Dad racers......

merlin

merlin

merlin

Soldato
Joined
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England
Did your driving style change after having kids?

I'm talking about when they're not in the car.....

If it did change then how?

Slower, safer, more considerate, more thoughtful?

Me I don't think it slowed me down per se, but I do think it made me pick my moments more wisely (obviously with kids on the car I'm nothing less than an angel on the road). Additionally I lost interest in teaching kids in souped up biscuit tins a lesson, although I was due to bore of that at some point kids or no kids.
 
merlin said:
Did your driving style change after having kids?

I'm talking about when they're not in the car.....

If it did change then how?

Slower, safer, more considerate, more thoughtful?

Me I don't think it slowed me down per se, but I do think it made me pick my moments more wisely (obviously with kids on the car I'm nothing less than an angel on the road). Additionally I lost interest in teaching kids in souped up biscuit tins a lesson, although I was due to bore of that at some point kids or no kids.
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That sounds like me. Although I do admit that off the lights I have succumbed to temptation once or twice.:D

I also noticed that when I have the in laws in the car, I brake earlier and generally drive like Im driving miss Daisy.
 
Can tell you properly in about 4 weeks time!

I don't use my own car for work and has always been a bit of a play thing so I treated it as such, I've had the odd attempted hoon in the lolvo but it's not really the type of car you can really, so I think that's helped me in not just using it to get a to b in as fun a way as possible.

I've always driven very sedately when others have been in my car so that'll probably become even more relaxed when driving the little one about!
 
See people carriers full of kids being driven like lunatics on many an occasion lol.
Passed a zafira on the duel carriage way last week, now I don't know if my uber loud exaust at full chat through his open window ****ed him off or not, but he managed to drag that monstrosity full of kids up to well over a ton in an attempt to overtake me before the next roundabout. Couldn't stop quite in time and ends up almost getting t-boned by a focus, and to top it off I got the hand gestures after I tore past him again lol.

Maybe they've all got a bee in their bonnett that they have to drove one of those POS :D
 
I'm not a dad but i have noticed when my parents are in my car i crap myself even though its just like driving around a normal person, i get really nervous when my dad is in the car and i dont know why :o
 
I drive like a looney on my own.
I drive like a saint with parents in the car, like im carrying royalty.
I driver like a saint with the gf in the car, but she eggs me on so i unwillingly oblige :D
 
Hatter I think what people and what I meant is that they'll speed up faster, brake later, corner fast but still do so in a safe manner.

With certain passengers then this will be calmed down.
 
MeAnBoY said:
I drive like a looney on my own.
I drive like a saint with parents in the car, like im carrying royalty.
I driver like a saint with the gf in the car, but she eggs me on so i unwillingly oblige :D
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I drive how i want to while on my own.
I try and drive like an angel with my mum in the car, I imagine she's got a full glass of champagne and I cant spill a drop of it due to my driving.
My dad I drive a bit boy racerish and hold it too much on the clutch, but he's often impressed with my clutch control, he's pointed it out many times.
 
I was driving by myself the other day when i spotted a V5 Passat (V5?!) estate tailing me and generally driving like a tool, was absolutely shocked when i saw his wife and kid in the back seat...
 
to an extent yes, If i'm on my own then it will be 10/10ths most of the time but with the kids on board I find that you end up driving at a much more sedate pace, braking earlier and cornering slower.

ON the other hand choice of car changed dramatically with kids. In the days before parenthood it was all stripped out 3 door hatchbacks with revvy 4 pots and roll cages.
The last couple have been a selection of 4wd 5 door v6 vws you find yourself looking at safety aspects of cars, and sporting prowess takes a backseat to practicality and safety,
 
peterattheboro said:
Hatter I think what people and what I meant is that they'll speed up faster, brake later, corner fast but still do so in a safe manner.

With certain passengers then this will be calmed down.
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exactly, i 'enjoy' driving alone, take corners a bit quicker than i would with my son or my partner, but still safely. Hell, even when i'm driving 70mph on the motorway, my missus tells me to slow down lol
 
For maybe 5 minutes after I had my first kid. But the old habbits creep back, and I still drive like my trousers are on fire on a daily basis :(

But yeah, I definately have two massively different driving styles, when I'm in the Estima with the kids in the car I have my 'safe driving Dad' hat on, it's not even a conscious thing, I just take on a whole different style.

But when I'm in the Golf I become 17 again :o
 
Yep - stopped driving like a tool years ago. Now I have a practical 1300cc runabout for work and an MPV for home. The runabout is embarrassing off the mark and you'd look like an idiot racing the MPV.
 
Cybergangster said:
Yep - stopped driving like a tool years ago. Now I have a practical 1300cc runabout for work and an MPV for home. The runabout is embarrassing off the mark and you'd look like an idiot racing the MPV.
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The amount of tossers that think their picasso can out run anything on the road is getting silly. We have three children and decided to stay away from mpvs and went for an x5 (large rear bench accomodates 3 car seats), quite a high powered 340bhp variant and before that had a cupra which was a fair bit quicker than standard.
The amount of mpvs that felt it necessary to go blasting past seemed more than just a coincidence and it always seemed to be 30 and 40 something men.
 
Im a Daddy (THE DADDY!), i always drive very steady with young 'un in the back but since my reckless teens (i got banned for a whole year at only 18!) ive calmed down a lot.
I always take extra care in built up areas and even more so at school opening/closing times.

My mate who also posts on here says its like "driving with Miss Daisy" when he's a passenger with me although at a night time down the country lanes i like to put the driving skills to the test.

I will say that to date - and thats 20 years of driving, i have never had an accident weather at fault or not and this year just gone covered 51000 miles in my A4 with work.
 
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