ADI - Diary Of An ADI

Toyota Yaris Recall And Driving Tests

15/04/2014

This is an old article. However, it might be useful for anyone buying a used Yaris to prompt them to make sure their car has had the fix applied.

DVSA has sent out a warning about Toyota Yaris vehicles built between 2005 and 2010. The Yaris is subject to a recall notice as a result of serious safety issues (27 models are involved, of which the Yaris is one). The recall was issued by Toyota 10 April 2014.

As the bulletin makes absolutely clear, you cannot take a test in any vehicle subject to a recall if you cannot prove remedial work has been carried out.

Anyone with a test booked within the next three days (from 16 April 2014) will be able to cancel and rearrange without losing their fee. Anyone with a test more than three days hence has still got time to rearrange it without losing their fee – but the implication is that if you don’t rearrange it, and then fall within the normal three working days grace period, then you will lose your fee.

There is no excuse for any ADI not to know about the recall if they have a Toyota, nor is there any excuse for trying to take a test in one without having had the remedial work carried out. Note what the bulletin says:

DVSA examiners may accept proof from the Toyota Online Recall Tool. You or your pupil would need to access this tool and complete the verification process on a suitable device to show the examiner, without delaying the testing schedule.

Either that, or they need to see a garage report that the work has been carried out.

ADIs Surveyed On Highway Code “Improvements”

14/04/2014

DOAADI

ADI, DVSA, News

This one appeared in various forms in the newsfeeds. Right Driver is a website which aims to…

…help you learn the Highway Code quickly and effectively so you can get your learner licence.

I’m not quite sure what a “learner licence” is – in the UK, you can get a provisional licence as soon as you are old enough, and you need to learn enough about the Highway Code and driving in general to be able to pass the driving test in order to gain a full driving licence. Either Right Driver is talking about another country, or it doesn’t know what it is talking about, period.

Anyway, they apparently canvassed 1,056 ADIs asking what improvements should be made to the Highway Code. The questions asked were to do with diesel particulate filters, electric and hybrid cars, various new technologies, ABS and vehicle stability systems, trailer stability systems, crash testing ratings on new cars, child seat fixings, cost of learning to drive, standards check, any other things ADIs thought should be added. This all points to some sort of agenda.

What is amusing is that when answers are little better than 50:50 – with about half of those canvassed being in favour, and half against, they talk up the differences to make it sound like a landslide! Mind you, the best bit is at the bottom. They give examples of comments made by ADIs (and you can bet your bottom dollar that they corrected the spelling and grammar before doing so – but only up to a point).

Remember that the Highway Code is supposed to deal with the Rules of the Road, so quite why it is felt we need a whole second volume on bloody child seats is anyone’s guess. And then some jackass reckons there should be less in there about motorways. Another candidate for Clown of the Year believes that stopping distances should be reduced because modern cars can “stop quicker”. But the overriding impression from the comments is that most ADIs canvassed believe the Highway Code is the verbatim answer book for the Theory Test, e.g.:

I think there should be some question on the new laws on ‘middle lane hoggers & tailgating) should be included as it is a new law.

The dangers of quad bike riders without helmets.

Hand signals should be abolished as most drivers on the roads don’t know them anyway.

Tactile paving, full and complete description about these is required. Only has a vague description (serious lack of information) mentioned in section 10 of the introduction.

Review the wording used and simplify them – such as gradient and use the word HILL instead – – as pupils with learning difficulties cannot understand some of the question – there are several questions which use complex words which need simplifying

And it goes on, and on, and on.

The one thing that IS clear is that what I’ve said about ADIs for many years is illustrated vividly. It is almost certainly why the DVSA shies away from involving them if this is the quality of their input. The Highway Code needs editing by experts – just as it always has been. It certainly doesn’t need community input of the standard shown in this puerile survey.

No Foreign Language Tests From 7 April 2014

08/04/2014

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ADI, Driving Tests, DVSA, News

As of yesterday – Monday, 7 April 2014 – both theory and practical driving tests can only be conducted in English or Welsh.

Now, there isn’t a lot of linguistic clutter in that statement, and it means just what it says: YOU CAN ONLY TAKE YOUR THEORY OR PRACTICAL TEST IN ENGLISH OR WELSH FROM 7 APRIL 2014.

Can I take my test in Punjabi after April 2014?

No! You can only take your tests in English or Welsh after 7 April 2014. You cannot have an interpreter on your practical test unless it is for British Sign Language (BSL). Read my earlier article which spells out clearly which languages are no longer supported.

(This is an actual search term used to find the blog today – 8 April. It was actually written in better English than most search terms).

