{"id":15654,"date":"2014-05-26T10:01:18","date_gmt":"2014-05-26T09:01:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?p=15654"},"modified":"2022-11-19T18:32:09","modified_gmt":"2022-11-19T18:32:09","slug":"independent-driving-and-tit-for-tat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?p=15654","title":{"rendered":"Independent Driving And Tit-For-Tat"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Directions\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I noticed someone comment recently that the independent driving part of the driving test is pointless and a waste of time simply because it doesn\u2019t matter if someone fails to follow the directions accurately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a rather short-sighted view. I\u2019ve noticed time and again that in the early stages of learning, when I am giving directions, I can train pupils to use the MSM routine with no problem. The fun starts the first time I let them choose a route (maybe driving home) or if we are actually attempting a test-like independent drive with a map or road signs. Now that my voice isn\u2019t a trigger any more, the majority of pupils immediately start missing mirror checks and signals, and some of those cases are clearly down to not having that verbal trigger. Prior to the independent driving assessment this was rarely dealt with, and it certainly wasn\u2019t tested for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The driving test is 40 minutes long. Until it becomes a continuously assessed year-long event (and that will be roughly around the same time that hell freezes over), it will always have limitations. Introducing the independent driving element definitely addressed one potential issue that the test previously did not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, how people choose to drive when they have passed is not the fault of the test, the examiner, the instructor, or any other third party who wouldn\u2019t have been involved if the driver hadn\u2019t chosen to learn to drive in the first place. It is, however, the fault of the parents \u2013 in large part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And don\u2019t get me started on special needs candidates who, according to some, \u201ccan\u2019t cope\u201d with the independent drive segment of the test. You have to wonder what these drivers will do when they pass and start driving around on their own. If they cause an accident through not driving properly, people can still die.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The simple fact is that if you go the wrong way, but do it properly, then you haven\u2019t done anything wrong. You\u2019re not being tested on navigation skills, you\u2019re being tested on your ability to drive safely. However, being in the wrong lane for the turn you are going to take is NOT safe. The examiner knows this, and it\u2019s where the faults usually come from \u2013 directly (if you cut across traffic) or indirectly (if the examiner reminds you where he wants you to go to avoid ending up on a motorway or in a canal, and you panic). Unfortunately, in real life \u2013 especially with new drivers \u2013 what someone says<\/strong> they were going to do and what they actually did<\/strong> do don\u2019t always marry up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s an example from a lesson tonight. I had to stop a pupil from entering a tight, two-laned roundabout which she had approached too fast. Even if the roundabout had been clear, there was no way she would have kept in lane had she entered it at the speed she was doing, and there was no way of knowing what she would have done \u2013 or which exit she would have headed for in her panic – once she realised what was happening. Subsequently, there was no way whatsoever I was going to wait to find out, and I used the dual controls. After we stopped to discuss it, she insisted that she was going to brake, but that I had beaten her to it. I pointed out the following (more diplomatically):<\/p>\n\n\n\n