Call to parents over driving lessons

YOUNG drivers might be less likely to crash after passing their test if their parents sit in on driving lessons.

That’s one conclusion to be drawn from the Staffordshire Young Driver Coaching Programme, which found that parents’ involvement in driving lessons also helped to cut out the age-old quarrels between learner drivers and the mums and dads who offer private practice.

An evaluation of the project, which was carried out as part of the RoSPA/BNFL scholarship scheme, found that an accompanying resource pack also proved vital to producing better, safer drivers.
Although the study, by Staffordshire County Council and the University of Keele, did not quantify long-term goals such as reduced crash rates, it did highlight the kind of good practice – such as parents sitting in on lessons – that RoSPA hopes might enable those aims to be achieved.

A quarter of all approved driving instructors in Staffordshire signed up to the scheme, which saw 20 families taking part. As well as parents recording progress in the learner’s training book, they also received guides about how to support the lessons conducted by the instructor.