Drunk Learner Pulled On A Lesson

07/04/2014

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ADI, Bad Drivers, News

Another nominee for the 2014 Darwin Awards. Louise Ditchfield, 23, called her instructor at midnight to arrange a lesson the following day “because she was bored”. Unfortunately, being a pisshead, she was drunk at the time – so drunk that when she was pulled over for swerving all over the road the next day she was still over twice the legal limit. She claimed she had last had a drink “more than 24 hours” previously. In spite of this obvious lie, she was quoted in court:

I thought the alcohol would have gone. It was a big mistake. I am sorry.

Ditchfield was also taking the lesson in red pyjamas, which says a lot about the person she is. The whole affair also raises a few questions about her instructor. I would be very worried if one of mine tried to do a lesson in their nightwear.

She was banned for 12 months.

How To Stop Texting When You’re Driving

07/04/2014

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ADI, Bad Drivers, News

You read a lot of crap on the internet news feeds. Every now an then, something comes along that takes the biscuit – on the surface, at least. Green Thumb Nail

A car dealership is encouraging drivers to paint their thumbnails green to remind them not to text while driving. They got the idea from an American who “invented the technique”. To be fair to the dealership, though, the idea is to get to people to do it and then post photos on to a Facebook page. The dealership will donate £100 to various charities for the first few people who do.

To be brutally honest, the only beneficiaries will be those charities. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it is hardly going to change the way people behave.

The kinds of people who text while driving are simply too stupid to have a driver’s licence in the first place. They text because they want to, and they know they shouldn’t be doing it. If I see someone fiddling with their phone at traffic lights when I’m on a lesson I eyeball them – and when they see me, their immediate reaction is an absolute guarantee that they KNOW they are doing wrong.

The world has become a very strange place compared to what it was when I was a kid. Nowadays, people are actually dumb enough to believe stunts like this have intrinsic value.

Cyclists And Other Monkeys

03/04/2014

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ADI, Cyclists, Funny, General, News, Transport

A reader sent me this link to an article in the Daily Mash. Titled “Roads are not a velodrome”, it pokes fun at that spiralling number of wannabe athletes who behave like apes on our roads as they take their fragile, expensive, two-wheeled toys that they can’t handle – either physically or mentally – out on to routes which are already dangerous.

Last week, on the Virgin roundabout in Colwick, for example, two of these twats were riding side-by-side and deliberately straight-lined it – still side-by-side. The retard who gave me the evil-eye is hopefully on some sort of court order to prevent him having children for the sake of society. He really shouldn’t be allowed to breed, but unfortunately people like him can usually do it asexually – and I’ll bet asexual sex is something he IS good at. Because cycling certainly doesn’t make the list.

DSA Is Now Officially DVSA

03/04/2014

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ADI, DSA, News, Training, Transport

It was announced last summer that the DSA would merge with VOSA to create a single body. As of Wednesday, 2 April 2014, this change took effect and the combined body is now known as the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA).

There’s no information yet about when – and if – there will be a specific logo for the new body. The number of hits I’ve been getting on the blog asking suggests that this is important to a lot of ADIs for reasons which are unclear. Far more important is the financial impact – good, bad, or remaining the same – on those who use it.

For anyone who needs to contact what used to be VOSA or DSA, just use the same numbers and addresses you always did until new ones are announced. Outwardly, there is no real change at the moment.

Changing Ford Focus Headlight Bulbs

01/04/2014

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ADI, Tips

I saw an amusing post on one of the forums a while back. Someone was asking how to change a Ford Focus headlight bulb and had concluded that the front bumper had to be removed because he’d taken a screw out and couldn’t remove the headlight. Naturally, this was the manufacturer’s fault.

Even more amusing was the advice from someone else to check before you buy a car. It’s amazing how these stupid rumours start – and are propagated – out there in Instructor Land? In actual fact, Ford Focus headlight bulbs are incredibly easy to change, and appear to have been designed specifically to be that way!

Let me just stress that this applies to the Mk II model onwards. It does not apply to the original body shaped Focus from circa 2003 which ran on coal – watch this video for advice on that one (even then, the bumper does not have to be removed). And I’m joking about the coal thing – I loved that original design.

On the pre-2012 (but post 2003-style) models, all you do is remove the single screw that holds the headlight cluster in place (using a Tx key or a normal screwdriver – they even made it so you can use either). The cluster is locked at the bottom by a hook on the end of a long plastic arm – you just push the arm down slightly to release the hook, and the cluster will slide easily forwards out of the car along two rails. You can then release the cable connector by pushing a small button and pulling it off. The whole cluster will now come away from the car in your hand. The bulbs are behind big rubber caps (which come off and go back on extremely easily) and are held in place by simple spring-wire clips. The sockets the bulbs sit in are keyed to prevent them being put in the wrong way round.

The cluster slides easily back in and clicks into place as the hook latches into place. It takes less than five minutes to remove the cluster, change the bulb, and put the cluster back. I’ve had to replace quite a few bulbs, and there has never been a problem.

