Should I stay or should I go?

As Mick Jones (or was it Joe Strummer?) once said, “This indecision's bugging me (Esta undecision me molesta)”.

A slightly curious one this morning. A pupil, who is only a couple of lessons away from their test, has become overcautious at roundabouts. Not in the usual meaning though, where they stop at roundabouts and wait unnecessarily, missing gap after gap.
He had a nice approach; checking his mirrors, signalling in good time, confirming his position, slowing down, selecting the appropriate gear and looking for his gap. So far, so good. Then, for some reason, he sees his gap, accelerates, but keeps looking to the right (for any vehicles that he may have missed).
It was too important for me to discuss while on the move, so I pulled him over and discussed it.
“When you are approaching a T-junction, where should you stop if it is not safe to go?”
“Behind the give-way line.”
“Good. So, how do you decide if it is safe to go?”
“If I can move off without causing other vehicles to change speed or direction.” (Admittedly, he wasn’t really giving me these textbook answers, but he was giving me the correct answers).
“Is there a give-way line at a roundabout?”
“Yes.”
“So is it any different?”
“No.”
The point I was trying to make was that he should be making a decision to slow down/stop or go before the give-way line. Once he has decided that it is 100% safe, he should GO.
“Once you have made your decision to go, where should you be looking?”
“Ahead”
“Ok, good. So what would happen if had decided to go, but, because you were looking right, you saw a car coming round the roundabout?”
“I don’t know” (At least he was honest).
“Exactly, and if you don’t know now, you won’t know when you have to make a split-second decision on a roundabout, will you?”
We encountered numerous roundabouts after that. I had to keep guiding him because he still had this tendency to look to the right after he had decided to ‘go’, and he knew he was doing it. It got better, but I will keep my eye on that next lesson.
As I said, a slightly curious one. It is more common for drivers (and not just learners) not to give enough attention to traffic on the right.
A related problem is indecision when a pupil is just about to go through a pedestrian crossing, or traffic lights, when the lights change to amber. Hesitation could cause the driver to brake, accelerate, brake again, and end up stopped beyond the stop line. As with T-junctions and roundabouts, the key is to have made up your mind whether you are ‘staying or going’ before the lights change.

Rather than cheesily suggest the obvious track, here is a much better ditty from The Clash www.last.fm/music/The+Clash/_/I+Fought+the+Law