This thought has occurred to me on and off for quite a while now. I often mention it to pupils when they say they’ve been out driving with their mum or dad, or whoever. But one pupil in particular has hammered it into my brain recently.
Her husband is called… well, let’s call him Ray. She drives me mad (in a harmless way) – especially at the start of lessons – when almost every sentence will start with “Ray said…”
Not long after she’d started with me, she got in the car one lesson and immediately said:
Ray said you shouldn’t park next to a lamp post.
I’d parked near one (it was level with the back door) so I could open the passenger door. I explained that this was nonsense and the only thing you had to make sure of is that passengers could open the doors if necessary. But that set the stage for all lessons since.
I should point out that Ray is – or was, until recently – a taxi driver.
A few weeks ago, we were driving away from her house. The speed limit goes from 30mph, up to 40mph, then up to 60mph over about half a mile or so. Even before we’d driven off and gone round the first roundabout, I’d had at least four “Ray said…” answers to my advice and questions.
The next thing I know, we’re accelerating rapidly in the 30mph zone with the 40mph several hundred metres away – we’re over 35mph when this conversation took place:
Me: Hey, hey, hey! What’s the speed limit here?
She: Ray said it’s OK to speed up
Me: [I hadn’t yet realised she was accelerating for the 40mph zone] The speed limit is 30mph, so slow down!
She: But Ray said it’s OK to get ready for the 40mph speed limit.
Me: [using the duals controls to slow us down] What? The speed limit is 30mph here…
She: But Ray said…
Me: That’s it! Take the next left and pull over [we pull over]
Me: What do you mean “Ray said it’s all right”? The speed limit is 30mph and you were aiming for 40. The 40mph sign is miles away. What do you think would happen if a speed camera saw you doing 40mph in a 30mph zone? Would you get a fine?
She: Well… but Ray said…
Me: Look. I’ve had enough of what Ray said. Who are you paying to teach you to drive? Me or him? He’s a taxi driver, and they’re not especially renowned for their driving abilities.
As an aside, that reminds me of another conversation with this pupil via text (I’d asked her to book her test for early August):
She: Can I book my test for July [date]?
Me: Well, it’s a bit earlier than we said. Do YOU think you’ll be ready?
She: You’re the driving instructor, that’s why I’m asking YOU.
Me: OK, book it – but this is on the strict understanding that if you’re not ready then we will move it. Are we agreed on that?
She: Yes. But Ray said he will help.
Me: How? Is he going away?
She thought that was really funny (and we DID have to move the test). But back to the first conversation, later in the lesson – and I can’t remember what prompted it – we had this exchange:
Me: Has Ray got any points on his licence?
She: [pauses] Well, he will have.
Me: What for? [I then had a thought] Hey, they’re not for speeding are they?
She: I wasn’t going to mention it. But yes – but it’s not like what happened back there.
Me: I’ll bet.
She: No, it wasn’t…
I won’t go into full details, but it still demonstrated a lack of road skill on Ray’s part – and he’d obviously told her to break the speed limit, so he must have been prepared to do it himself.
Then there was the Nuthall Roundabout Situation (cue: soundtrack from Pulp Fiction). A few weeks ago we were heading towards this along Woodhouse Way (A6002), and I’d prompted her through it for the A611.
Earlier this week, again approaching the roundabout from the same direction, the conversation went like this:
Me: We’re coming up to the Nuthall roundabout. Now, we’re going straight ahead down the A610 this time – not the A611 like last time. Can you remember how to do it [she apparently does this a lot with Ray, and has “no problems”]
She: Erm… well…
Me: [we’re closing in] Look for A610 on the road. You need to keep to the right, remember… Can you remember how to do it? [She heads straight for the left hand lane marked ‘M1’]
Me: OK. So that would be a “no” then… [I twitch the car over to the right hand lane]… now, look at where it says A610… [we stop at the lights]… Plan ahead. Look for where it says “A610” on the road lanes… [we move off and head straight for the A611 lane, which means cutting other traffic up. I grab the wheel and get us back in the correct lane]
She: Oh, I normally go that way with Ray. I didn’t know you meant this way.
Me: That’s why I said we weren’t going down the A611 like last time, and why I repeatedly said A610 and to look for “A610” on the road.
And just for the icing on the cake, right at the start of the lesson I had asked her to go straight ahead, 2nd exit at a small roundabout. The lanes are clearly marked with white arrows. She makes straight for the right-turn only one. Her justification for this?
That’s the lane I normally use with Ray when I go to see people up here.
This time, I pulled her over and just explained that Ray obviously wasn’t picking up her faults.
So, as usual I have come to my point in a very roundabout (no pun intended) way. And it is this:
- Whenever you do private practice, make sure it isn’t just to “go to the shops” or for mum or dad to have a drink so that they don’t have to drive (which is just as illegal as drinking and driving, anyway).
- Go out for practice, and only practice.
- Practice the things you aren’t good at, not the things you are.
- If it becomes apparent mum or dad (or whoever takes you out) is missing faults, get them to sit in with you on a lesson and let your instructor point out what they should be looking for.
Common missed faults include:
- MSM
- mirrors on overtaking or slowing down
- not looking properly at junctions and roundabouts (emerging)
- steering
- braking (too late/too harsh)
- roundabouts
- lanes
- speed and speed limits
This is by no means all of them. They are often missed because mum or dad (or whoever) isn’t as good a driver as they might like to think.
Being taught the wrong things – or being allowed to do the wrong things without being picked up for them – leads to bad habits, and bad habits are far harder to break than they are to form.
They also lead to failed driving tests.