On the 2013-2017 models (I haven’t had to do a 2018-onwards one yet) there are two screws which have to be removed. The cluster then slides forwards and you, and you lift the outside edge to remove it . Remove the electrical connector and you can see four caps which cover the bulb mountings. This is the picture in the Ford Focus manual, but I have to say it is a bit misleading because mine doesn’t look quite like that at the back. It’s similar, but definitely not the same.

According to the manual, the sidelight bulb is behind cap A, the dipped beam light is behind cap B, the main beam lamp is behind cap C, and cap D conceals the indicator lamp. After removing a cover, you apparently turn the bulb holder anti-clockwise to remove it, and then push the bulb in gently and turn it anti-clockwise to remove it from the holder. In actual fact, behind the rubber covers my bulbs are held in with clips, but they still come out and go back in very easily – and they’re keyed so you can’t put them in wrong. Whatever your cluster looks like, it isn’t difficult to remove the bulbs one at a time to find the right one.

The specs for the front bulbs are as follows (I believe these are the same for all models after 2003 but check your manual first):

sidelight – W5W 5 Watts
dipped beam – H7 55 Watts
main beam – H1 55 Watts
indicator – PY21W 21 Watts

A word of advice: when you remove the screws, put them in your pocket or on the floor. If they fall inside the engine compartment – which they are sure to do if you put them on the ledge at the front of the engine compartment – they’re likely to fall on to a hidden ledge and will be sods to find and recover. Trust me, I’ve been there.

Drivers And Horses

01/04/2014

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ADI, Bad Drivers, News

This makes interesting reading. Well, it’s more mind-blowing than interesting, with almost 10% of drivers admitting that they don’t know how to behave when they encounter horses. Even more surprising is that the figure rises when you ask younger drivers (or Londoners) about the subject!

You’d expect that even a monkey would realise that when you are passing an animal weighing upwards of half a metric tonne, usually with a young girl on top of it, you’d slow down and give it wide berth. For people who haven’t yet acquired the mental capacity of monkeys the Highway Code clarifies the situation further:

214

Animals. When passing animals, drive slowly. Give them plenty of room and be ready to stop. Do not scare animals by sounding your horn, revving your engine or accelerating rapidly once you have passed them. Look out for animals being led, driven or ridden on the road and take extra care. Keep your speed down at bends and on narrow country roads. If a road is blocked by a herd of animals, stop and switch off your engine until they have left the road. Watch out for animals on unfenced roads.

215

Horse riders and horse-drawn vehicles. Be particularly careful of horse riders and horse-drawn vehicles especially when overtaking. Always pass wide and slowly. Horse riders are often children, so take extra care and remember riders may ride in double file when escorting a young or inexperienced horse or rider. Look out for horse riders’ and horse drivers’ signals and heed a request to slow down or stop. Take great care and treat all horses as a potential hazard.

The survey conducted by the AA is quite worrying, and raises a number of questions. Setting aside the obvious one about the intellects of people who are deemed competent to hold a driving licence and yet are clearly too stupid to work it out for themselves, what the hell are driving instructors doing when younger drivers – those who have recently passed their tests – don’t know what to do? The Highway Code is there for all to see, and at the very least the topic should be covered verbally if it can’t be dealt with using real situations.

Apparently, nearly 20% of those questioned believe horses shouldn’t be allowed on the roads. The simple fact is that greater than 99% of horse riders are courteous and don’t deliberately get in the way, and they get off the road as soon as they can. Contrast this with cyclists – of whom 99% are complete arseholes who get in the way on purpose, and who definitely shouldn’t be allowed on the roads – and you can see that everything is the wrong way round.

I do everything in my power to get my pupils to encounter horses at some stage on their lessons. I take them on single track roads near stables at the time of day when horses are being walked out so we can deal with them. As I’ve said before, girls on horses (the majority of riders) usually give a friendly wave of thanks. Male riders can be less friendly (I don’t know why that is), and racehorse riders (the minority of riders around my way, and usually failed jockeys) are miserable and arrogant little sods most of the time. Racehorses are useful training tools because they are usually restive and don’t like walking, so it gives us an opportunity to stop or even switch off the engine in some cases. In fact, on my way to a lesson tonight I had to slow right down for a horse being led along the roadside which was obviously a little edgy, eliciting a polite wave from the male handler.

It isn’t that difficult to find horses and horse riders in many places – even in urban areas – and many instructors really ought to be driving just a few miles extra in order to cover the subject properly instead of hanging round the test centres conserving fuel. Obviously, not everyone can experience horses and riders first hand on their lessons, and in those cases the instructor should absolutely and definitely be covering it verbally – which many clearly aren’t.

