Peter Brock has been involved in young driver education for 25 years. In 1975, he adopted his 05 racing number at the request of the Victorian Government, which recognised his special communication skills and requested his help in getting the drink-driving message across to young people. Since then, he has spoken to thousands of school groups, been heavily involved in driver training and given his time to several road safety advertising campaigns.

Peter Brock and his wife, Beverly, have three children: James, 23, Robert, 19, and Alexandra, 16. James won Bathurst '99 at his first attempt, so his father's legendary car control has obviously been transferred with the genes. Most of us aren't so lucky.
In this special feature for The Open Road, Brock explains his philosophy and approach to teaching kids to become skilled, safe drivers.

Formative Years
"I had a rural upbringing on the family farm, about an hour north of Melbourne. Like any farm kid, the first thing I drove was the old Fergie, when I was seven. Then I learned to drive an old Chev truck, when I conned some blokes working on the farm into letting me drive it across the paddock.

"So I had a relationship with machinery that began at a very early age, and I suppose I developed a rapport with it , mainly because, machinery in that era was fragile and had plenty of short-comings.

"As a teenager, becoming a skilled driver was an all consuming passion, but crashing was something that happened to someone else who didn't know how to drive.

"The attitudinal side of driving only became apparent to me later on, when I steered the '48 Holden off the side of the road a couple of times, had some big moments and knocked over a few white posts.

"I learned very early on, though, that if I had one beer it affected my driving, because I set myself very high standards and it was obvious that alcohol affected my ability.

"Still, I can say in all honesty that to have survived my first few years of driving was something of a miracle. I don't know how I did it.

"Motor sport was the one thing that really saved me because it became an ideal outlet to channel my energy and competitive nature, and I didn't need to be proving myself out on the road.

"On today's crowded roads, you've got to be tolerant. That means just fitting in with everyone else, and recognising that other people's skill levels and interest in driving may not be as great as yours.

"My kids have always been aware that, as far as driving is concerned, dad's different, he uses his God-given talents on the track and the road, but in different ways. On the road, I wanted to show them that , as good drivers. They could make the car do what they want it to do, and keep us in a comfortable safety zone.

"All my kids insisted on manual transmission cars, which is fine by me. It allowed them to achieve a higher level of a car awareness and control in the tough, learning period.

Getting the message across
"The most important thing they've had to learn is accepting other people's right to on the road. They handle this concept better than I did at their age, which is great. Attitude is the single most important part of driving and you cannot survive on the road today with an aggressive mentality.

"Like any other parent, if I ever sat back and said to my kids, This the way you've got to do it', they would not accept it.

If you start browbeating them and saying, 'If you don't do this, all these terrible things are going to happen to you,' they'll rebel against that. They'll be goody-two-shoes in front of you but they'll get out there somewhere else with their mates on a Saturday night and ignore whatever you've said.

"If you give kids unconditional love and support, and take the attitude that, 'It's fine. I'm going to support you in life and, look, here's some advice. I've been there, done that, this is what happens, they'll come to understand that driving is to be enjoyed, and that emotions like anger have no place on the road.

"When my kids are in the car with me, I show then these skills -- keeping a two or three-second gap between yourself and the car in front, smoothly braking and accelerating, basically using your vision and anticipation to take control of the situation around you. I also explain that this style of driving requires a higher level of skill than being aggressive, and is also kinder to the car and the environment, something that kids relate to well today.

"Repetition is important in teaching skills. Sometimes, the kids would say. "It's too hard', when they were doing hill starts and things like that. You don't want to give them a hard time, but also it's important to try to get them to stick with it until they succeed , so that, ultimately, they can see that it is possible to get to the point where they become more than just adequate drivers.

"I think you can teach kids a lot of life skills at the same time as you're teaching them driving skills.

Coping with peer pressure
I talk to school kids about attitude, and what's going to happen to them in life. Their mates are going to be putting it to them and saying "Come on, you can do it, race this bloke, have another beer', and all that sort of stuff. If they know this pressure is coming, they can prepare themselves to deal with it.

"Virtually any kid loves the idea of driving a car. Before they start actually driving, you can take advantage of that desire to help them develop the right attitude.

"You've all but lost kids when they get their licence. They think, 'Great, I've got my licence, I'm cool. I know all about it.

"Life is pretty tough for kids these days, and many of them, especially in country areas, don't necessarily have a great love of life. I would venture to say that in a lot of single vehicle accidents involving young drivers the kids are prepared to take big risks.

I think there's probably a great need for us to counsel young people about their love of life, about their hopes in life, because it ultimately affects their capacity to be tolerant and understanding on the road.

"In America recently, I was speaking about road rage, and they were surprised to find out that road rage existed in Australia. Anywhere you go in the world, young people are experiencing the same problem, just coping with life. Road rage is an inability to deal with anger and stress.

Conquering the stress
"Stress is your point of view about the way the world ought to be, versus the way it actually is; the gap between those two is stress. If you can accept the way the world is and just flow with it, stress doesn't exist.

"We have to help young people cope with what is a more complex lifestyle, by reducing our expectations of what kids have got to do, by being tolerant, by being more giving and understanding.

"You can't separate attitudes to driving from attitudes to life because sooner or later any negativity is going to show up in the car. People in cars do crazy things . You ask, 'Why are they doing that?' It's because they have a problem, and it has manifested itself as anti-social behaviour on the road. Teaching kids to be skilled, safe drivers is simply an extension of the attitudes you give them about the value of their own lives.

Courtesy "January/February 2000 The Open Road Photos "The Bateman Group" Article and Photography are copyrighted therefore cannot be used unless written permission is given.