Blog posts tagged ‘Birmingham’

The New Year is upon us, and what better time to learn to drive than now! Whether you’re a Birmingham University student returning from your Christmas break, or a sixth former back to college, or anyone who’s made a New Year’s resolution to learn to drive in 2012, then give me a call on 07816 656833 and take the next step towards gaining your full driving licence.

I’m often asked by learners why they can’t do any lessons on motorways. After all, as soon as you pass your test you are entitled to drive on motorways straight away without having had any training on them. It sounds like a sensible question to me, and there is a lot for the powers that be to think about when reviewing policies that address this question.

 

Some of the arguments used by people against having learners on motorways are that learners don’t have the skill levels to drive at high speeds. Or maybe learners will hold up other traffic on the motorway causing frustration to other drivers; perhaps a learner will inadvertently hog the middle lane; and a driver can take a pass plus course or motorway lessons after they pass their test anyway – not many do though!

 

But currently learners are allowed to drive on dual carriageways where the national speed limit of 70mph for cars and motorcycles applies. The skills used when driving on such a road are pretty much identical to driving on a motorway – good awareness of traffic both in the distance and around you, smooth lane changes for overtaking, high speeds, using slip roads on and off the main carriageway. If you take your driving test at the King’s Heath Test Centre in Birmingham then there is a good chance that the A435 Hollywood bypass, near the Maypole roundabout, could be a part of your test route.

 

I would suggest the main difference that new drivers see between a motorway and a dual carriageway is a psychological one. This could be due to the lower volume of traffic, two lanes not three (not all motorways have three lanes however) and the lack of the name “motorway”.  Surely part of the psychological problem that some inexperienced drivers who have passed their test have with motorways, is the fact that they are built up to be something different and difficult to drive on. If that were not the case surely they could have gone on them as learners?  I believe that allowing learners (who are assessed to be ready and have the necessary skills by their instructors) onto the motorway network would actually help to improve the standard of driving on motorways as a whole. How often do we see drivers on motorways that seem to lack the skills required to change lanes, so they sit in the middle lane thereby reducing a perfectly adequate three lane road into a congested two lane road? Surely being taught how to drive on a motorway can only be a good thing in the long run?

 

So what can be done about this? In July the first of a series of meetings aimed at planning the future of the driver training industry was held. At this meeting was Mike Penning, the minister for road safety, three senior DSA officials and a number of others who are involved at a high level within the driver training industry. Among others, the subject of learners on motorways was raised. Some ideas such as allowing learners deemed competent by their instructor and accompanied only by their qualified instructor, not a parent or other supervising driver, onto motorways were proposed. The question of accessibility to motorways was raised. Some learners may live 80 plus miles from their nearest motorway (I did when I learnt to drive in Mid-Wales) should this be compulsory or voluntary for learners. If it was compulsory, it was discussed whether the use of high speed dual carriageways count as sufficient for the training record (again, where I learnt to drive the nearest high speed dual carriageway was 50 miles away).

 

There is clearly much to debate, but I am glad that the debate is finally taking place. After this series of meeting has been completed, the findings will be reported in an impact assessment document, and it will be down to Government Ministers to make the final decision on the way to proceed. I look forward to some progress being made in this important area, where there are currently deficiencies in the adequate training of drivers.

Despite over 81,500 driving tests being cancelled across the country due to the recent bad weather, practical driving test waiting times at the King's Heath Test Centre are as short I can remember them being in recent years. According to the DSA's website, the current waiting time is only four weeks. For much of last year the waiting time was between six to eight weeks. Appointment availability is defined as when a test centre has 10 per cent or more of its appointments available. However there are some dates available at even shorter notice than that. So keep up those driving lessons and you’ll be taking and passing a test before you know it!

 

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year and all the best for 2011

Ceri, South Brum Driving School

You may have heard that on the 4^th October this year the driving test is changing. I’d like to clear up some of the facts surrounding the new test, as I’ve heard all sorts of rumours and scare stories about it. Following a meeting with the test centre manager at the King’s Heath test centre, I have it on good authority that this isn’t going to be the problem that many in the media have made it out to be. Some may even find the new test easier, and all should find it beneficial.

Independent driving
The main change is the inclusion of an independent driving phase. This will take about ten minutes of the time on test. It will involve you having to either:
1.  Follow signs to a specific location e.g.  “follow signs to the station until I tell you otherwise”
or
2.  Follow a short series of up to three directions given verbally by the examiner and sometimes backed up by a simple route diagram. You will be asked to repeat the instructions to the examiner before you set off. 
or
3. A combination of the two.

