Learning to drive! how difficult was it for you?

[KenONeill]

See that and raise Alexandria. The road around "Alexandria Railway Station" is signposted as a roundabout some of the time, and as a one-way at other points, most of it is 2-lane the whole way round, but where Bank Street bears left (and uphill) the left-hand lane is a sliproad, and there are 2 exits on the North side (Station car park and small service road) that require you to turn right from the RH lane to leave the roundabout, and right to enter it too!

[OldToot]

I had a friend at sixth form who would always say that if you failed your test three times you shouldn't be allowed to take another as clearly you weren't cut out for driving.

I think he felt the pressure after failing two, although he did pass third time.

Personally I found it all fairly easy, although I had spend most of my teenage years reading driving theory manuals - I got to go down a dual carriageway on my first lesson, and even got told off for breaking the speed limit.

That said I had a lot of lessons - I think my driving instructor was short on pupils and so kept saying I wasn't quite ready. When she finally let me enter for a test I passed first time with no faults, and, touch wood, I haven't had an accident yet, 17 years later.

[dieseldarren]

It's a desire by the government to make everything more difficult because by making it more difficult, it creates an industry where one didn't before. In turn this can be used to justify higher fees for licenses and tests. Girlfriend's daughter is going through this at the moment, and this is what it's cost her so far:

£77.50 for passport

£50 for Provisional

£31 for theory

£62 or £75 for Practical

By making all these little government departments self funding by making their charges cover their costs, it makes me wonder where the rest of the money goes.

O/T rant over.

How much!!!!!

Blimey it were tuppence 'apenny when i were a lad etc ....

Why do you need a passport to drive?

[Chris GB]

However if the driving school are holding him back, find a no-nonsense self employed instructor IMO.

All driving instructors are self employed working either independently or with a school on a franchise. Never heard of a school employing instructors.

Chris

[Chris GB]

How old is this person? As a general guide it's reckoned that the average person needs about one hour's tuition for each year of their age.

Where did you get that information from and when?

Chris

[Chris GB]

For the O/P it is like asking how long a piece of string is trying to figure out how many lessons a pupil will need.

I have had pupils take between 6 and over 100 hours to get to test standard, depending on how much experience (all aspects here, cycling, observation as a passenger, driving in fields when younger etc) they come to me with before their first lesson, how much private practice they do and how their aptitude is. Personally I passed having done a 1 hour lesson prior to my test, but I practised all the time in my own car, had ridden a motorbike for many thousands of miles and just needed a school car as my latest car was an auto (the manual Mini I learned in at home had turned itself into wheetabix).

Pupils may progress at different rates and for different reasons may come to slow periods of learning. A couple of scenarios:

Pupil A has very poor spatial awareness combined with poor coordination. Pupil A will find the early lessons slow and difficult. As an example I have had one pupil who took 11 hours of training in order to be able to drive down the road in a straight line, but this is pretty uncommon. Pupil A will slowly develop these skills, but will need to be nursed around slow roads in low gears until they are able to competently control the car safely enough to move onto faster roads, higher gears, more ambitious junctions. If Pupil A has good observation and awareness skills, they will progress quickly once they master the car control aspects. If not, development will continue to be slow. Should Pupil A's instructor get impatient and push them out onto roads where the pupil is not in control, they present a risk to themselves and everyone else as well as damaging the pupils confidence.

Pupil B has excellent spatial awareness and coordination. On their first 2 hour lesson they have driven all the basic junctions (turn left / turn right / emerge left / emerge right) done a little fast A road work, even an overtake of a vehicle doing 40 in a 60 limit and demonstrated easy control of the car. After a few hours, maybe 10, they can drive all road types under partial guidance, tackling all junctions. However, pupil B has poor awareness / planning skills. Pupil B will feel like they are not progressing because although they feel they are doing well, they need the instructor to keep an eye open for them to avoid problems they were not aware of. The instructor works hard to resolve the issues, but Pupil B simply does not quickly develop awareness required and may feel like they can drive well and the instructor is holding them back.

Key for a successful instructor is to always make the pupil fully and clearly aware of what they need to improve and why. I hear very often that a lot of instructors do not do this, hence their pupils migrate away and I get them:thumbup: We thrive on reputation above all the marketing that we may need to do, so stringing a pupil along gets you a poor reputation and damages your business.

The DSA reckon the average successful test candidate has completed 45 hours of professional tuition and 25 hours of private practice. However that is an average and the curve puts people miles away from that on either side.

Chris

[Wardy]

Nail. Head.

Thanks Chris!

Steve

[Anthony 1]

I have been driving over 30 years I have never had a driving lesson in my life. I passed my test first time. I drove motorcycles before that, passed that test first time with no tuition, there was not any any way back then. I went to cars because my wife had enough on bikes, I said that I would stick with bikes. She bought a car and had lessons passed her test eventually. I did not like being driven arround so I did the driving under a provisional license (full bike license) with my wife in the passenger seat. Probably that might not be legal today as the accompanying driver must have held a full license for a few years to sit with a provisional. She had little experience but after years of driving bikes I knew my way around. It just felt a bit strange not putting ones feet on the ground when coming to a dead stop! I soon put in for my test. I had a friend sit with me to the examination offices. I was confident and knew that I would have no problem. I drove in town traffic keeping up with the traffic which at times was slightly over the limit. I overtook when I felt it necessary I chatted to the tester as I drove commenting on road conditions when I felt it useful. The tester asked a few basic questions said that I was a very competent driver and then told me that I had passed. He asked how long that I had been driving and I told him I had never had a single lesson his mouth dropped, I just smiled.

