My kid can drive! But she's dumb.......

Deucekid#1 passed her drivers test yesterday. Only suggestion from the tester was to parallel park a bit closer. She spent a LOT of time practicing parallel parking. Really put the work into it because it was hard because she's short and the sightlines out of modern cars aren't great for short people. She's actually turned into quite a good driver. I'm proud of her, but.........

She was heading off on her first solo drive this morning. I knew she was leaving and stepped out the door to wish her well and remind her to pay attention because she doesn't have backup eyes in the passenger seat. And her phone was on her lap. Every single time she's driven with us she gets in the car and put her phone in the console because that's the rule. Today she decided that she would keep it out and listen to music because there wasn't anyone in the car to tell her no even though she's had it drilled into her by us and the state of Texas that it's a horrible idea. She was asked to put the car back in the garage and she lost her phone for the month. 

Kids. 

I'm afraid of swmbo junior doing the same thing. Fortunately for me, she wont be passing her drivers anything any time soon, because she refuses to finish drivers ed and get her permit. She honestly thinks she can uber everywhere on minimum wage. It's this generation, I swear. 

 Keep up the good parenting, the number of people that can't make a 5 minute drive without berking around on their phones disgusts me.  It's not just kids either.  Self driving cars can't come soon enough...

Rules are rules.  I admit I'm less forgiving than SWMBO when it comes to rules, all I can say is look at our 30+ year old son; right & wrong, work ethics etc.  DeuceKid#1 may thank you someday, but don't hold your breath. 

Maybe when her kids are teenagers .....

When my daughter started driving, I kept stressing, "Never swerve for an animal, unless it's bigger than a deer".

A few days after she hit the concrete bridge abutment she said, "You were right, I should have hit the raccoon instead".

It was a very expensive raccoon.

Ian's first car was a 1963 Buick Special, on the way home from school an old lady pulled out of a cemetery and stopped dead, realizing her error in judgment.  Ian says it was in slow-mo, but he made a conscious choice; broadside the old lady or take out a very strong wrought iron fence and the whole right side of his car.

Sorry ma'am, planked her right in the axle where damage would be minimal.

Better ending than I expected from the title and start of the post. 

Should be a good learning experience for her, nothing like losing your cellphone at the beginning of summer vacation to drive a lesson home to a teenage girl. 

Dead_Sled said:

 Keep up the good parenting, the number of people that can't make a 5 minute drive without berking around on their phones disgusts me.  It's not just kids either.  Self driving cars can't come soon enough...

Your post and your signature make an awesome combination. 

Mndsm said:

I'm afraid of swmbo junior doing the same thing. Fortunately for me, she wont be passing her drivers anything any time soon, because she refuses to finish drivers ed and get her permit. She honestly thinks she can uber everywhere on minimum wage. It's this generation, I swear. 

As part of that generation, what the hell is an Uber? 

I'm not sure what goes through the brain of my youngest (18).  She was following me home the other day, and while I was doing 55 in a 45, she passes me.  So we ask her what she was thinking and we get shrugged shoulders and "I don't know, I wasn't going that fast."  "How fast were you going?"  "30."  At this point the Mrs. lost it.  This is the same child that backed into a light pole after she was told 3x's it was behind her and had 2 speeding tickets, after each of which it was stated "The stupid cops..."  We have had more than one emotional gaskets blown over driving and she hasn't learned yet.  Cars and phones taken away multiple times.  Fortunately nothing has been harmed so far, but she goes off to college 3 hours away in the fall, so it could get interesting.

Keep up the steadfast diligence. I'm pretty sure that "No news is good news" came from a teenager's parents waiting on them to get home with the car.

Daylan C said:

Mndsm said:

I'm afraid of swmbo junior doing the same thing. Fortunately for me, she wont be passing her drivers anything any time soon, because she refuses to finish drivers ed and get her permit. She honestly thinks she can uber everywhere on minimum wage. It's this generation, I swear. 

As part of that generation, what the hell is an Uber? 

