Tell your grandkids to hit the road and they’ll thank you forever

The numbers are incredible. For new drivers who start learning when they’re 17 or older, 20% of them will have an accident in the first six months after passing their driving test. But for people who learned to drive earlier with Young Driver, that figure falls to just 3.2%. 

Young Driver is the UK’s largest driving school for under-17s, and its lessons make a great gift for any young child in your life: they’re tons of fun, and they teach your loved ones skills that’ll keep them safer for life.

It’s all about brains. Young brains are still developing, and skills we learn and practice when we’re younger create connections in our brains that last a lifetime: whether it’s playing piano or controlling a car, the earlier we learn, the more skilled we become.

A child who learns how to drive a car safely when they’re not allowed on the roads will be much more confident, capable and careful when they’re old enough for on-road-lessons. 

Mark Beaumont is a Young Driver instructor. “Give me a ten-year-old for an hour’s lesson and we’ll cover what a seventeen-year-old would do in two to three hours,” he says. “Younger kids learn better and faster than adults.”

The lessons take place on private land in dual-controlled cars, and every instructor is fully qualified, safety and security checked and approved by the government certification scheme.

Young Driver lessons are lots of fun, but as marketing head Sue Waterfield explains, “there is a serious safety message running through everything we do.”

Young Driver was founded after a ground-breaking Swedish study found that young drivers became better drivers, and in the 13 years since it’s delivered over 1.2 million lessons to help children go on to become smarter, safer drivers.

“Our research with past pupils consistently shows that there’s a drastically reduced accident rate for those who have had early driver training,” Waterfield says.

One of the biggest differences is that there’s no pressure to prepare for a driving test: children can take their time and really get to grips with the skills needed.

By the time they’re ready to apply for a provisional licence, all of the most important driving skills are already second nature – so “they can use their on-road lessons to focus on the more nuanced aspects of driving, such as hazard awareness and dealing with other road users,” Waterfield says. 

Younger children are more receptive to safety messages: as we all know, teenagers tend to think they’re immortal. By emphasising the importance of road safety from a younger age, Young Driver ensures that the message is remembered forever.

Young Driver delivers benefits beyond driving. As award-winning author, international speaker and adolescent development expert Nicola Morgan explains, the lessons “can be of huge benefit to confidence and well-being.”

Because driving uses different skills to the subjects the child is using in school, it can help children experience success and create what Morgan describes as an “I can do this!” attitude that can help in lots of other areas. 

It’s also a really great way to help grandchildren who might be feeling awkward or sad. “A great deal of brain bandwidth is used for driving,” Morgan explains. “That means any worries or obsessive thoughts take a break.”

Young Driver can also boost self-esteem in very significant ways. It tells the child that adults trust them enough to take on one of the most difficult, dangerous and grown-up challenges, and because driving seems really hard at first but does become easier over time, the child will see their skills improve with every single lesson. That’s great for building confidence. 

Pupils with additional needs – physical disabilities, sensory impairment or neurological conditions – are very welcome, and instructors are highly experienced with people of all ages with all kinds of requirements.

People who thought they’d never be allowed to drive a car can experience the fun of driving in a completely safe and supportive environment.

If you’d like to give a young child in your life the gift of a Young Driver experience, there’s never been a better time to do it: Young Driver is currently offering Saga Exceptional readers 10% off lessons and 10% off gift vouchers*.

All you need to do is enter the code exceptional10 at the checkout.

The offer’s available to you right up until the end of October 2023.

Ts&Cs apply:

Single use discount code
Offer valid until October 31 2023
Cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer