Page 129 - a-columbia-county-boys-recollections-and-memories-of-columbia-county-florida-(2012)-lenvil-h-dicks

A Columbia County Boy's Recollections and Memories of Columbia County Florida (2012) Lenvil H. Dicks

EIGHT YEAR OLD DRIVER ARRESTED

I had a 1972 Volkswagen Convertible, which of course was a stick-shift. I wanted my kids to learn how
to drive by using a stick-shift vehicle, since so many people today cannot drive a car unless it has
automatic transmission, and 1 wanted them to learn how to drive with a car that had a clutch.

As each of my three children got up to the 8 or 9 year old age, I would take each child out on a dirt road
somewhere out in the boon-docks, and teach them how to drive that Volkswagen. I myself learned how
to drive when 1 was eight. My sister Fay, who passed away recently, had for years been the secretary to
the Captain of the Local Troop of the Florida Highway Patrol, and as a result of that we knew many of
the Troopers personally, and Fay had a neighbor who was a Trooper whose last name was Burton. I am
glad that I knew Trooper Burton, or otherwise I might have been in trouble.

Anyway, one Sunday afternoon when I had taken Brad out on a backwoods country graded road to drive
some, I let him drive all the way back to the pavement on Highway 252, the Lulu Road, and when we
got to the Price Creek Highway he persuaded me to let him continue to drive the remaining 4 miles over
to Highway US 41.

Since he had been actually doing quite well with his driving, in all aspects of it including steering, I let
him talk me into that. We had not gone but about two miles when a Highway Patrol car came up behind
us and started his flashing lights, and I told Brad to turn his right turn signal on and ease off onto the
shoulder of the road and stop. He did as 1 told him, and Trooper Burton came up to the driver’s side of
the car and looked inside at this 8 year old kid under the steering wheel and he said “Son how old are
you?” Brad looked up at him proudly, with a big smile on his face, and said “8”. Trooper Burton said
“Well Mr. 8 year old, you get your butt over there in that seat where your daddy is sitting and don’t let
me catch you out here driving a car on the highway again”.

He did not write us a ticket, but Brad certainly had an early experience in getting stopped by a Highway
Patrolman, and to my knowledge he never has been stopped many times since. He may have learned his
lesson, and I certainly learned mine. The rest of the driving lessons for him and Suzanne and Andy were
all done completely on country graded roads way out in the boon-docks, and I did not let them get on
pavement.

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