Modern version of taxi's, basically you use your own car and sign up with their service and you become an independant contractor for the company, a user uses their app to request a ride, etc.  The main selling point was that the cars typically were nicer than most taxi's, the real-time tracking and ease of use was better than anything the taxi companies could provide, etc.

Daylan C said:

Mndsm said:

I'm afraid of swmbo junior doing the same thing. Fortunately for me, she wont be passing her drivers anything any time soon, because she refuses to finish drivers ed and get her permit. She honestly thinks she can uber everywhere on minimum wage. It's this generation, I swear. 

As part of that generation, what the hell is an Uber? 

Basically a gypsy cab. You put the app on your phone, tell it you need a ride, and a random subcontractor who might not be a murderer comes and picks you up. Cheaper than a cab, generally, but at 15 bucks a ride.....

My daughter is 20 years old, and when I tried teaching her how to drive last year she turned a corner, and when she came out of the turn she just let go of the wheel thinking it would spin back into position. Gave me a frickin' heart attack. She does not have her license, and I won't get in a car with her ever again.

Oooooooooober. It's spooooooky.......

Deucekid#1 will get over it. Better to learn a lesson from me than the sharp hand of physics. She drove us around this afternoon to get everyone new bathing suits. She's pretty solid behind the wheel. Just need to improve that decision making. 

I was all set when my turned 16 to give him my old BMW X5 with a stick shift.  It was perfect relatively slow big and heavy.  He tells my wife he can’t see out of it and he should drive the 2005 Acura TL with a 6 speed.  I finally relented and he did well till last winter when he got the speeding ticket for 21 over in a 55.  My wife said she couldn’t believe it.  I said I couldn’t believe it took that long.  I had my attorney fix it and made him work off the time at his office.

mazdeuce - Seth said:

Oooooooooober. It's spooooooky.......

Deucekid#1 will get over it. Better to learn a lesson from me than the sharp hand of physics. She drove us around this afternoon to get everyone new bathing suits. She's pretty solid behind the wheel. Just need to improve that decision making. 

I dont like shared/public transport. Theres a reason I usually own 4 cars. At least one should run. Strangers are weird. 

Either she'll learn to put the phone down or she'll learn to wait until she's around the corner before doing anything Mom & Dad wouldn't necessarily approve of (eco mode off, tcs off, manumatic mode - oh wait, that might have just been me. I was just, uhh, cleaning out that Hyundai GDI carbon buildup ).

In reply to G_Body_Man :

This. Don't do dumb E36 M3. But if you're going to, at least be out of sight first. 

You're a kinder, more gentle parent then I would be.

I'd inform her that I don't care what pictures she chooses to send or receive to persons that are of her age, but that any phone use while operating a vehicle is potentially fatal.

I'd hope that would creep a child out enough to keep them from touching it.

the other day going to work at 6am, I was right behind a GMC SUV that hit the jersey barricades between lanes. He had been weaving slowly in his lane, but never left it the entire 5 mile trip into Atlantic City. Right before the last bridge there is a cut through for a jughandle. Guy went left into the opening and head on into the barricade when it started up on the other side. He hit so hard (at 60mph) that the driver's side front wheel stayed there as the SUV spun three times and came to a rest facing oncoming traffic.

Surprisingly, the driver got out, reached back in for his phone, and walked away. Guy was in his twenties and was trying to call his G/F to let her know what had happened. I left my disco parked in front of his GMC and called 911 and waited till the cops arrived while he wandered around still talking on the damn phone.

In reply to Woody :

My nephew totaled his dad's truck over a rabbit. He needed that advice. 

In reply to mad_machine :

Reminds me of a comment an engineer made a while back...

If we wanted people to drive safely, we'd replace steering wheel airbags with swords.

Both of our girls learned to drive in cars that had a 5 speed.  They could only use one gear, reverse.

For a number of reasons they mastered the art of engaging the friction point looking over their right shoulder.  

I would not suggest doing it in a 1990 Audi 200 TQ, they are really heavy and the clutch is really not easy to change.  But we all learn.

Does she know how to find and replace a fuel pump relay? Because that's the thing that I remove from my daughter's car periodically.