First of all, I would just like to say that this is not a Learner Driver Bashing Thread!
I was wondering if there is some sort of "standard" of driving that learners should reach before they are out on the road. In my day, we went to car parks and empty industrial estates until I had full control over clutch bite, changing gear etc.
But nowadays I see Learners on the road that give the impression they are on their first driving lesson!
I know they have written exams to do now, however, maybe if there are any instructors in the backroom, they could maybe advise at what stage do they feel comfortable with having their clients out on the main road?
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All my learning was on the public roads in South London, from the first lesson onwards. It didn't seem ideal to me, but I didn't kill too many people along the way ...
I'm sure it would have been better to take those initial lessons away from the public highway, and the residential streets where I learnt seem in retrospect to have been a bad choice. Problem is, in most cities, there really is no other choice
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Likewise NW - however I was also lucky enough to be able to practice my clutch control and low speed manoeuvring in the Abu Dhabi desert where there wasn't much chance of hitting anything. I do feel that basic control of the car is the place to start but as has been said, there are so few places to do it now, especially as everyone seems so conscious of litigation these days. When I take Mrs V. out we try to do the low speed stuff in the local recreation ground car park which is often empty. Even so, it's funny how many odd looks you get. Given the amount of traffic and off road parking in urban areas, learning to drive is much harder now IMO. So many drivers seem so wound up so much of the time and few people seem prepared to make any allowances for learners whatsoever. Can't see it getting any better either so I'll be glad when Mrs V passes and we can ditch the L plates.
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I think it's the quality of the teaching. I was taught basic control by my dad in a field, when I was young, then I had about 15 proper lessons and passed my test with two minors.
However, (and I don't want to blow my own trumpet) after I was taken on a 15 minute drive around town to check my driving ability, I was taken straight onto the A38, a three lane (err, dual carriageway?!) A-road moving at 75MPH to the nearest city with places to practice manouvers, on my first lesson.
However, the other day, I asked a young woman (19/20?) to move her car as she'd boxed me in. Anyway, when she started reversing she "set the throttle" at about 4500RPM. I really did feel sorry for the car, as she held the throttle down while she put it back in neutral and switched off the engine.
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My pupils all went out on the road on their first lesson, simply because there was no where else for them to go.
All instructors will try and keep pupils to quiet areas till they have got the hang of the basics, but traffic free areas are becoming increasingly hard to find these days, particularly in the cities.
Learners plodding along at well under the speed limit are just one of those things to be tolerated, like milk floats, the school run and speed humps.
When you are held up for a tiny moment of your day behind someone who has stalled entering a busy roundabout, think of the poor instructor who has to sit through that every working day of his life. If my late parents new the number of times their marital status had been questioned...
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I took both my daughters to a friend's quarter-mile farm track drive to practice basic car control before accompanying them on the road. Seemed common sense to someone who hadn't been on a driving instructor course.
When I was younger I was able to drive forwards and backwards up and down our drive when I was 10. Starting the geriatric Morris 8 convertible needed 2, one to swing the starting handle and one to declutch and gun the motor when it fired. I wasn't strong enough to swing the starting handle so I took the driver's seat. By the time I started driving on public roads I had taken Mum's Spitfire up to 70 on Tockwith airfield and competed in her Hillman Imp in the local motor club's autotests held in a field.
And, BobbyG, aren't the L-plates a bit of a giveaway to warn of possibly reduced driving ability?
Hawkeye
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Stranger in a strange land
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Along with the (hopefully soon) introduction of P plates.
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And, BobbyG, aren't the L-plates a bit of a giveaway to warn of possibly reduced driving ability?
Hawkeye, yes they are, thats why I started my thread by saying it was not a Learner bashing thread! I just wanted to know what basic abilities Learners should have before going out on the open road.
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P-plates are already around (have been for years) I stripped them off my car once I'd passed my test as soon as my parents backs were turned as they seemed to give some sort of license to other drivers to "drive as close as possible, overtake as soon as they could and cut up at every junction in order to get ahead"
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All in all, learners do quite well, it was only last week that I saw a learner having been in an accident, for the first time in 40 years driving.
I agree that, where possible, initial off-road training is the ideal.
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Off-road training IS ideal, but often an empty carpark doesnt prepare a learner for full-on urban driving, even in areas thought of as 'quiet'. Therefore often the first few goes on a proper road usually still result in very nervous slow driving.
Also remember that people learn at different rates: I managed to pass my test first time (3 minors) on 14 hours professional tuition and a few trips to B&Q and back with my dad teaching me.
My younger brother has had over 40 pro lessons, many trips with my dad, and now i am tutoring him aswell. He still has a fair way to go, and occasionally makes mistakes, stalls or drives excessively slowly. It's just the way he is, but he'll get there eventually. Generally he practices on quieter roads at non-peak times of the day, for the benefit of both himself and other drivers.
If there was a minimum standard before he was allowed to use public roads, he would have spent a lot of time and money just getting that far, and still would have been petrified when surrounded by traffic
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