Quite often, pupils get the opportunity to practice their driving with friends or family. I usually encourage this because every minute in a car tends to add to their confidence; they are much less likely to stall when moving off and they tend to be that much better at judging their gap at junctions (particularly at roundabouts). The downside is that ‘bad’ habits can creep in. Common examples include indicating to overtake every single parked car and not indicating before leaving a roundabout. Sometimes it is because the accompanying driver is (understandably) over-cautious.
I had a pupil, Shana, who was improving steadily and wanted to get extra driving practice in her husband’s car. In her next lesson we were approaching a roundabout, to turn right. She checked her mirrors, indicated, braked and, just at the point where we could see it was clear, she stopped. She then put it into 1st gear and turned right at the roundabout.
I was curious, “Why do we have a roundabout here, rather than a crossroads?”
“To keep the traffic flowing.” She correctly replied.
“OK, good. Could you see that it was safe to go?”
“Yes.”
“…..um, so why didn’t you?”
“Because John (her husband) told me to stop at roundabouts.”
I understood why; in John’s car there were no dual-controls, so he was obviously nervous about her coming up to a roundabout without him checking to make sure it was safe.
I remember getting extra driving practice in my Mum’s Fiat 850. If she felt that I was approaching a junction too quickly she would brace herself by pushing against the dashboard with her left hand and protect me by flinging her right arm across my chest - I’m not sure how effective that would have been in the event of an accident.
As I have said before, I try to use verbal instruction as much as possible, and only using dual-controls when I really have to. But ‘dual-control’ is a bit of a misnomer, because there are occasions when I don’t have any control over what the pupil does.
To say the weather was ‘changeable’ today would be somewhat of an understatement. Although there had been plenty of sunshine, the showers had been heavy enough to make the roads noticeably wet. As always in these conditions, I make sure the pupil knows the dangers of driving too close to the vehicle in front and emphasise the importance of scanning the road ahead to look for any possible hazards. One thing my pupil must NOT do, in these conditions, is brake harshly.
This morning my pupil was driving through Nairn and we were intending to turn left about 100m ahead. My pupil checked her mirrors and indicated in plenty of time - there was a truck behind, but he was keeping an appropriate distance. As we approached there was a car coming towards us, indicating right (to go into the same road as we wanted). I knew my pupil was aware who had priority in this situation, but I just wanted to check, “Who has priority here? Us or them?”
“We do.”
But, the very act of asking her the question put doubt in her mind and she braked sharply. If a pupil isn’t braking fast or firmly enough I can use the dual controls to brake for them. But there is nothing I can do if they brake too fast or too firmly. If I wasn’t expecting it, the truck driver behind certainly wasn’t expecting it. In my rear-view mirror II saw him react late and brake very heavily. Somehow he just managed to stop in time. I didn’t just see the whites of his eyes, I saw the reds of the veins of the whites of his eyes.
Hey ho……… It certainly livened up my day (and the truck driver’s). You don’t get that sort of excitement sitting behind a desk (I wouldn’t have thought).
I had a pupil, Shana, who was improving steadily and wanted to get extra driving practice in her husband’s car. In her next lesson we were approaching a roundabout, to turn right. She checked her mirrors, indicated, braked and, just at the point where we could see it was clear, she stopped. She then put it into 1st gear and turned right at the roundabout.
I was curious, “Why do we have a roundabout here, rather than a crossroads?”
“To keep the traffic flowing.” She correctly replied.
“OK, good. Could you see that it was safe to go?”
“Yes.”
“…..um, so why didn’t you?”
“Because John (her husband) told me to stop at roundabouts.”
I understood why; in John’s car there were no dual-controls, so he was obviously nervous about her coming up to a roundabout without him checking to make sure it was safe.
I remember getting extra driving practice in my Mum’s Fiat 850. If she felt that I was approaching a junction too quickly she would brace herself by pushing against the dashboard with her left hand and protect me by flinging her right arm across my chest - I’m not sure how effective that would have been in the event of an accident.
As I have said before, I try to use verbal instruction as much as possible, and only using dual-controls when I really have to. But ‘dual-control’ is a bit of a misnomer, because there are occasions when I don’t have any control over what the pupil does.
To say the weather was ‘changeable’ today would be somewhat of an understatement. Although there had been plenty of sunshine, the showers had been heavy enough to make the roads noticeably wet. As always in these conditions, I make sure the pupil knows the dangers of driving too close to the vehicle in front and emphasise the importance of scanning the road ahead to look for any possible hazards. One thing my pupil must NOT do, in these conditions, is brake harshly.
This morning my pupil was driving through Nairn and we were intending to turn left about 100m ahead. My pupil checked her mirrors and indicated in plenty of time - there was a truck behind, but he was keeping an appropriate distance. As we approached there was a car coming towards us, indicating right (to go into the same road as we wanted). I knew my pupil was aware who had priority in this situation, but I just wanted to check, “Who has priority here? Us or them?”
“We do.”
But, the very act of asking her the question put doubt in her mind and she braked sharply. If a pupil isn’t braking fast or firmly enough I can use the dual controls to brake for them. But there is nothing I can do if they brake too fast or too firmly. If I wasn’t expecting it, the truck driver behind certainly wasn’t expecting it. In my rear-view mirror II saw him react late and brake very heavily. Somehow he just managed to stop in time. I didn’t just see the whites of his eyes, I saw the reds of the veins of the whites of his eyes.
Hey ho……… It certainly livened up my day (and the truck driver’s). You don’t get that sort of excitement sitting behind a desk (I wouldn’t have thought).
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