Nervous Drivers

I am also a qualified hypnotherapist so if any potential pupil whether learning with me or simply getting anxious before a driving test i can certainly help you find that confidence you need.

 

New Highway Code Rules

The new highway code rules concerning pedestrians at junctions has not been thought through at all it seems as more pedestrians will be killed or badly injured.

When turning into or out of a junction if a pedestrian is waiting to cross normally at the mouth of the road drivers must stop and let them cross, when turning left this is going to result in rear end shunt, waiting drivers will get angry and overtake, when driving out of a junction giving way to a pedestrian will put them in danger, say if your turning left and the pedestrian has started to walk across a vehicle on your right may not see them and make contact with them, if they get across to the opposite lane a vehicle may not see them in time especially if their speed is too high.

We should leave the risk assessment of crossing roads to the pedestrian as stopping for them would lead to confusion and hesitation both of which are dangerous on our roads which lets face it are dangerous enough given the lack of repairs.

 

 

Changes to the Highway Code

From January 29 th 2022 changes are being made to the Highway Code that will affect every person in the country. When turning left if a pedestrian is waiting to cross the road then road users will have to give way to them. This is going to cause injury and deaths to pedestrians for the following reasons. 1. When giving way to the pedestrian vehicles approaching from the pedestrians right may not see them and collide with them, 2. the pedestrian may know the new rule but the vehicle driver may not and the pedestrian could walk straight into a collision with the vehicle. 3. As the pedestrians get used to vehicles giving way they will walk straight into the road expecting vehicles to stop for them, as many pedestrians do not wait until it is safe at zebra crossings. Add to this the extra fumes going into the atmosphere because of vehicles ticking over whilst waiting for the pedestrians to cross and the rear end crashes that will inevitably occur i am of the opinion that this Highway Code change is ill thought out and it smacks of a jobsworth seeing to be doing something. This ridiculous idea needs to be scrapped before it starts. Pedestrians are better off being left to their own judgement as to wether it is safe to cross the road.

Cyclists are going to be encouraged to ride in the middle of the lane and were there are two cyclists ride two abreast, who the hell thought this one up, obviously someone who cant drive!!! can you imagine the oncoming vehicles in your lane as they overtake dangerously its bad enough now god knows how many crashes these new rules will create. As with the so called smart motorways which have been postponed awaiting reports of the safety of theses stupid roads i wonder just how many pedestrians, cyclists, drivers will have to be maimed or die before the powers that be see sense. i wont hold my breath.

Appropriate Speed

What does the term Appropriate Speed mean to you ??

I think this is a question we should all ask ourselves, what it should mean is : Am i driving at a speed which enables me to not only see everything thats happening in front of me but am i able to stop in plenty of time if i need to, given the situation on the road and my surroundings ?

You cant put a number in mph on appropriate speed, always ask yourself the above question and adjust your speed as necessary.

Scan the road as you drive including the pavements moving your eyes from left to right, also imagine your windscreen has a halfway horizontal line through it, above the line is the future because we need to look as far ahead as possible, and below the line is the present, which is what is happening in front of the car right now. If you practice this method of observation you will be ready for anything always.

Beware the potholes dont take all of your attention, the roads are in a diabolical state at the moment so slow right down and pick your safest route through the rubble observing all the time and you hopefully wont damage your car or worse.

The winter will be upon us soon so practice Appropriate Speed and all will be well, it is not speed that kills, it is inappropriate speed that kills.

Road surfaces

As you will have already realised, probably to your cost, the roads in Sussex and the UK generally are in an extremely bad way due to the lack of maintenance despite costing motorists thousands per year in , road tax, fuel duty, VAT, council tax etc. I find it strange that driving skills have to be extremely good to pass the driving test, our cars have to be checked at an MOT station every year, so are we all safe ? of course not we have to be good drivers, have safe cars, be insured all these rules laid down by government, and quite right too. Then why are we given unsafe and dangerous roads to drive on ? I find it ironic that we are in this situation, ive always said there are no dangerous roads only dangerous drivers that is until now. We should be looking as far ahead as possible when we drive which most people know, however there are so many potholes now and they are very deep that you need to be looking in front of the car as well so much so that is the only place some drivers are looking resulting crashes. I can only suggest writing to the county council and your MP not just once but every week until they get sick and tired of the same thing. What else can we do? suggestions please.

