When I was 12 I lost my best friend, he was playing ball in his front yard, the ball went in the street, he ran after it and he, yes he hit a car, the mirror broke his neck. The driver was just 16, he wasn't speeding or goofing off, just driving home himself. My friend was 10. I went to the services and remember his mom crying, she died a few years later due to overdose of anit-depressants. The tragedy helped me form my life, I learned that early to watch out for bouncing ***** b/c there will be kids who follow.
My daughter is now 16, she wants her DL now that I have a "cool" car to drive, I have been asking her to practice for 6mo but she never had a real intrest til I got the SS.
Last night it was so nice out I just wanted to cruz around so I asked Jill if she felt like driving and she did!! She hasn't driven in mo so I asked her to stay in the area. Lots of stop signs, curves, hills, parked cars and different signs.
As we cruzed around I was trying to get her to loosen up a bit, look around, wave @ people and just relax. She's very focused on what is right in front of her, she seldom looks left or right, well we went down this one block and it was like a block party w/ people/children every where....lots of kids playing ball, riding bikes etc...this is where I tell her she has to SLOW WAY DOWN, pay attention to the people AND what their doing. Kids running away from another kid will often run out in the street, kids running to dinner will go in the house, they pose little danger, a kid chasing a dog might run in ur path...etc. Jill was doing better than I expected, she was looking out for the kids, even when I didn't see s/t she did.
This one block was empty, we had been down it several times and there wasn't anybody out so I was relaxed, Jill was looking to some kids coming out on her right and I saw what she was looking @, I was even more relaxed. (Jill hates when I yell, we have a rule about me yelling when she's behind the wheel, I am also not allowed to grab the wheel) I see no threat on the left so I look forward....outta the very far right corner of my eye I see 2 little girls (about 5yrs old) running right toward the front of our car... I YELLED STOP!!!!!! We were only doing 15mph but when the car stopped she was just 16" from the front bumper, Jill never even saw her, the girl never stopped running either, she never looked, paused or even gave us a second look.
Jill and I sat there for a solid 10min just catching our breath, I hoped a parent would come out but no such luck. I didn't yell but I told Jill this was an excellent learning exp. As we sat there I explained how and why these things happen, I told her she was very good to be going that slow so she could stop, she reacted like she should have, she did what she had to and handled it like an adult.
Scary but glad I was there to help her deal w/ drama and how to deal w/ getting past it. My daughter has gone thru a lot w/ her mother, her mom doesn't spend any time w/ her and when she does she just tells her how worthless she is, it's sad but I'm doing all I can to correct these problems.
Mouse

 

Such a tragedy, thanks for the reminder to always be on the look out.

 

Yep kids have no attention to cars when theey are playing. Sound like your daughter is going to be a good driver.

 

Good lessons to learn - especially when just starting out. I know sometimes it's not easy to watch out for everything but when you're driving it's your job to anticipate other peoples moves. Some locations aren't the most people friendly - as a kid in my neighborhood there were trees and bushes everywhere - covering the view to the street from the sidewalks - I shot right off into the street once on my bike thinking there wasn't a car and ended up getting flipped up onto the guys hood and my bike went under the front tires. Never did that again.

 

Great lesson to be taught. Kids never look for cars it seems around here. Sadly I've even had a few that see me pulling in my driveway and try to jump in front of it and laugh when i slam the brakes like its a joke, and that gets me really hot i know u shouldn't yell but when they do things like that i have a few choice words. Yet no matter what i say they seem to think its funny, so sad.