It is the second of these that seems to worry people the most. Many are scared that they won’t be able to remember where they’re supposed to go. Well fear not, as it is perfectly acceptable to ask the examiner if you have forgotten. The examiners are generally nice people, and are there to help you achieve your potential on the test. Feel free to ask them anything that isn’t clear to you. Also, just like on the rest of the test, if you make a wrong turn (get left and right mixed up for example), so long as you’ve driven correctly to wherever you’ve gone, then there is no problem at all. It is not a test of your ability to follow direction instructions, merely a test of your ability to drive a route with minimal prompting.

Manoeuvres
Now for the good bit! Before the changes, you would have had to perform at least two reversing exercises. Now, there will be only one! So that’s got to be good for you hasn’t it? There is still a second manoeuvre, as EU law states that there has to be two on all tests. The second manoeuvre is “moving off at an angle”. This means that you’ll be asked to pull up about a car length behind a parked vehicle, and then to pull away from behind it. This is something that has always been asked of you in the driving test anyway, but it wasn’t given its own status as a manoeuvre before.

Test Routes
This won’t directly affect your test at all, but the test routes will no longer be published by the DSA. As a driving instructor, my aim is to teach you to drive safely, and legally wherever in the country, or even the world you will be driving. As such, I have never taught “test routes”. If you can drive well, you can drive anywhere. Obviously there can be some tricky junctions that can confuse in every area, and of course you will familiarise yourself with these on your lessons with me. For example, many find the bus lanes and approach to the Maypole roundabout confusing, and having a go at these before the test is a good idea. In my opinion  the lack of published test routes won’t affect your chances of passing the driving test in any way.

Hopefully this has clarified some of the facts about the changes to the test, but if you are still unsure, please feel free to give me a call, and also check out the DSA’s You Tube video about the changes.

It’s that time of year again when term is about to start or has just started. Among your list of things to do could be learning to drive. Whether you’re going to be leaving school, college or university this academic year, or in the near future, your ability to find work is highly likely to be affected by whether or not you have a driving licence. You may need to drive as part of the job itself, or just to commute to and from the workplace.

Learning to drive is also a great way to gain freedom, not relying on lifts or public transport all of the time. One of my current pupils, a Birmingham University student, recently told me she enjoys getting to see parts of Birmingham outside of the bubble of Selly Oak and the uni campus.

So when you’re considering your options this term, don’t forget to add driving lessons to the syllabus.

During the course of driving lessons in Birmingham you’re bound to see any number of illegal acts committed by other drivers. Speeding, overtaking on the left, and parking on double yellow lines (most annoyingly outside Lloyds Bank by Kings Heath Test Centre!) to name a few.  But why do people do this? I guess there are many motivations for acting illegally whilst driving. Common excuses could include “I sped because I was late” or “I wanted to show my mates how quickly I can drive” or “I only parked there for a second while I nipped to the bank”. None of these excuses are valid, but some people take things a bit too far! Recently a London borough published some of the excuses that it had been given for driving offences. The excuses range from a UFO spotter having been forced to swerve into a bus lane to avoid a UFO, to someone believing he’d been hypnotised into parking illegally. My personal favourite however is this one: "I won't lie. I should know better than to speed on that stretch of road because I ran a woman over there last week."

South Brum Driving School is pleased to be able to offer you the opportunity to learn to drive in an automatic car for the first time.  Although I don’t teach automatic lessons myself, I have teamed up with another instructor, who teaches automatics in the South Birmingham area.

So whether you live in Selly Oak, Moseley, Kings Heath, Northfield or any other surrounding areas, and you want automatic driving lessons, then please contact us, either by phone, text or email and I will put you in touch with Alan, who’s an experienced, high grade instructor, specialising in automatics.

Other areas covered include Harborne, Hall Green, Longbridge, Balsall Heath and anywhere in between.

On Thursday 4 June an article on South Brum Driving School was printed in the Birmingham Mail Extra newspaper in the  business focus of the week section. To see and read the article, please click on the image below.

From 17 May 2009 the DSA is changing the way it decides which test centres will offer out-of-hours tests.   Appointments classed as out-of-hours are those offered at the weekend and, during the summer, weekday early mornings and evenings.
 

These will only be available at test centres where there is a high demand, and not at those where there isn’t.
 

I would imagine that all of the test centres in Birmingham will fit into this category, but contact the DSA after 17 May if you'd like to check.