Bullying Drivers

Some drivers of 4×4 vehicles especially the very large ones lately seem to just bulldoze their way through meeting traffic situations as if it is their god given right to do so, they seem to act as if they always have right of way and us mere mortals have to wait for them. This is basically bullying and for the driver at the sharp ed of the bully boys and girls i might add it is not nice and they feel extremely vulnerable especially learner drivers. If you are one of these moronic drivers please take a lesson or 2 from a professional instructor and get your road manners back into shape because at the moment you are a real danger to everybody else.

Winter Driving

Another winter is upon us with the usual risks, however this year the risks seem greatly worse than normal in the form of potholes, roads breaking up and crumbling away at the sides in the centre in fact all over a lot of our roads. I saw a comment on Face book recently it said : At one time we used to drive on the left, we now drive on the parts of the road that are left. Says it all really don,t you think?

Be extremely careful out there this winter especially in the dark afternoons and evenings as another problem is raising its ugly head again, the lack of white lines. The white lines are wearing out at an alarming rate and are not being replaced so if you are in an unfamiliar area take a bit more time to make sure you are in the correct position on the road, look for roundabouts, mini roundabout markings have all but disappeared in my town (Hastings) i witnessed three separate occasions last week cars treating a mini roundabout as a T junction and consequently three near misses obviously those drivers should have taken more care but we all know some drivers are simply not paying attention but had the roundabout been more clearly marked then i,m sure these incidents would not have occurred.

I wrote to Rupert Clubb who is in charge of transport at East Sussex county council pointing out the details i have already stated here, some 14 days later i received a letter back from him without even a mention of white lines, so much for a caring county council with road safety staying at the bottom of their priorities. Why not email Rupert Clubb at east sussex county council, bombard him with complaints about white lines and pot holes and the lack of any road maintenance and see if we can get him to at least have a look at the awful state of our roads these days, but dont, hold your breath.

Summmer Driving

With summer on its way it is a great time to start your driving lessons windows down shades on and away we go.

For experienced drivers with hang ups like parking, overtaking fears now is a good time to get in touch and brush up those driving skills.

Learner drivers on motorways legal from 4th June 2018

Learner drivers are to be allowed on motorways from 4th June this year. Good decision or bad decision time will only tell.

There are a few good instructors out there whom i know will be very careful indeed as to evaluate when their pupil is ready for motorway training.

However there are a LOT of bad instructors who will see this as a bit of a jolly in other words a 3 or 4 hour lesson driving in a straight line. Some instructors will allow themselves to be persuaded to taking the pupil on to the motorway when the pupil is no where ready for it, thats going to be a potential problem.

In my opinion and of other professional instructors this should not be happening, what should happen is the pass plus training programme should become compulsory  instead of voluntary say within a year of passing the driving test.

 

What do you think???

 

New driving test changes

From the 4th December the driving test will change, no longer will the test candidate have to demonstrate the turn in the road or reverse around a corner although good instructors will still

teach these skills as they enhance reversing skills and enable drivers to turn the car around. The candidate will now be  expected to be able to drive or reverse into a parking bay either between the white lines or between two cars and reverse out safely. You may be asked to parallel park or  you may be asked to pull up on the  right safely reverse back two car lengths and drive on. These are the manoeuvres that are tested however only one will be demonstrated in the driving test.

The show me tell me questions are changing in as much as you will be required to demonstrate operating one or more switches on the move.

These changes are nothing to worry about as indeed as a driver you should be able to carry the tasks out with ease.