Anyone reading the story of that 19-year-old hooning around would have been relieved that the kid was caught before he killed himself or anyone else. Apparently the police officer told the P-plater: "Driver's licence, mate . . .because you've definitely just lost it."
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The teenager knew he was in deep doo doo. "Yep ... 100 per cent."
And I bet his family is also breathing a huge sigh of relief. Teaching our kids to be safe on the roads is so tough. My parents were saints. On my second ever driving lesson, I was so freaked out that I drove straight into a telegraph pole. How they had the internal fortitude to keep going with lessons after that I do not know.
But they definitely got back up. They decided I needed driving lessons from an actual qualified driving instructor before I got back behind the wheel of Dad's beloved Ford. The bloke's name was Reg. He was an absolute champion. And I passed my test to get my P plates first time.
My parents were no longer alive by the time my own children wanted to learn to drive - but I swear to heaven that the money we spent on a qualified driving instructor was the best value ever. Getting up those hours to qualify for Ps takes forever. It's not just the time that's hard - it's also the emotional labour. It's stressful not just for the kids, who have their parents supervising them and who are already worried about ten things at once. It's also stressful for the parents.
The good news is that in most jurisdictions in Australia, L-platers get extra credit for each hour they drive under the supervision of an accredited driving instructor. That's usually got an upper limit.
To be honest, I wasn't a great role model in those days. I've slowed down as I've aged but I remember struggling to keep under the speed limit as I whizzed around getting kids from one thing to another. Sure, it was just casual speeding but as we now know, every kilometre over the speed limit increases your risk of an accident.
Research from UNSW in 2023 revealed that young drivers respond best to verbal feedback from a real person. Which does not mean shouting at them from the front seat. It means measured, calm, considered.
Professor Brett Molesworth's research developed a quick and effective method along the lines of telling the learner driver how much they exceeded the speed limit, the risks of exceeding the speed limit, the cost of exceeding the speed limit and how long they might lose their licences for if they are caught exceeding the speed limit. Weirdly, written feedback didn't have the same impact.
And it's hard to be patient and to give detailed feedback when you've got the huge anxiety of trying to teach your own children in your own one-car family and the cost of lessons is absolutely enormous.
But there are good reasons to get the best teacher you can for your young ones learning to drive. As Australian researchers among a huge cross-country project wrote last year, young drivers represent a high-risk group worldwide, with their overrepresentation in road trauma placing substantial pressure on health and economic systems.
Nearly half of all young Australian injury deaths are due to road traffic crashes. And the biggest killer of young drivers is speeding.
That young bloke's family may not be too happy about the impending fines - but I bet they are bloody relieved he is off the road.
Jenna Price is a guest Echidna and a regular columnist.
HAVE YOUR SAY: How have you managed the whole learning-to-drive thing in your family? What's your scariest experience, either as a learner or as a teacher? And what's the best advice you can give to others?
Email us: echidna@theechidna.com.au
SHARE THE LOVE: If you enjoy The Echidna, forward it to a friend so they can sign up, too.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
- Phew. Humans have been successfully trained to spot AI-generated faces in a study led by researchers at the Australian National University Emotions and Faces Lab.
- Dementia is now the leading cause of death in Australia, overtaking heart disease.
- And Silence Of The Lambs star Sir Anthony Hopkins, 88, says he has achieved his "first desire" of signing a record deal as a composer. He will release his first album next month. Life Is A Dream is a collection of pieces he has worked on for six decades.
THEY SAID IT: "You never really learn to swear until you learn to drive." - most recently attributed to Steve Wright
YOU SAID IT: Ohmigod. Garry Linnell, typical first born, thinks he's perfect. Unusually self-deprecating for a first born, Mick wrote: I often imagined that my only sibling's raison d'etre was my disappointed parents looking at me as a 4 year old and muttering, "surely, we can do better than that!"
Brad warns against the tyranny of first borns. He said his uncle was like that with his mum's family. "My brother and I however, operated under the learning styles approach. We were such different personalities we didn't encroach even when we shared a childhood bedroom!"
That's in stark contrast to Helen: "As a conscientious perfectionist first born, the daughter of a conscientious perfectionist first born father, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. I am also a tidiness nut while my sister is the opposite - no fun sharing a bedroom as we did all our childhood."
There were also a few grumpy second borns (and as I know from personal experience, we middle kids have good reasons to be grumpy). Ian tells us he rewrote his older brother's homework which then was awarded a huge prize - but never credited to the right person.
Broelman's view
