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Can anyone recommend any intensive courses for a 17 year old to attend for a 'blitz and pass'? What are the advantages/disadvantages of such an approach? We are based in the south of England but would consider a residential course, if the exist.
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I reccomend Astral school of motoring. The number can be found in the yellow pages.
Ben
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I'd recommend finding out how a car works mechanically, so when using the clutch, changing gear, using the brakes etc, you know whats happening, and an understanding will allow you to by more empathetic with the car, and improve control. This should help you pass more easily. Try a good book from your local library, or ask a friend in the know. The basics should not take long.
Best of luck with the test.
Mike
PS if you already know, ignore this!
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If you have never driven before, have a few one or two hour lessons before you book an intensive course to see how you get on, and to get some idea of how many hours tuition you will need in total.
I have done some intensive courses in the past, and they are not for everyone. Some people just cannot cope with continuous in car tuition for hour on end, and are better suited to one or two lessons per week. If you do go ahead with an intensive course, make sure the driving school put in writing exactly how many hours of in-car tuition this includes, as opposed to the number of hours the course lasts. Otherwise you may find you are paying for the instructors cafe-breaks.
Good luck.
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As a qualified behavioral trainer and instructor for more than 30 years, so-called "intensive training" is much less effective than regular digestible chunks, with the opportunity for rest and reinforcement in between. Any instructor should know this and I would be surprised if an intensive course produced much beyond a mediocre and fatigued learner. Maybe it's time driving schools were given a bit more attention by the so-called "authorities" and the road-user a bit less.
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THe Growler wrote:
>
> As a qualified behavioral trainer and instructor for more
> than 30 years, so-called "intensive training" is much less
> effective than regular digestible chunks, with the
> opportunity for rest and reinforcement in between.
I don't agree. My car test was passed with 30 lessons over many months. My bike test was done in 3 days intensive.
The bike training was far better. I learned more about roadcraft and the rules of the road than I'd ever known before. I lived biking for 3 days.
IMHO all driving training should be in solid day chunks. Nobody goes to school 2 hours a week.
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Certainly what happens in the work place is that the intensive courses work in the short term, and quite effectively, but retention over a period of time is much lower.
Any type of intensive training has to be followed very quickly with reinforcement. i.e. you would need to begin driving regularily immed. after you passed the test.
You would probably find that you lost a lot, if not all, of the skill if there was a substantial gap between a test passed in this way and the time when regular driving started.
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By the time you took the bike course Dave, you were presumably an experienced road user. Bikers also tend to be enthusiasts which makes learning easier. Having provided intensive courses in cars in the past, I would say that with someone who shows a natural talent for driving they are worthwhile, with a lot of people they just don't work. Horses for courses, I suppose.
As for learning more from your bike tutor than your car instructor, well somebody's finally rumbled us! All the 28000 ADI's in Britain are just money grabbing incompetants!
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Tom Shaw wrote:
>
> By the time you took the bike course Dave, you were
> presumably an experienced road user. Bikers also tend to be
> enthusiasts which makes learning easier. Having provided
> intensive courses in cars in the past, I would say that with
> someone who shows a natural talent for driving they are
> worthwhile, with a lot of people they just don't work. Horses
> for courses, I suppose.
I guess so. When I did my car test it was a case of being focused on school work, then taking a break for a driving lesson, and returning to scchool. No time to digest info. The 3 day DAS course was fantastic. Total focus. At the end of the day you'd find yourself thinking about lessons learned during the day. I think 'focus' is the word. If you want to be a jet pilot you don' tdo it 2 hours a week. You do it full time. THerefore that must be the best way. QED.
> As for learning more from your bike tutor than your car
> instructor, well somebody's finally rumbled us! All the 28000
> ADI's in Britain are just money grabbing incompetants!
;-) Do I detect irony? I'm sure the UK's ADI's are great. However there were things totally neglected from my driving lessons that were covered in detail by the staff on the DAS course. The DAS course wasn't limited to the basics of passing a test - it was 99 per cent of the IAM 'sylabus' too.
That said I've only had one bike school and two driving instructors to judge the quality of a whole industry by!
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I would recommend also taking an evening class in car maintenance so he will be able to look after the older car he buys. Also when he realises the costs of maintaining a car, will drive more carefully - in theory!
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He? Tut tut. (But sound advice.)
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