Blog posts from March 2009

Being based in Selly Oak and giving driving lessons in a large area of South Birmingham ranging from Moseley to Rubery, the main centre I use is the Kings Heath test centre. I also use Shirley test centre and on a rare occasion have been known to go to Redditch and South Yardley too.

The main factor when deciding which centre to use is normally location. For example, if you live in Kings Norton you’re unlikely to drive to South Yardley test centre, in an area you may not know, when you have a test Centre virtually on your doorstep near the Maypole roundabout. Most of your lessons will be taking place in the area you will be driving in on your test, so why go somewhere else, on unfamiliar roads? If you’re good enough to pass your test, you should be good enough to pass it anywhere. But it will certainly be an advantage to have an understanding of some of the trickier road layouts that each area throws up.

Another factor often taken into account is appointment availability. Be wary of this. Book your test when you’re not ready and you will probably not get through it. Don’t rush into a test just to save two or three weeks. Currently the waiting time at both Kings Heath and Shirley is eight weeks and at South Yardley is nine weeks, so there’s not much in it anyway.

So when choosing a test centre, be guided by your instructor, be ready to take the test and choose an area that you’re familiar with. This way, you’re much more likely to pass first time.

Above is a statement often said to learners by experienced, qualified drivers.

So that must make it true, right?

Let’s examine the facts and see if there’s any truth in the rumour…

§Evidence against the statement:

The driving test is really hard to pass. Is that because you have to be able to drive well, or is it just because the examiners are being picky, and you drove really well, but slipped up only once when you didn’t see that car coming at the roundabout? Or some other similar “trivial” error? If it hadn’t been for that idiot you’d have passed.

 But what if the examiner had let it go, and the next day when your driving your shiny new pride and joy around, another car comes from nowhere at a roundabout, you pull out in front of it, and get involved in an accident? The examiners appear to be picky because they have to make sure that you are safe to drive on the road. On your own. Without anyone beside you helping you to see things that you may have missed. Does your instructor ever point things out to you that you’ve missed? Are you really ready for your test?

The examiners require you to be a good driver in order to pass your test, because that’s what’s needed to minimise the risk to yourself and others after your test.

But does that on it’s own mean that the statement “You only really learn to drive after you’ve passed your driving test” is false?

§Evidence for the statement:

As all of you who’ve passed with me know, I encourage you to take a pass plus course to improve your skills. So there is another level of learning after the test. You may in the future decide to take one of the advanced tests from ROSPA or the IAM.  All of these courses will improve your driving no end – so much so that the insurance companies will recognise your new qualification and offer you cheaper insurance premiums. Surely that must be evidence for the statement being true?

§Conclusion

So we’ve seen that to pass your test you need to have learnt to drive well. But extra courses are available to help you improve. All drivers on pink licences have passed their test, but only a very small percentage of those have taken any further training. Are they better drivers now than they were when they passed their tests? Probably. This is why insurance premiums come down when you gain experience.

So how did they improve?

Not by “learning to drive properly”, but by gaining experience.

Every time you go out on the roads you will be astonished by the number of incidents that you see, that you’ve never seen before. Learn from these experiences. Gain knowledge constantly and improve your already high standard of driving. If you want to be better than most of the others, take a pass plus course, after that take an advanced course. You’ll be amazed how much you don’t know.

So to answer the original question – Do you only really learn to drive after passing the test? – I say that the answer is no. You will gain experience after your test, but will have to know how to drive properly in order to pass it.  The DSA’s strapline, motto, whatever you want to call it, is” Safe Driving For Life”

This should also be the motto for every driving instructor, and when I teach you I am trying to ensure you become the very best driver possible. Not just good enough to pass the test, but good enough to enjoy safe driving for life.

A student of mine asked me a question the other day, which has led me to write this blog entry. She asked if I REALLY always wear my seatbelt, or do I just wear it for lessons.

As a result of this, I have found some YouTube clips of some road safety videos that have all aired on TV in this country.

The first one will be of interest to the person who asked me about the seatbelt, and I will allow you to draw your own conclusions as to whether you think I always wear mine or not after you’ve seen it.

(These clips are quite graphic and may shock you, but that’s the idea)

 Do I wear a seatbelt?

Why 30mph, not 40?

Two weeks ago I was a delegate at a DSA conference held at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry. Among the varied items in the agenda was a presentation given by Trevor Wedge, the chief driving examiner, outlining the modernisation of the driving test, and possible changes to achieve this. I’ve summarised some of the proposals below and what I have written is my understanding based on a twenty minute Powerpoint presentation.

1) Changes to the way the test is marked:

The marking system may be entirely overhauled and changing from a negative scheme, whereby only your faults are recorded, to a competency based scheme. This would involve core competencies being effectively ticked off as you deal with certain situations such as meeting traffic, and marking you according to how you deal with these situations.

>How this would be implemented wasn’t discussed in great detail, but it seems like a positive step to me, and would bring the driving test up to modern testing standards.

2) Introduction of an independent driving element:

This is not to say that you’d be in the car on your own (flying solo!) but that you may be given an instruction such as “Follow the signs to Kings Heath until I ask you to pull over and stop”

>This would more closely mirror the type of driving you’ll be doing when you have passed your test and is therefore a much better way to judge your skill as a driver rather than being told exactly where to go. It means you’ll have to look at the signs to interpret where you’re going, and have to decide for yourself when you’ll need to change lanes to turn right for example. This might sound like extra pressure, but the driving test is there to test you, and make sure that you are a safe driver from the moment you’ve passed.

3) Changes to the manoeuvres:

This could involve making the reversing exercises more relevant to everyday driving, but still testing the same competencies that are currently assessed in the test. For example, you might be asked to turn the car around to face the opposite direction using a method of your choice. You may decide to perform a turn in the road, or maybe choose to reverse into a side road, depending on the traffic situation, width of the road etc.

>This would test your decision making ability, and make you more aware of why you are practicing these exercises in the first place.

It’s worth bearing in mind that all of the changes discussed (and other possible changes that I have not covered) are just proposals at present. As such they are unlikely to be implemented imminently without further research and consultation. But I can imagine that they will be introduced in one way or another over time.  In an effort to recognise the need for these changes, I will slowly be introducing some of the elements mentioned above into your driving lessons.  I am confident that this will make you safer drivers, and prepare you more fully for the driving test as it currently stands, let alone when the changes are finally introduced.