Scottish News: Driving instructor teaches children as young as 12 in city car park

Scottish News: Driving instructor teaches children as young as 12 in city car park KIDS as young as 12 are being taught to drive in a city car park. But road safety experts have criticised the driving lessons for youngsters as they reckon cocky kids could get false confidence behind the wheel. And they have urged instructor Steven Whitten to make sure his pupils know the difference between an empty car park and busy roads. Steven, who has taught adult learner drivers for 27 years, began his childrens' lessons last week - at the Rangers owned car park opposite Ibrox Stadium. e is charging kids £30 an hour to drive in a dual-control Ford Fiesta. And he insists the learning could help reduce high numbers of accidents involving new drivers. e said: "Young drivers are frequently involved in an accident within six a period of months of passing their test. "Pre-driver training could help reduce this. It gives them the chance to get familiar with a car and its controls before being on the road. "They can learn the basics and how to stop the car if anything does go wrong. "This kind of thing is popular in England but not so much in Scotland. "Things in the driving industry as an entire have been quite quiet lately, so I just thought I would try something different. And my insurer says it's OK because it's on private land." But AA road safety head Andrewoward warned: "What is worrying is pre-drivers thinking they have car-handling skills because we can drive round pseudo roundabouts and park a car when there are no other cars about. "This might create the type of person who believes they can drive at 70 miles an hour in the wrong places. "The worthwhile thing in terms of road safety isn't to make these kids think their skill is considerably greater than it is. "Striking the right balance between how dangerous the driver thinks driving is, and how skilful they think they are is key." Scottish News: Driving instructor teaches children as young as 12 in city car park Trade News selected by Local Linkup on 20/02/2012