Drivers Ed

Riley is now well into his sixteenth year. He was in no hurry to get his license. Cars are dangerous weapons, like guns to me. I did not encourage the driving experience. I was in no hurry to have him get a license. But now that he has been cleared to get on with his life, Tom says it is time for him to "man up", get his drivers license. Funny thing is Tom says he wont ride with Riley, I have to take Riley out driving.








Riley had gone with me a month ago to try and pass the permit test. He failed twice. Not having experience behind the wheel some of the questions seemed tricky to him. I had a friend who's daughter just finished the drivers ed school and was pleased with the results. I signed Riley up. 30 hours of classes, two hours three times a week for 15 days. The permit written test is waived in lieu of the class. It does cost $260 but I figure its worth it. The driving school will take Riley driving 6 times. He needs at least 50 hours before he can even get a real license. I am thinking he can go until he is eighteen with his permit, because once he gets his license our insurance goes up $65 a month.









He did not get the good grade discount either this semester. He oopses on the homework in his Honors English class. The teacher has moved him to her regular English class. Riley is not used to having a lot of homework. Well, he better get used to it and fast. Other classes were disappointing also. Though he passed Honors Biology with flying colors.





I took Riley out to a neighborhood recommended for first time drivers by the school instructor. Big wide streets and no traffic, an undeveloped area where the roads had been put in but nothing else. We drove around for thirty or forty minutes in circles in this area. Riley practiced backing up and cornering. He practiced staying in his lane. I had my foot pressed to the floor, trying to look completely calm. Every light pole looked like a hazard to me, an obstacle to be hit by inattention. after a time Riley felt comfortable enough that he wanted to try a different area.





We went up the street to the next neighbor hood which did have parked cars on the street and children in the yards. Riley drove around this neighborhood for a while. He liked to drive about 15 miles an hour. I was comfortable with that speed also. We next drove up to a stop light to cross a major road. My heart was beating a bit fast but we made it through the light and down the street without incident. I told Riley to ignore the car close on our bumper, we would be turning off the road within a block.





Riley signaled and we pulled into a big church parking lot, vacant and empty. We practiced some parking. We will practice more parking later. Riley's confidence was up. He suggested we go to a friend's house that lived nearby. He left the parking lot and got on a road with a speed limit of 35. He continued to drive a conservative 25. We pulled over and let a car pass us.





Once we arrived at my friend's house, she suggested we try the road she had her daughter practice on. We had to go up a hill and down some windy roads. Riley was hugging the white line on my side of the road. I kept asking him to get more in the middle of his lane. As I looked down these steep drops on my side, with Riley virtually in the gravel going over cliffs, my heart raced.
I became more and more stressed we would end up in a ditch needing a tow, or falling over a ravine. Finally my girlfriend, who road with us in the back seat told Riley to stop right in the middle of this country road. There was no traffic. She had him get out of the car and walk around the car to see where it sat in the road. The car did not take up as much room as it looked. Riley could hug the center line and still have space for on coming cars to pass on the other side.





Riley did much better at not driving off the edge of the road after that stop. But I felt better when my girl friend was safely delivered home. It did raise my stress level knowing there was another person to worry about in the car. It is one thing to take risks with my own life with my children, but to have to worry about other people in the car just added to my stress. Besides she kept telling Riley he needed to pick up the pace. I was thinking he was doing just fine the way he was. He will start driving fast soon enough, once he is more comfortable behind the wheel.





My car has the washers on the same bar as the signal lights. Every time Riley tried to signal a turn the wipers would swing. He will eventually get the hang of all the gizmo's. He asked what the hazard light button was. I showed him. He decided that turning them on to warn people he was driving cautiously and was not going to speed up for anyone was a great way to drive, since we didn't have those student driver signs on our car.





We got two hours under his belt. But we were both exhausted afterwards by the stress and concentration. He will need a total of 50 hours before he is allowed to get a real license. I drove us home and went upstairs to take a nap.





I feel good about our experience. Riley was pretty chipper about the whole thing also. I am going to have him out on the road again this week so watch out. If you see a slow car with hazard lights, figure it may be a student driver.