![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.diaryofanadi.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/undriveables.jpg\" "\\"The")
<\/p>\n\n\n\nA new series of The Undriveables started on ITV this week. You can catch it for the usual limited period on the ITV Player (you\u2019ll have to put up with the adverts).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This first episode featured an older guy who was actually pretty much typical of his age group, and who responded well to instruction once his faults were corrected. He passed his test after the week-long session. The episode also featured a middle-aged woman who was a different matter altogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just the act of driving a car induced fits of severe trembling (and I mean she was in absolute panic). At one point, and for almost no apparent reason, she had to stop and be physically sick. In another segment she was driving perfectly well, then suddenly panicked and had to stop again. When she took her test it was abandoned. It appears that she hit a kerb hard, then went to pieces again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As an aside, I once had a middle-aged pupil who simply couldn\u2019t coordinate the clutch, brake, and gas pedals. She couldn\u2019t steer a straight line and change gear at the same time. And whenever traffic lights changed suddenly in front of us she\u2019d slam on the brake and stall the car. She had the attention span and spatial awareness of a gnat! I had tried to persuade her to switch to automatic lessons quite early on because of finances and these pedal issues – and it was clear that they weren\u2019t going to easily go away – but she had bought a manual car already and was adamant that she wanted to pass a manual test. As a result, she was with me for over two years and took over 100 hours of lessons. However, near the end of that time I discovered that she\u2019d sold the car and so I started on at her again about learning in an automatic, explaining that she was still a long way from test standard. I enlisted the help of her son, and we finally persuaded her. She took a further two years, another 100 hours, and 7 driving tests before she eventually passed (she\u2019d still be taking lessons now if she\u2019d stuck with manual). I calculate that she had spent over \u00a35,000 by the time she passed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have to admit that I was worried about her. She\u2019d always stayed in touch, and credited me with having taught her to drive. But the thought of her driving alone filled me with horror. I advised her to get a car as soon as possible because she really didn\u2019t want to let her driving get stale (actually, we got on well enough for me to be much more frank about it than that, but this is the general gist).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More than a year later she called me out of the blue. She\u2019d bought a car and wanted some refresher lessons in it. She wanted me to provide them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I remember that I was just about as scared as I\u2019d ever been each time I took her out. Even with just the brake and gas pedals to worry about she frequently got them mixed up, and on one occasion we arrived back at her house, drove slowly up her driveway, and almost went through the fence and into the the back yard. Within a fortnight of buying the car and driving to work in it, she\u2019d hit her wrought iron gates while reversing out three times (the resulting garage repairs amounted to 70% of the car\u2019s value). She had to get a neighbour to put it in her driveway each evening, and work colleagues to back it out of wherever she\u2019d parked it when she finished work. I subsequently heard from someone who knew her that she\u2019d got rid of the car because she couldn\u2019t afford to run it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My point here is that there are some people who simply should not – ever – drive, and they are a danger to themselves and everyone around them when they do. Passing a driving test is no guarantee that someone is a good or capable driver. In fact, there are many thousands of people out there who have passed tests, but who are not competent drivers. They\u2019re the ones you see driving slowly, or at a constant 40mph through 30, 40, 50, and NSL zones. They\u2019re the ones who habitually switch lanes at the last minute, or who drift between lanes on roundabouts. They have virtually no awareness or understanding of lane divisions or direction arrows. And they do not learn from their mistakes because they are in a complete and terrified daze most of the time. Unfortunately, there is no law preventing them from driving – and nothing that says an ADI should tell them the truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think the lady in this first episode of The Undriveables is a prime example of this. She simply should not go anywhere near a car if she is going to react the way she does – not unless she gets some serious medical or psychiatric help. You see, if she had passed her test, she is almost certainly still going to react in the same extreme way to situations when she is out on her own (or with her two boys in the car). The possible outcomes don\u2019t bear thinking about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the programme itself, you have to accept that it is heavily edited for TV purposes. However, there was a lot of evidence of parking on yellow lines and pavements from what I saw. Apart from that, the ADIs featured didn\u2019t do themselves any great disservice. It will be interesting to see subsequent episodes, because the trailers I\u2019ve seen suggest that some of the later featured drivers are typical examples of people who failed the Big Brother auditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n