Driving Lessons for Andrew Part 1

Yesterday I took Andrew to the DMV and he passed the written, so now he has a permit.

Lesson One
On the way home I stopped in new housing development. Most of the houses were still under construction. It was a good place to practice -- real roads and almost no traffic. Andrew drove slowly and carefully. He hugged the curbs. I had to tell him that he should look where he wanted the car to go and not at the big truck he wanted to avoid. He agreed that did make it easier. He asked questions about when to push the gas and when to push the break. He even backed up to make a couple of turns. It was a great start.

Lesson Two
So today we went and got into our station wagon and I asked him if he wanted to back out of the driveway. He said he thought he could do it. It was a bit jerky, but he pulled out pretty well. He got out in the road and saw a car coming at us. He was a bit worried but I told him he was fine. There was room for the person to go around us. He stopped; the other driver went past us and I said, "Okay, turn the wheel to the right and go forward."

Unfortunately I did not say, "Okay, put the car in drive, turn the wheel and go forward."

He punched the gas. We flew backward, over the curb -- both right side tires went up on the sidewalk.

My car is currently at the tire shop getting a new front right tire. The old tire has a guarantee still, but I think that just covers normal driving, not teenagers driving on sidewalks.

The only other damage is to my vocal cords. For some reason they're a little sore.