Diary Of An ADI - A Driving Instructor's Blog

Annoying Adverts

15/10/2010

I’ve mentioned annoying TV ads before. There was the Alfa Romeo one, then the Audi one (and we all know how Audi drivers make you want to puke before they even get up in the morning, because the only reason they have an Audi is to go fast and drive dangerously), and the one for The Natural Confectionery Company.

This one from Heinz (for Tomato Soup) has just taken pole position. It consists of 30 seconds of sickening people (including kids) blowing with wet lips on spoonfuls of tomato soup.

I really cannot believe that people actually get off on seeing children playing with food (or even eating). But any advertisement to do with irritating noises – especially ones associated with food and involving kids – leaves me completely cold. How the hell is seeing a bunch of posers spitting on to tomato soup – a food which is right on the edge of palatability in the first place – going to make it sell more?

I just edited this to ad a new video player, and I had truly forgotten how annoying it really is. Heinz must have been crazy to approve it.

I Was So Happy, I Destroyed The Test Centre

15/10/2010

DOAADI

ADI

A reader sent me this link from an American AOL news site.

A teenager in Pittsburgh, Pa, passed his test – then promptly drove into the test centre. And I mean in through the front door, lobby, and finally somewhere out of shot of the security cameras.

There’s video footage of his first lone journey.

One thing I noticed: although it is American, the stock photo of the L plate taped to the car (shown here) appears to be British!

EDIT: Ooops. Not American – it’s a UK site.

You Can See How Fatalities Occur

15/10/2010

DOAADI

ADI

I was driving to my evening lesson last night along the Nottingham Road between Gotham and Clifton (5.45pm). Just before Clifton, there is a small link (Barton Lane) on the left, which joins the A453 to Nottingham Road – it is famously used a a rat run by people attempting to skip the queues on the A453 at the Crusader Island.

Anyway, Nottingham Road has a national speed limit. I was cruising along, and about half a mile in advance was already watching the traffic coming out of Barton Lane (it’s flat farmland all around). As I got cloer and closer, you had the usual “last minute” merchants desperate not to have to wait a few seconds longer (mainly vans).

But the prat in the silver Audi (reg. no. LX08 XGA ) forced me to slam on my brakes – there was absolutely no way he was safe to go. I’m pretty sure that apart from his genetic abnormality (possessed by ALL Audi drivers), he did it because “it was only a learner”.

Behaviour like this causes deaths. It is virtually attempted murder – a new driver or learner (if it hadn’t have been me driving) could have reacted entirely differently, and with far more serious results. These people ought to be taken off the roads permanently.

New Driving Test Pass Rate

13/10/2010

DOAADI

ADI, DSA

The number of hits I’m getting based on this search term (since the introduction of independent driving on October 4th) is incredible!

They will NOT have pass rates available for at least a month, and even when they do these figures will be meaningless for at least a year – especially to the layman. A pass rate for September of 45% and one for October of 43% (those are completely imaginary figures, by the way) does not say anything at all about the change to the driving test. Absolutely nothing.

Even now, if one test centre quotes 45% and another one 43%, it does not mean it is easier to pass at the one with the higher figure. Pass rates can vary hour-to-hour, day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month, year-to-year. They can vary by as much as ±10% (that’s between 35% and 55% if the average is 45%) over months without any change having been made to the system or any recognised problems with specific examiners being identified.

If you are a learner who is searching for this information, the only thing you need to be worried about is whether your instructor is teaching you properly. If he/she is, then the pass rates are completely irrelevant. It is down to how well you drive on the day, and little else.

I really hope it isn’t instructors looking for the information, though.

BSM To Switch Back To Corsas

12/10/2010

DOAADI

ADI, News

EDIT 28/6/2012: Note that this story dates from 2010. BSM is now run by The AA, and is owned by The AA’s parent company.

I saw this story in the press today. BSM is getting rid of its much-maligned fleet of Fiat 500s and switching back to Corsas. The change will take place in March 2011 – or rather, the change will start in March 2011: there is no indication how long it will take to replace all cars.

The original deal with Fiat was made last summer and was supposed to be for 4 years. One can only guess at how much the early cancellation will cost, and what effect it might ultimately have on BSM at a time when all schools are feeling the pinch and when a double-dip recession is feared by many. Fiat won’t take that lying down.

The story says:

Instructors had complained the three-door Fiat 500 was too small, so BSM decided to make the switch to five-door 1.2- and 1.4-litre Vauxhall Corsas ‘in recognition that instructors often use their cars not only as a tool for their trade, but also as their primary family vehicle’.

Personally, I didn’t have a big issue with the Fiat – I thought it was quite cute – but I didn’t have to drive one, and I doubt I’d have been comfortable if I had. Most other instructors (especially those who who were independent, and whose business it wasn’t) did have an issue, though. But you can’t help wonder why BSM didn’t listen to its own instructors in the first place, because those instructors sure as hell weren’t saying anything different last summer when they first went crazy over the change! They hated the Fiats from Day One.