It might seem a bit cocky but I have never felt so confident about anything else to the same extent. I just applied my mind and of course had survived years riding fast bikes so cars were a doodle. I have always felt that most good driving is observation anticipation and knowing what the other guy is going to do. The more miles one enjoys in all conditions snow and all the better. The test back then was so easy but the motorcycle test was a joke, I do not know how anyone could have failed it in those days but they did. I do not suppose that I would enjoy the modern tests for motorcycles or cars.

[newskoda]

How old is this person? As a general guide it's reckoned that the average person needs about one hour's tuition for each year of their age.

the person is 36....soon to be 37

[Jonjo18]

I passed my driving test last year at the tender age of 17! had 2/2.5 months worth of lesson. And drove from st albans to home (welwyn garden city) on my first lesson and was faced with traffic lights, roundabouts and T junctions.

Stalling quite a few times. Learnt with the AA and found them very helpful and easy to deal with, even had someone crash into the back of me on a lesson, sufferd some whiplash, and the AA dealt with the claim quickly and efficiently!

But it is all down to the persons confidence and how the instructor explains things, IMHO

[Chris GB]

the person is 36....soon to be 37

Don't know where this idea of one hour per year of age came from, but when I joined the trade around 2002 the current thinking, as published by the DSA, was that the average pupil would need 2 hours of professional tuition per year of age.

DSA currently adopt a more "PC" view that the average student that passes the test has done 45 hours of professional tuition and 25 hours of private practice. Consider that the average student is probably 19-20 years old though.

It is an established fact that as we get older, it takes longer to learn new skills and I have taught people in the 35-45 year old band that took considerably longer than 45 hours to get to test standard and one or two who have picked it up fast. Generally though, it does take longer to learn as age goes up. The DSA's former 2 hours per year of age is probably a bit optimistic for the younger students but may be about right for those that are a bit older. As always though, consider that people are very diferent in their ability to learn. Even within one pupil you can have academic brilliance and useless coordination or vice versa. So how long is a piece of string?

Chris

[VWD]

Strangely enough ,I passed my test after 10 hours tuition - now I know I was a danger ,but then -I had a licence and was allowed to drive . I was smartly taken in hand by dad and my uncle and taught how to drive -not how to drive to pass the test .Uncle was an ex army trained tank/tank transporter driver ,who taught dad to drive - and the standard was HIGH .Then I got my first car , and the learning curve got steep - especially in the barren highlands - where getting into a ditch meant waiting till the first car/van etc -possibly several hours later - so I learned not to go there and how to control a car .Thanks to that ,skid control is second nature ,as is learning to brake without locking a wheel and releasing the brake for a split second to regain control -if locking occurs - very useful on 1/10 down hills with no salt etc on road .As is learning how to drive on untreated roads - one year we were all driving around in the snow with no problems ,when a snow plough appeared . Then problems started - the snow plough slid off -it took seven hours to get the road cleared .

Even now , with ABS ,I can second guess the ABS and take control .Something called CADENCE braking -and I get stopped quicker than it .But then - that's about forty years on the roads ,and possibly about a few million miles on the clock .

OH - that was about 43 years ago I passed my test - getting on for fair game for the "get the oldie off the road " campaign

Edited 12 November, 2009 by VWD

[KenONeill]

Even now , with ABS ,I can second guess the ABS and take control .Something called CADENCE braking -and I get stopped quicker than it

So you reckon you can cadence brake each wheel individually at something over 20Hz?

[R1chard]

I bought my first car when I was 16, 6 months before I turned 17 !

I sat my theory 2 days after I was 17 and passed first time, I had barely revised the high way code for it but thought it was quite easy and alot of it was common sence.

My parents have quite a long driveway so I taught myself how to set off, clutch, brake etc but when it came to my first lesson on the road it felt so much different and quite scary tbh.

I think in total I had 20 lessons and passed my test on the 3rd attempt so it took me 6 months all in.

When I failed my first 2 tests I think I had to wait about 3 weeks before I could book another which was rather anoying but I got there in the end

Some people pick things up faster than others and some take that bit more time, I think it would help if he had his own car and was able to go out with a family member and feel more relaxed.

He will get there in the end

[Calomax]

Where did you get that information from and when?

Chris

I picked it up at a Driving Examiners' conference. That was back in the 1980s though.

[Chris GB]

I picked it up at a Driving Examiners' conference. That was back in the 1980s though.

Things seem to have changed a little since then.

[Buster]

10 lessons for me over 5 weeks, plus out every evening with Dad to practice. Dad was a great teacher although Mum hates driving when he is in the car, as he is a bit of a back seat driver!! My practices with Dad always went with the pattern of 1 bad session then 1 good - dunno why. Hard work but worth it!

[fluffmeister]

I did my lessons in a Bedford MK 4 ton truck and my test in the same, still it was courtesy of HM Forces.

My driving instructor was a member of the Robbers Cheats and Thieves (RCT) and on the airfield sessions used to wallop my hands with a ruler if I did not feed the wheel through my hands

My next door neighbour is a bit of a chav princess, she has had lessons for a year now and failed her test 3 times, none of those where her fault though, apparantly the examiner was a coque. She has now given up and gone back to the bus ............... yay ... result