A few decades back, Corvallis dad Tim Timmison took a practical approach to teaching his four daughters to drive – and now it’s becoming somewhat of a trend among some Corvallis circles.
“I just wanted to make sure my girls could react to everyday road challenges, so I would take them out onto Monroe by campus over lunch hour, and if they could navigate all the students darting in front of the car without killing them, I’d let them get their license.” It also turned out to be an opportunity to teach his kids to drink responsibly, as he would offer each of them a good drink after the exercise, because as he put it, “You really need one after that.”
His eldest daughter, Morgan Hernandz is also teaching her three kids to drive the same way, and so are many of the other moms that she’s friends with. And, given this all started with four sisters and their dad, and that each sister has plenty of mom-friends, one can see how this is a fast-growing trend in Corvallis.
Hernandez’s middle child, Jacob said, “It’s kind of a bummer if you do hit someone, like, it’s really stressful, because then your parents won’t let you try again for like a whole entire month.”
Because this is a growing trend, concerns have arisen that an unsuspecting Oregon State University student will inevitably be hurt by one of these inexperienced drivers. We sought comment from the Corvallis Police Department and Good Samaritan Medical Center, but at press time, neither had responded.
However, when we presented these concerns to Timmison, he pointed out that parents need to make sure their family is adequately insured, given that teens will be teens, and that means a certain amount of distractibility. Hernandez echoed this sentiment, saying, “Yeah, we definitely upped our insurance before teaching the first one to drive.”
~ By April Poole, a special correspondent that reports for The Advocate yearly, sometimes, if she gets around to it
Do you have a story for The Advocate? Email editor@corvallisadvocate.com