learning to drive advice

Safety Post Driving Test

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I have just helped out at the scene of an accident involving a motorcycle and a car.

The young man laying on the ground with his shin bone broken and pushed through his flesh and indeed right through his jeans was very frightened of what was happening  and about to happen to him.

As i held his hand and spoke to him in an effort to give him some comfort and help him relax as much as i could the memory of a telephone call i had taken this morning came flooding back to me.

The pupil on the phone was asking me if they could book a driving test, this is despite having failed three driving tests previously with another instructor  through nervousness and a lack of confidence.

I am trying to build confidence in this pupil and making some headway, however instead of trying to hurry and possibly getting through the test by the skin of their teeth more energy should be put into building that confidence up so that drivers can deal properly and correctly with any given situation. There are enough dangerous and selfish drivers also pedestrians glued to their phones out there  so let,s not add to them.

Accidents are avoidable all it it takes is observation, observation, and a damn sight more observation, so please think about learning to drive safely, we are all human and make mistakes including ME but we need to try much harder, look ahead more, drive at an appropriate speed and start SIGNALLING again you are not the only road user we SHARE the roads.

So think on the next person laying in the road could be you, your mother, father ,sister, brother or wife or husband. The roads are not safe given the potholes and lack of white lines and signage being hidden behind overgrown trees, so do your bit look for any vehicle at juctions including bikes. IF YOU DON,T LOOK FOR IT YOU WONT SEE IT.

I sincerely hope you make a full recovery Ian my thoughts are with you.

Teenage driver crash risks remain.

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More than 200 teeenage car passengers were killed when a young driver was involved

in a crash in 2013 according to the latest figures.

In 2013, 234 teenage passengers were killed, more than four each week of the year and when casualties of all severities are included the annual figure rose to 2,144

or around 41 each week according to research by the RAC foundation.

The data also shows that of all teenage car passengers killed or seriously injured over this period:

– 45% were passengers in cars driven by 17 _ 19 year olds(1.5%

of all full license holders)

– 23% were passengers in cars driven by 20 _ 24 year olds (5.8%

of all full license holders)

_ 31% were passengers in cars driven by drivers aged 25 and over ( 92.6%

of all full license holders)

_ 1% were passengers in cars driven by drivers aged 16 and younger, drivers (17_19) make up only (1.5%) of full license holders , but they were involved in (12% ) of accidents where someone is killed or seriously hurt.

RAC foundation director Stephen Glaister said: the coalition government repeatedly promised to publish a green paper on young driver safety and repeatedly failed to do so. In the meantime young people have  continued to die on our roads. We would urge the new government to do what the the last one did not and debate the subject formally and publicly.

Choosing the right instructor

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Choosing the right instructor is so important.
Learning to drive should be a very enjoyable experience, but it has to be realised that gaining the skills to be able to deal with any given situation on the roads today should be taken extremely seriously.

It is not good enough to be just able to pass a driving test , the test is not the be all and end all it is simply a doorway to being qualified to drive unsupervised.

All drivers young and old should be trained to the highest possible standard before they are allowed to take the test and then be allowed on our roads which are unsafe in themselves given the number of potholes, lack of white line replacements, dirty signage, signs covered by overgrown folage, the list goes on.

Young people make up 25% of of drivers in this country, yet are involved in 66% of crashes a lot of which are fatal, BEGGERS BELIEF in my view!!

Our roads are the third most dangerous in europe, we are behind Germany and Italy yes Italy, this is not something we should be proud of.

When choosing a driving instructor ask questions I.E. what is his or her grade, what is their pass mark, you need to know if you are going to get along with the instructor and is he going to give good value for money and is he going to teach you to be an extremely good and safe driver.

So you want to know how good he is and not how cheap he is, pay cheaply for lessons and you will get CHEAP LESSONS!!! that is unless you want to be counted among the equivilant to an airliner full of people killed every nine weeks or 2 airliners seriously injured on our roads every WEEK.

I have just had a call from a really nice chap i had taught to be a taxi driver, he recomended me to his girlfriend, to cut a long story short she went with a cheaper instructor.
He informed me she had 30 lessons and just failed her driving test miserably. I have agreed to put her driving right and get her to the safe standard that she should be at and take her for test when she is READY.

This situation is really common ,so why not learn from others mistakes before you waste your time and hard earned money.
Driving lessons advertised cheaply are nothing more than a con, remember the old saying”pay for it cheap, pay for it twice”.

You only want to do this ONCE so do it RIGHT call today you know it makes sense.

STOP PRESS!!!!!!!!!

Figures just released from The Department of Transport show that and i quote. Deaths on our roads in 2014 were up by 1% to 1,730 compared to 2013.
The number seriously injured was up by 4% to 24,360 compared with 2013. ( Stats obtained from Driving instructors association)

FOOD FOR THOUGHT?????? Think when choosing an instructor

(Statistics from the Driving Instructors Association.)