Sound Advice For Learners

I saw this in the newsfeeds. It concerns advice from a RED driving instructor about how to prepare for the driving test.

There’s nothing wrong with any of the advice, though I’m not sure I agree that “interactive online learning tools” will keep people sharp between lessons. It was the first three sections that caught my eye, though. You see, lately I seem to have been slightly swamped by pupils who can barely (or don’t want to) afford lessons, and yet are desperate to pass their tests.Fry having a panic attack

I mentioned a couple of months ago how one pupil’s father was desperate for him to “have a try” at the test, with no allowance whatsoever that the boy had some sort of learning issue and was a dangerous driver on the road. On his last lesson with me (less than two weeks away from the test they had re-booked against my advice) he emergency stopped in the middle of a busy junction because he suddenly realised he didn’t know where “straight ahead” was, and he would reliably steer the exact opposite way to what he should have when reversing. Indeed, I had identified with him – in these precise words – that he believed that when something was coming closer in the mirror, it was therefore moving further away from the car.

Then there was the one who had apparently taken a lot of lessons previously, and who didn’t want to take any more because he couldn’t afford it. His solution was to keep taking tests, but only doing a single hour lesson a day or two before each one. By my reckoning, he had spent something like £250-£300 on lessons with me, and a further £320 on tests. And yet I could not get him to understand that if he’d have spent even half of the amount gone on tests taking additional lessons he may well have passed by now. His otherworldly argument was that he might not have, so it would have been a waste of money. I also couldn’t get him to understand that just because he’d failed for “something different” each time that didn’t mean that he just didn’t have to do that one thing wrong again to be sure of having eliminated it. It was his underlying driving that led to these errors.

In fact, when he was in the car he was one of those people I have come to regard as “taut”. I’m sure you have seen them yourselves – the slightest external stimulus can prompt a disproportionate action by either feet or hands, and they’ll reach for the handbrake instead of the gear lever, the wipers instead of the indicator stalk, or do the “bungee leg” thing when moving off at lights. I have two female pupils at the moment who are like that, and both of them have been given beta-blockers by their respective GPs. These have had a dramatic effect in both of them, but one in particular (whose GP has also referred her to a hypnotherapist) worries me because she’s by far the most taut driver I’ve ever seen. Beta-blockers seem to be almost a miracle cure for debilitating test nerves in some learners – but people can’t keep taking them forever.

Then there’s another current pupil whose mother is in charge. His test is coming up and she’s suddenly decided that it would be best for him to have two 1 hour lessons a week instead of the single 1½ hour lesson he’s been having up until now. She’s totally wrong, because we can do more on a 1½ hour lesson than we can on two one hour ones due to travel times to and from suitable locations, and being able to cover bigger areas. Sure, it’s more money for me, but that’s not the only reason I do this job and it makes me mad that these people can’t see it. Even if he manages to persuade her to change her mind, we’ll have wasted part of a week already. To make matters worse, he was a calm and progressive driver until a few weeks ago, whereas I’m now seeing signs of tautness in him, too.

I’m not at all happy with my pass rate this year, as it’s still only 50%, and the serial failers (of which most have been taut drivers) have taken so many tests that I’ll need a spectacular run of passes to get it up to where it was last year. Part of me is thinking that these pupils are just a blip in the big scheme, but the other part is wondering if it is a sign of a more dramatic change. A small part even wonders if it’s something I’m doing wrong – I know it isn’t, but you can’t help wonder. However, it does seem to show that there’s more to passing your test than just following some rigid guidelines. Everyone is different, and they seem to be getting more different by the generation.

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