Silly season (part 2)

In my temporary absence from here, I have had more pupils passing their test. A bit irrelevant to go into all the details now, but congratulations to Emma, Nicola, Kelly, Jasmine, Jim and Sarah on passing their driving tests during the last few weeks.

In my last post I referred to the 'silly season'. But lack of braincells doesn't just apply to people enjoying themselves on holiday. The other day I was teaching a pupil who needed a bit of improvement on their clutch control. Usually, I start off with full, step-by-step instruction on how to do something. Then, as they improve, we move on to prompted instruction - "At the end of the road, turn right..... What's the first thing you need to do? What speed and gear will you want?, etc." If that goes well, we can progress to independent driving, where I shut up and just watch to make sure they are doing everything they need to be doing.

I have a few pupils whose English isn't perfect. That's ok, because my Dutch, Polish, Slovakian and Bangladeshi isn't great either. So, sometimes in these cases, I skip the prompted instruction. I give them lots of fully-guided instruction then, when I think they are beginning to do things before I ask them, I back off and leave them to it (hopefully).

Anyway, my pupil was struggling with clutch control, so I had planned a route which included some hills leading up to give-way junctions. He found it difficult. There is one particular give-way which is at the top of a steep slope and is a blind junction - you cannot see what is coming until you have already started creeping out into the new road - your clutch control has to be very precise. Quite scary for any driver, let alone a learner. Gradually, with lots of repeated attempts, with full instruction, he was beginning to 'get it'. We were nearing the end of the lesson and I wanted a couple of attempts with no instruction. I wanted him to do it by himself.

As we approached the junction, we overtook a parked driving school car (with just the instructor in the car). I was watching my pupil check his mirrors, indicate, brake progressively........ so far so good..... when I noticed in my mirror the other instructor move off and accelerate towards the back of our car (and the junction). 

I have to say, most other drivers had been very good throughout the lesson and, appreciating the difficulty of the junction, had kept back from us when we were negotiating the manoeuvre. You expect the odd car to approach too quickly, or too closely, but not a driving instructor. I had my feet poised over the dual controls. If my pupil brought the clutch up too much, or too quickly, we risked shooting forward into a road we could see (or stalling). If he didn't bring the clutch up enough, or too slowly, the car would come to a stop and possibly roll back into the car behind us. 

So it was a combination of pride, relief and annoyance that I experienced when my pupil judged the speed and clutch control perfectly and safely emerged from the junction.

I know that the other instructor reads this blog, so I have a question for you: What were you thinking?

Complete control

I did something this morning I haven't done in quite a while; I sat and had a chat with other instructors (Fraser, very experienced, and Jaqui, very new, both from Forres) while my pupil was out on test. Always nice to get different perspectives and get to know the people I wave to each day as we pass by.
It was my pupil's first attempt. He actually started lessons with me way back in Spring 2010, but had trouble passing his theory test, otherwise he would have taken his driving test long ago.
I remember his early lessons. A relative bought him a block of ten lessons when I was still with BSM and the early lessons were a bit of a struggle. He lives in Lossiemouth, a fishing village/town with a fantastic beach on one side and an RAF base on the other. The original village is built on a grid system on a hill, with the buildings built very close to the roads. This means lots of uphill and downhill closed (blind) crossroads. From an instructor's point of view, it is a great place to teach junctions and clutch control - driving uphill to a blind give-way, the pupil either has to be very precise with their clutch control, or they just have to stop and apply the handbrake. Obviously, I didn't start my pupil on these tough junctions, but, as he progressed, the fact that he lived in Lossiemouth was an opportunity not to be wasted and we spent many lessons trying to perfect his control.
The test centre is at the larger town of Elgin, just a few miles inland. After about ten lessons my pupil asked me why we had not yet gone into Elgin; some of his friends were questioning the fact that he had still not had any lessons in the larger town and boasted that their instructors had got them going round Elgin test routes within their first ten hours. I stuck to my guns and reassured him that, once we had mastered his clutch control and approach to junctions in Lossie, Elgin would be easy.
And so it proved: In December I wrote about how impressed I was a particular pupil's ability and control whilst tackling the gradients of Elgin in the snow and ice, while more experienced drivers were struggling, slipping and wheelspinning. It was this pupil. The only problem was, having no computer, he had to go to the library or relatives to practice his theory and hazard perception - not ideal - and took several attempts to finally pass.
No such problem today; he passed his driving test easily, first time. I was curious about the de-brief. The examiner faulted him a couple of times for not using the handbrake. The problem was that his clutch control had become so precise, he could easily hold the car perfectly still on a steep incline, just by using the biting point and accelerator. Very impressive, but not ideal for the car, and I have told him that, if he has plenty of time to apply and release the handbrake (i.e. maybe 5 seconds or more), then he should use it. Perhaps his friends were right. Perhaps we did spend too much time on those junctions in Lossiemouth after all.
Anyway, very well-done Anthony. It was all worthwhile in the end.