ingenie launches Parent Manifesto for learner drivers

Last week, ingenie announced its Parent Manifesto, a robust series of activities that aims to educate parents on how to get more involved when their child is learning to drive, in order to complement the learning process and promote safer driving amongst young people. The manifesto will be made up of five stages released over the next few months – with each stage aiming to educate parents on another way they can help their child drive safely and save money.

The first of those, First Gear, encourages parents to be aware of just how influential they can be on their child’s driving style, before their child is even old enough to start lessons. ingenie surveyed one thousand 10 to 16-year-olds on their parents’ driving habits, and filmed 10-year-old James and 13-year-old Tania to investigate the driving behaviour they have learned from their parents.

When asked to do an impression of his dad driving, James talks on his mobile phone and then beeps the horn aggressively and shouts out the window, seemingly intimidating other drivers. Meanwhile, Tania says when her mum is driving: “She’s putting her lipstick on, looking at her phone.” Both sets of parents, who were watching the live interview, expressed their shock at their kids’ impression of their conduct and how much they were taking in on journeys. The full interview can be found here: https://www.ingenie.com/parents-guide/first-gear-drive-how-you-want-your-child-to-drive

Richard King, ingenie CEO, said: “The results reveal that we are teaching children bad driving habits long before they start lessons and subsequently pass their test. Parents need to understand the importance of setting a good example behind the wheel and be aware of the amount of information that children absorb. How we drive as parents ultimately influences how safely our children will drive in the future.”

The next four gears in the Parent Manifesto will be released over the coming months – bringing to life ingenie’s advice to parents:

Parent Manifesto – Five Gears

First Gear: Demonstrate good road safety and attitude in your own driving, even while children are small.

Second Gear: Begin talking about road safety early and start hazard perception brain training before teenagers turn 17. 

Third Gear: Be involved in choosing the right driving instructor. Parents should be part of a team: learner, instructor and parent. 

Fourth Gear: Help with private practice to provide real-life experience of driving at different times of day, in traffic and in poor weather. It takes an average of 47 hours of lessons and 20 hours of private practice to pass.

Fifth Gear: Keep up the conversation about road safety beyond the test pass. Telematics, or black box insurance, monitors driving trends and provides regular driving feedback, in turn rewarding good driving by reducing the cost of insurance. 

The aim of the Parent Manifesto is to educate parents on how important they are in the learning process. This belief is also supported by the Driving Standards Agency, which has stated that the average learner now needs around 47 hours with an instructor and a further 20 hours’ additional practice on the roads – where a parent’s input is vital.

For more information about ingenie’s Parent Manifesto, visit https://www.ingenie.com/parents-guide/category/ingenie-parent-manifesto