exempli gratia

A question to all qualified drivers: How good is your driving? I’m not too concerned with whether your gear changes are silky-smooth, whether you cross your hands when turning, or whether you rest your hand on the gearstick between gear changes. What I want to know is whether you are a safe driver who always considers other road users and pedestrians? You are? That’s fantastic. You look in all directions before emerging at junctions, you indicate (when appropriate) before changes of speed or direction, you give way when necessary (even if you have priority), you use your indicators correctly, and you anticipate when someone less perfect than you is likely to do something stupid. Well, if that’s the case, not only are you in a very small minority, but you are of no use to me or my learners - we cannot learn from your driving.

Actually, we can. Today, for example, I was teaching a relatively new pupil how to emerge at T-junctions. I was trying to emphasise how much easier it is if, instead of rushing up to the give-way line and stopping, he slowed to a speed which gave him time to look in both directions before he got to the give-way line. Parked by the curb, with a closed (limited vision) T-junction ahead of us, we watched as a car went past and approached the junction. They indicated at the correct time, slowed progressively so that, by the time they reached the junction, they were at a slow walking speed, but, without stopping, they had time to see that it was clear to emerge into the new road and off they went. This demonstration of good driving was a revelation to my pupil and he subsequently tried to bring his speed right down with a view to not stopping unless he had to.
But the bad drivers provide us with much more entertainment….

Kelly has recently started with me and, having had a bit of practice with family a few years ago, is quite competent at controlling the car. However, I often have to prompt her to check her ‘blind spot’ (‘blind area’ is more accurate) before she moves off. We were parked by the side of the road and I was showing her a diagram of the areas covered by her mirrors and, more importantly, the areas not covered. She seemed slightly dubious that this would matter, despite agreeing that there was quite an angle she could not see in the mirrors. I was hoping a car would pass us so that I could demonstrate how long it would take for a car to go from being visible in the right mirror to being visible in her peripheral vision. Something even better happened. A car was parked further ahead of us, about 20m from the end of the road. Another car passed us and was just about to pass the parked car ahead when the parked car decided to move off (obviously without any mirror or blind area checks). This caused the overtaking car to have to swerve over to the right (very uncomfortable so close to a closed T-junction), brake and toot the horn furiously. Why we check mirrors and blind areas - lesson learned.

Later in the lesson, we approached a T-junction to emerge left. As we did so, there was a blue car approaching from our right with their left indicator flashing. I wasn’t comfortable with their speed of approach, but I could see Kelly’s foot was still on the brake. As I suspected, the driver of the blue car did not turn left, they carried on up the road, passing another two left turns, completely oblivious to the fact that her indicators were telling everyone she was intending to turn left. I praised Kelly for her caution and she learned why it is important not to trust indicators and also why it is important to make sure indicators have cancelled after entering a new road.

Over the years, my pupils have learned that taxis do not have working indicators and can drive however the hell they like; they have learned that many Audi drivers are born with a gene that means they cannot drive patiently behind another driver; my pupils have learned that pedestrians will step out in front of them, people will swing open their car door without checking to make sure it is safe; sometimes a car’s indicators will give no indication as to what a car is about to do, and some drivers will change speed or direction without the slightest consideration for how it will affect others. In short, I tell my pupils to expect other road users and pedestrians to do the most stupid things, because they will.

So while I would prefer you to drive perfectly, it is useful if some of you continue to be crap drivers; not only does it provide me with a useful learning tool, so I can demonstrate to my pupils what NOT to do, but it also affords my pupils and I to have a big laugh at your stupidity.