A recent video circulated on social media showed footballer Gabriel Jesus taking a driving lesson.

This took place outside of the Arsenal training ground, much to the amusement of his teammate, Jorginho.

As a result, Dick Lovett  has assessed attitudes towards learning to drive past a certain age. Is the sense of shame or embarrassment universal, or reserved only for footballers?

It’ only learning

Surveying members of the British public, do they see it as embarrassing to learn to drive past the age of 25? Does this mean people potentially avoid learning to drive due to their age? And what about the mistakes they’d be most embarrassed to make as a learner driver?

Learning to drive can be a humbling experience for many and not something people like talking about at the time.

A quick glance at several forums suggests that many people have embarrassing learner driver stories.  They’re often happy to share these after the fact, but would probably have been absolutely mortifying at the time.

The survey reveals that learner drivers are more forgiving of themselves. They seem to understand that, like anything else, driving is a learning process. However, the same can’t be said for those who already have a full license.

Red faced

Overall just 1 in 10 said that it was embarrassing to learn after the age of 25, all of which had a driving license.

However, just 6% of respondents said they would avoid learning to drive because of their age.

Almost 2 in 5 people said that they would be most embarrassed about stalling the car. Pressure to set off from junctions without hesitation often causes newer drivers to take rush  and release the clutch too soon.

Around 1 in 10 said that actually crashing the vehicle would be a mistake they would be most embarrassed to make.

The mistakes that newer drivers may carry over tend to be around observations, not checking blind spots, with anxiety resulting in both rushing and hesitation.

Failing is to learn

Other answers about embarrassment when learning to drive included:

  • driving the wrong way down a one-way street
  • pulling out on other vehicles
  • going through a red light.

Surprisingly, 1 in 5 respondents claimed they weren’t embarrassed making mistakes. They cite driving is a learning process and that everyone has to start somewhere!

The full article can be found here.