Intense

A few months ago someone contacted me to ask if I do 'intensive courses'. They said that they wanted to learn as quickly as possible. This set alarm bells ringing in my head; learning to drive should not be something to 'get over and done with'. I tried to steer him towards a more conventional course, or even a semi-intensive course. He then explained that he was busy at work and college, including evenings and weekends, annd would rather take a week off work to learn to drive. Hmmmm..... Ok then, I agreed and explained the plan: I said he would have to study for and pass his Theory Test, then go ahead and book his test the week after his intensive course. He wanted to have the test in the same week, but I explained that he would have to pass a mock test at least one week before his driving test, or else I would advise postponing the test.
I have had a couple of enquiries like this before, but never heard anything from them after. So it was with slight surprise that, last month, he called me to say that he had passed his theory and had booked his test for 10.44am on Friday 19th November, in Inverness. He then said he would like to book a 20 hour course the week before. 20 hours? Had he already had some lessons then? No. Will he be able to get extra practice with friends of family? No. Well, in that case, 20 hours will not be enough. I have got some of my Ullapool pupils through their test in less than 20 hours (without any other driving experience), but never in Inverness. Ullapool has no roundabouts, dual-carriageways or even a traffic light, so 20 hours is feasible. But Inverness has it all: multi-lane roads, fiendishly complex roundabouts, plenty of traffic lights, pedestrian crossings, 70mph dual-carriageways, buses, cyclists etc.... in short, everything you would expect to find in a city. I was thrilled, a few years back, when Catriona passed in Inverness, first time, after only 23 hours with me, from scratch. But she was exceptional. So I suggested that we start with a 20 hour course, and see how that goes, but I would not make any promises and repeated my warning that he would have to pass a mock test with at least a week to spare.
So, Saturday 6th November, I met Calum for the first time for a three hour lesson: Cockpit drill; controls; Moving off/stopping; Basic junctions. That was the plan, but everything was going well, so I decided to push him and we covered crossroads and roundabouts.
Sunday 7th November: Recap of yesterday's lesson. More complex junctions and roundabouts. Use of signals. All going well, so time to introduce reversing and the manoeuvres (Turn in the road, reversing to the left, reversing to the right - important for him as he will need to drive a van at work - parallel park and bay park).
Monday 8th November: Recap of everything so far. Meeting and crossing traffic. Traffic lights, Pedestrian crossings, Emergency stop. Rural roads.
Tuesday 9th November: Recap. Making progress (not holding up traffic). Dual-carriageways. Overtaking. Independent driving.
Wednesday 10th November: Recap everything.
Thursday 11th - Friday 12th November: Days off.
Saturday 13th November: Practice, practice, practice. MOCK TEST. Hmmmm. Not too bad. Getting a little ahead of himself on gear selection - changing down before he had sufficiently brought the speed down - and being a bit too hasty to select 2nd and 1st gears. We analysed the possible consequences of this. However, he failed his mock test because he indicated left on approach to a roundabout when I had asked him to 'turn left, taking the second exit'. We had used 17 of his 20 hours. Options: Postpone his test, take more lessons, or work damn hard in the last three hours to iron out all wrinkles...... We chose the third option as he would be going back to work and not have much time, and I was fully-booked in Elgin, Gairloch and Ullapool in the days before his test.
So, this morning, I set off from Ullapool at 6am to pick Calum up at 7.30am for three very concentrated hours before the test. He had not driven for the six days since his mock test and, though fine to start with, nerves started to creep in, causing silly mistakes with the gears. To make matters worse, the morning sun was very bright and me cleaning the car yesterday had been a waste of time as, in 24 hours, the car and the windscreen were already covered in spray, making visibility difficult. Time to swap seats.
I explained that I would give him a break from his driving. I would drive to a drive-through car wash, giving him a commentary drive as I did so. An instructor may often demonstrate a technique, or manoeuvre, when teaching it for the first time; it is a useful tool. Occasionally, I have found it helpful to use a demonstration when the pupil can already do what is being asked, but is not quite getting it right. I demonstrated how much easier driving is when I use the brakes to give me plenty of time to decide which gear to select. Whilst in the car-wash we re-capped all the 'show me/tell me' questions and then I drove for another few minutes. "Now, I want you to drive like that."
It worked a treat. He stopped rushing for the gearstick and used his brakes to give him more time to assess hazards and junctions. His driving became much more relaxed and I hope he went into his test a little less nervous.

Nervous or not, Calum passed with 6 minor faults. I was particularly impressed when he described his route, as the independent driving section had involved him following signposts to Aberdeen, taking in several dual-carriageways with very careful lane-planning required and deceptively low speed limits.

Would I take on anyone else for an 'intensive course'? Yes. I would still recommend a more traditional, gradual course, but, there is no denying, it worked for Calum and it completed a successful week for me with 5 passes in 7 tests.