I had to wait until I was 17 until I could get behind the wheel of a car and it was the first thing I did when I celebrated my birthday. I asked for driving lessons for my birthday and had weekly lessons until I passed (first time of course) but what if you could get driving experience behind the wheel before you are 17? Research shows that it is a lack of driving experience - not a lack of years on the planet - that causes 1 in 5 newly qualified drivers to crash within 6 months of passing their test. That was the theory behind Young Driver and so when we met them at the BlogOn conference earlier this year, I was excited to give both girls the chance to get behind the wheel.

Young Driver operate their lessons at locations all over the UK and the closest to us was Birmingham NEC, so we booked for both girls on a (hopefully) bright Saturday morning in August. Unfortunately our optimism about the weather was a little ill fated but it didn't stop the fun! 

You have to arrive around 15-20 minutes before your lesson and all new drivers get a Driving Diary which keeps track of your lessons and what you have learnt. This is great if you want to use the lessons regularly and build confidence and knowledge behind the wheel rather than just a one off experience. 

When you arrive at the lessons, they also give you the chance to get a video from inside the car and after a little convincing, my eldest agreed to it (although am not allowed to share it on the blog) but it is a great keepsake of the day.

The instructor wasn't just there to make sure she didn't crash, he was giving her clear instruction and guidance on how to safely manouveure the car and drive effectively. Apparently she needs to work on steering a little more but if it was really easy on the first attempt, she would get complacent and that's not the idea! Young Driver state that they have taken the country's best driving instructors and trained them specifically to teach under 17s.

A 30 minute lesson is £34.95 with a 60 minute lesson at £64.95.

For little drivers aged 5-10 there is the Firefly experience in a little electric car, unfortunately it has no roof so when the heavens opened we got more than a little bit wet and hadn't dressed appropriately. This didn't stop the 5 year old from being beyond excited to drive a car!

The instructor goes round the track with them a couple of times and then you get the opportunity to be driven around the track. The novelty of being driven round by my 5 year old was not lost on me, although I did have to take control of the steering a few times! Despite the rain she laughed and chatted the whole way round the track and as soon as she was out of the car, she was asking when she could come back again.

A 20 minute lesson in a Firefly electric car is £19.95 and is available across a number of venues in the UK. For more information on Young Driver take a look at youngdriver.eu.

Both lessons were perfectly tailored to the ages of each child and the instructors were patient and not patronising in any way. Driving in a big open space with cones for a road layout is a little different to being on the main roads however is really is a fantastic way to get the children used to driving a vehicle and becoming confident behind the wheel. 

So in answer to the question posed at the top ..... yes you absolutely can drive a real car before you are 17, safely AND legally!