“New” Advice For Learner Drivers

27/03/2014

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ADI, News, Training

Anyone who reads the blog regularly will probably be aware of my general disdain for groups like IAM and RoSPA when they start poking their noses into the affairs of driving instructors or offering “advice” about learning to drive (my personal opinion, of course). This is especially true of IAM, membership of which you’d be forgiven for thinking allows you to remain active in the Neighbourhood Watch even when you’re not at home! So when I saw this headline in my newsfeeds I wasn’t holding out much hope.

To be fair to RoSPA, though, they do make it clear that driving lessons are best taken with a qualified ADI (which will probably upset most IAM members). Their new website – which is the point of the news article in the first place – is actually quite sensible, and it certainly doesn’t overtly come across as seeking to undermine the ADI’s role (IAM take note). It focuses on what supervising drivers should be doing during private practice. You can view the site here.

Having said all that, I can’t help think that the goals of the site are somewhat unrealistic. On its home page it says:

This website will help you [the supervising driver] to:

During the learning period

Ensure the learner meets all the legal requirements for learning to drive

Ensure you meet all the legal requirements for supervising them during private practice

Allow the learner to get as much supervised practice as possible

Keep in touch with your young driver’s instructor and co-ordinate what happens in private practice with what happens in the professional lessons

Get the most benefit from practice drives

This creates problems right from the start. Unless the supervising driver is an ADI then he or she is unlikely to be able to fulfil all these requirements. Even IAM and RoSPA members will be lacking such information, since knowledge of it is not a prerequisite of membership of those organisations. The vast majority of parents and supervising drivers couldn’t possibly tie up all the loose ends. Elsewhere on the site RoSPA says:

[As supervising driver you should not] contradict the driving techniques taught by the instructor, even if you disagree with them. If you are concerned about something, make a note of it and discuss it with the instructor at a later date.

This contradicts the thrust of that first part. In fact, a large percentage of full licence holders DO disagree with what ADIs teach their kids or spouses, and often think that they know best. So in spite of the first quote, the clear implication is that RoSPA expects the supervising driver to NOT be fully competent in terms of the requirements list they have given. Furthermore, they say:

It is very important to maintain good communication with your learner’s instructor.

Aaaargh. Having parents or spouses interfering all the way through is NOT beneficial for the pupil (or the ADI). A quick hello/how’s-he-doing/goodbye is all you or the learner want most of the time, and longer discussions only become absolutely necessary if there is a problem AND if the person you’re talking to can actually influence the resolution. Some parents will happily interfere even when they’re not providing private practice. The worst ones for it are those who can’t cut the apron strings, which is often an underlying reason why little Jonny or Kylie isn’t progressing as fast as they could do in the first place. It is best if the learner is left to get on with their lessons without mum or dad poking their noses in all the time.

Personally, I like to show the parents what to look for – if they’re going to be supervising – by having them sit in on a lesson or two. I get uncomfortable if they want to come more often, like one I had a few months ago whose parents or big sister would invite themselves whenever they felt like it, even though they were not supervising him in any private practice, because they were desperate for him to take his test whether he could drive or not (and they didn’t like the fact I wouldn’t let him because he was dangerous). I know that they are not there for the reasons I’d expect them to be there for.

RoSPA’s site also advises:

If possible, show the learner’s instructor the ‘Driver’s Record’ or the telematics [‘black box’ insurance module if it is fitted] data frequently so they can see how the learner is doing in their practice drives.

This is yet more opportunity for parental demands for little Jonny or Kylie to go to test when the instructor doesn’t think they’re ready. The only people completing any sort of documentation should be the learner and the instructor. The last thing the ADI needs is mummy and daddy filling out driver records and putting ticks in all the boxes on the strength of a successful 5 minute driver every Saturday to Tesco. I’ve lost count of the times where mummy or daddy insists Jonny or Kylie “can drive”, and yet they bloody well can’t when they’re on their lessons. RoSPA needs to have a think about whether or not we should be teaching “safe driving for life”, because involving mummy and daddy in the decision over test readiness is hardly likely to result in Jonny or Kylie taking more lessons.

You can read the rest for yourself. Although some of it is good, RoSPA seems to be looking for solutions to problems which can never actually be solved, and by involving people who the unlikeliest to come up with a solution anyway. As a result, it is offering misleading and ambiguous advice.

Private practice is definitely useful for getting road time, which builds experience and confidence. It is usually not that useful for practising manoeuvres unless the private car is the same model as the instructors car, and it definitely isn’t useful for covering new material (guaranteed to create a bad habits). Most private practice involves driving the same routes to go to shopping or to see their grandparents.

As long as they are picked up on basic faults – and not even always then – learners are benefitting from private practice. It doesn’t need to be of the same intensity as a normal driving lesson.

Category - ADI