There is a misconception that as a teenager, taking lessons from an instructor is the first step towards learning to drive. This is far from the truth. We know that children watch and imitate what they see. However, we sometimes limit this perception to entertainment value at a family gathering when we ask a young son to imitate his father doing some task or other.

Learning how to behave on the road begins with children's journeys out in pushchairs, and later as they sit in the passenger seats of their family vehicles. Let's look at the stages of the growth of a child from a road expert's view: 

Stage one: one to five years old

The Reluctant Passenger: Locked in their car seats children may see their parent ignore - or fail to see - dangers from approaching traffic situations. Or they may be amazed to see their father overtaking unsafely and getting away with it again and again.

Stage two: six to 14 years old

The Attentive Co-driver: These children absorb everything that drivers say and do. They learn how to make maximum progress at the highest possible speed, and in most cases with total disregard for the needs of other road users.

Stage three: 14 to 17 years old

The Absorbent Observer: They recognise the need to gain a driving licence; they also identify with what other people do. Brighter children recognise that there are two different aims in life: pass a test to get a licence; use that licence to drive as other drivers do.

Stage four: 17 to 22 years old

The Inefficient Risk-Taker: Their confidence changes dramatically from nil to over-kill within six months of passing their tests.

So who do new drivers learn from? Recent research shows that they gain 5 per cent of the road knowledge from mother (if she drives) or their occasional chauffeur; 20 per cent from father or from whomever they drive with most; 40 per cent from their peers at school/college; 20 per cent from films and from other road users and 15 per cent reluctantly, from their driving instructor.

We are all responsible in some way for the bad drivers on our roads. By the same token, we can also make sure that they learn the right lessons on road safety. The best way to ensure that the lessons they learn stay with them is to catch them young. And the first lesson to teach a child is to remain buckled in his/her seat while in the car.

Everyone is watching you drive and learning from you. So are you going to formulate a great recipe for the future or will you be responsible for helping kill off the human race?

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