is it not offered at school where you live? I had a learners permit, and I drove with my parents alot. Even after I got my license, my father made me log 2000 miles with him or my stepmother before I could drive on my own.

I also had to change each tire twice--eight tire changes before I could drive alone.

The 2000 miles and the tire changes and the manual transmission should all be required in my book.

[Biciclista]

we had a car (Eagle Summit/Mitsubishi Mirage) with a tough kind of clutch. I took both of my sons out innumerable times to a large parking lot to practice shifting gears. They never got it. Neither one of them, and they were both motivated and are both mechanically inclined and coordinated. One day we borrowed my mother's car (the Honda Civic that I ended up buying and driving for 11 years) and I let my older son drive it. he picked up instantly and drove it like a pro, even double shifting once.
Both of them drive std transmission cars now - with pride.

Good luck with your daughter and your car.... (we replaced the clutch in the Eagle Summit too because of them.. )

[Crankin]

You have to take driver's ed here. Most towns have it through their community education classes or people go to private driving schools. We did the private route because it was easier to arrange the driving part. Plus, parents have to log 30 hours with their kids, too.
Son #1 was the worst, most timid driver around. He crashed DH's car when he had his permit, because he didn't turn the wheel, pulling away from the curb when he was picking up pies for a band fundraiser, in front of the high school. He crashed it into his friend's mom's van she uses for her daycare business! It wasn't damaged, but DH's car was. DH put duct tape on the broken headlight and fender and made Josh get back in the car and go pick up his brother at religious school... DS #2 refused to get in the car when he saw the damage. Well, after DH spent 100+ hours with him, as well as the lessons, he did pass his test on the first try. The first year he had his license, he basically drove to school and back, and to friend's houses. Then, he started venturing out. He now lives in the city and drives in places I won't go in my car.
DS #2 had been cycling for almost 3 years when he got his permit (you have to be 16 here). He drove home from the registry, the day he took the permit test, on the freeway, and never had any issues, in my rather large 4 Runner I had at the time. I really think cycling made the difference.

[GLC1968]

You have to take driver's ed here.

Really? Wow, we didn't when I was getting my licence (decades ago!). My parents made my brother take driver's ed because of the insurance break, but since insurance was cheaper for girls (not sure if this is still the case), I didn't have to...so I didn't. Yeah, life is fair.

I agree that learning to drive a stick was important. I took my driving test in an automatic so that I had less to worry about during the test, but I did know how to drive a stick. Now, that's the only way I'd buy a car. I hate automatic transmissions - it's like driving an amusement ride or something....it doesn't feel like a real car to me!

Ditto Tulip's suggestion about learning to change a tire. That's also an invaluable skill to have.

[badgercat]

Good for you for teaching your daughter to drive standard transmission. It's so important to be able to drive stick shift cars; you never know when you might have to drive one even if you choose to drive an automatic.

I never even RODE in a manual-transmission car until I was in college, and I've still never driven one! I think this has something to do with stick being a bit annoying in big city stop-and-go traffic, and there was certainly more than enough of that around Chicago. Almost no one I knew drove cars with a stick (though several of my friends did learn on relatives' cars--I had no such access). I would LOVE to learn, if I could find a friend who would trust their poor clutch in my newbie hands (foot?).

Good luck to your daughter (and you!) Melavai, and yes, I think in the end she'll thank you for teaching her to drive in a "difficult" car! I feel that way about weather: I got my learner's permit when I was 15 and took driver's ed starting in January, which does not make for good street conditions in Chicago. So though I missed out on the benefits of learning to drive stick, I do have the advantage of having learned to handle a car while the roads were icy and slushy.

I remember my first time behind the wheel was in the forest preserves, and I actually asked my mom which way I needed to flip the turn signal lever if I wanted to signal one direction or another (you'd think "in the same direction you turn the wheel" would have been intuitive enough....)

[crazycanuck]

Do they have the graduated licencing system in the US?

I know that here in Australia, young drivers need to keep a detailed driving log etc but I don't know much more about the system. In NZ, we didn't *phew* . I do know that when i left NZ I was on a provisional licence & it's reciprocal here(for NZ citizens residing in Aust..boy do we have it good..) meaning I still had to have P plates on our vehicle.

I was soooo happy to remove them!

Also, we were looked upon favourably by the driving instructors if we did driving lessons in a manual.

[NbyNW]

I think my mom and I would have killed each other if she hadn't hired a professional driving instructor for me. She wasn't ready to trust me and she was too tense and nervous in the passenger seat to be supervising me during practice drives.

During one of my lessons, my driving instructor pointed out to me a car making an unsafe left turn at a weird intersection as an example of what NOT to do ... I recognized the driver -- it was my dad!

Driver's ed was offered at our local community college and it was totally optional. The incentive was that if you took it, it would bring your insurance premium down. So pretty much every parent who was adding a teenage driver to their policy thought it was a good idea.

Didn't learn to drive stick until I was 27. DH and I bought a car together, and he insisted on a manual. Up until that time I managed to live without a car. First lesson was a disaster. Too many lectures on how an internal combustion engine works!. After that I had a friend teach me. Probably saved my marriage!

Good luck with your daughter, I know this is a big milestone for you. I think being a cyclist who also drives is a great way to be a safe driver.

[Melalvai]

She can make the tires squeal shifting into SECOND. I giggle, I can't help it. She glares and me and says "Don't laugh!" and then starts laughing.

crazycanuck, she has a Learner's Permit which means she can drive with a parent in the car. She is supposed to log 40 hours including 10 hours of night driving. Then she can get her license which initially has some restrictions on it as well; I don't remember the details. Her mom's rule is "No teenagers in the car with you" and "No using the cell phone".

I like tulip's idea about changing the tire!

badgercat, I'm hoping for a snowy icy winter so that she'll get some inclement weather driving practice. My friend said her dad took her to an icy parking lot and had her slide the car around on that!

Thanks for all the feedback!

[jessmarimba]

I've had my license for 12 years and have probably driven more than my mom has her entire life - and she STILL slams her foot into the floor of the car to "brake" and freaks out when I'm driving. Please please please don't do that to your daughter!

(I've never even gotten a ticket, so she has no reason to do that!)

Congrats on teaching her on a manual though. My mom left for a few weeks when I was very new to driving and took the only car I knew how to drive (on purpose). I got hers stuck on a hill in a nearby neighborhood and it took 2 hours to get out of that subdivision. I haven't tried to drive a stick since.

[Crankin]

We have graduated licensing here, too. But, half the people don't follow the rules. You can get your full license at 16.5, but can't have any passengers under 18 until the driver is 18, unless they are siblings. Can't be on the road between 12:30 AM and 5 AM. We caught our older son driving his friend home from school when he was 17, when DH just happened to be behind him one day. DS sped up and ditched his friend in a K Mart parking lot!
I moved to Florida when I was 15.6 and got my permit and license there. Then I moved to AZ. I didn't have to drive in the snow until I was 37 and it was seriously one of the most traumatic things I've ever had to do. We lived on a huge hill, on scary curve, too. One time I was driving DH's Saab home from the gym and I could not get up my street. I let a strange guy get in my car and drive me up the hill! After 2 years, I insisted on getting AWD, which helped me get up the hill and made me confident. Now, I don't like doing it, still, but I do. Thankfully, as a teacher, I didn't have work when it was really bad, but in the mid nineties, there were a few years of horrible blizzards that started during school time and I lived 40 miles away.
I learned to drive a stick when DH severely sprained his left ankle and couldn't drive his car and we needed to trade cars. I haven't driven a stick since like, 1998, but I am sure I could. Tire changing, no way. That's what AAA is for.