Of course, there were also problems (well, very strong rumours) with the DSA about having examiners sit in the back of such a small car, as well as safety concerns over 3 doors.

I wonder if this will see instructors who left return to BSM’s ranks?

The source of this story is What Car, and they make the valid comment that a lot of Fiat 500s are likely to appear on the secondhand market – possibly at bargain prices.

Test Pass

12/10/2010

DOAADI

Driving Tests

Well done SLC, who passed this morning with just 4 driver faults. A very good driver, and the car was on the drive waiting for when she got home!

No issues whatsoever with the independent driving element – the kerfuffle over that has been another storm in a teacup, and exists only in the minds of desperately inadequate ADIs (or those who represent them)!

You Gotta Laugh

08/10/2010

DOAADI

ADI, Funny

I’ve seen this posted in a few places – it’s a spoof of a driving test centre dealing with independent driving (and it involves Adolf Hitler, so don’t view it if you’re easily offended):

It’s funny – but it is in no way representative of any significant number of problems with the implementation if independent driving. It’s more like wishful thinking.

Someone has written to me pointing out that the sound is all wrong. I realise that – it was just an artefact of recording it (it wasn’t created by me). Obviously, if anyone speaks German then the actual dialogue bears no resemblance to the subtitles.

Clamping At Colwick: Another Update

08/10/2010

DOAADI

ADI, Driving Tests, DSA

I’ve written in the last few months about clamping at Colwick MPTC (with updates after the original clamped ADI contacted me, and after I’d seen another car clamped).

Another reader has contacted me with the following:

Hi

I was also clamped on the 11th May and had no choice but to pay for removal of my wheel clamp – £140!!!

I rang the police as i was clamped by an irish male in a landscaping van, who looked very suspicious and unprofessional.

The police didn’t beleive he was ‘official’ but I had no choice to pay him. He said to appeal against it, which i have sent several e-mails to Town Park Management and not had any response.

I think it is absolutely disgusting. I have parked there for years to walk my dog and are very angry at the situation.

Hopefully, the forthcoming ban on private clamping will stop the cowboys at City Estates (and their mercenary deputies) raking in money for their own benefit.

All that crap in their letter at the test centre – claiming it is because of “Health & Safety” – is bullshit. I was down there the other night on a lesson and there were lorries and cars parked all over the place as they used to be. City Estates is just sending out their deputies when they need a few quid, and targeting people who are less likely to be able to do something about it.

Bad Drivers Revisited

06/10/2010

DOAADI

ADI

I had a day off today and went off to Wiltshire to do some shopping and a few other things.

I was mindful of one of my recent posts about first time passers being safer drivers as I was travelling on the M69 back to Nottingham (actually, the very start of the M69 where the M6 joins it at Walsgrave). There I was, happily driving along on a near empty carriageway, when a silver Ford Galaxy ( reg no. S171 SHJ ) nearly pulled out in front of me without reason (the lanes don’t merge: they just join, so it goes from 2 lanes to 4 lanes).

I slammed on my brakes and it dipped back in, and then the idiot pulled out properly this time, obviously thinking I had slowed down to give way!

I watched the Galaxy over the length of the M69 to the M1 repeatedly pulling out in front of other cars without signalling – the driver seemed to want to stay in the left lane, but was travelling faster than everything in that lane. At the M1 junction, the Galaxy overtook one last lorry – but decided to slow right down to do it, which meant I had to again brake and fall in behind the lorry.

The last I saw, the Galaxy was going into Leicester Forest services. As I glanced over, I saw the diminuitive form of a blonde woman (designer sunglasses, black clad) sitting arched forward, white knuckles gripping the wheel, staring fixedly ahead at the car she was tailgating.

I wonder how many goes she had at the test before passing?

Norman Wisdom Dies Aged 95

05/10/2010

DOAADI

Movies & TV

This is a bit of bad news – comic Norman Wisdom has died at the age of 95 after a series of strokes.

Norman Wisdom

This is one of those times when phrases like “comic genius” and “legend” cease to have any real meaning. Wisdom really was a comic genius and he will easily take on legendary status now he’s gone.

I remember watching his films during the summer holidays, and I never miss a chance to watch them now. He still cracks me up whenever I see him.

His style was slapstick, but never crude or vulgar. His most famous character was Pitkin, the downtrodden nobody who was always at odds with the establishment. Along with his accidental trip (which he apparently did in front of the Queen when he was awarded his Knighthood), he made millions laugh from the 60s onwards.

He was a national superstar in Albania, of all places, and he is being mourned over there. Albania showed his films at a time when all other western movies were banned.

As an update to this story, I saw an advertisement in today’s press for a boxed set of his films. Mine’s on order.