{"id":21612,"date":"2017-10-08T23:26:06","date_gmt":"2017-10-08T22:26:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?p=21612"},"modified":"2023-06-14T21:27:41","modified_gmt":"2023-06-14T20:27:41","slug":"just-google-the-damned-thing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?p=21612","title":{"rendered":"Just Google The Damned Thing!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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It often amuses me the kinds of questions that get asked in Q&A columns in the media. Apart from the stupid ones along the lines of \u201cdoes anyone else have a surname that rhymes with \u2018spanner\u2019, like mine does?\u201d there are the ones that a child could answer simply by typing one sentence into Google – and yet the asker has wasted money on a stamp (there\u2019s no way they\u2019d have used email) and got themselves into print.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Readers who have been following the blog for a while will know that I am sometimes scathing with my comments about other instructors \u2013 the dickheads who try to do a manoeuvre 3 metres behind me on a 500 metre stretch of empty road, or who turn up in a small car park I\u2019m using and take over with their own manoeuvre (until I explain a few things to them) get frequent mentions. I\u2019ve not gone off on one for a while, but flicking through this month\u2019s Intelligent Instructor magazine I had to shake my head when I read the Readers\u2019 Questions section.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re an ADI, there is absolutely no excuse for not knowing that the driving test is changing in December. Likewise, there\u2019s no excuse for not being subscribed to DVSA announcements, nor of being aware of new posts to Despatch (DVSA\u2019s blog).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I was surprised to see someone asking what the changes to the Show Me\/Tell Me questions are going to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For God\u2019s sake! DVSA sent an email alert back in July<\/a> explaining the changes in detail. They did a Despatch blog article covering the test changes<\/a>, including the questions back in August, covering the wording the examiners will use. The Show Me\/Tell Me questions are given in black and white in both of those. If you Google \u201cshow me tell me december 2017\u201d four of the top seven hits are DVSA pages either as mentioned above, or informational videos on YouTube (I\u2019m the seventh). Then there are dozens and dozens of other instructor sites which talk about it, and link to the DVSA articles. And DVSA even sent out a booklet to all instructors last month with all this in it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was similarly surprised to see someone else ask how the examiner will word the instruction to pull up on the right (one of the new \u201cmanoeuvres\u201d).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DVSA covered that<\/strong> in August with their Despatch blog post<\/a>. They also produced a YouTube video explaining it<\/a>. And it was in the booklet, I think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s funny, but sometimes when you\u2019re on a lesson and your pupil comes to, say, a roundabout (which they\u2019ve been struggling with). They\u2019ll go through all the motions and negotiate it perfectly. You think you\u2019ve cracked it, and you\u2019ll say something encouraging like \u201cthat was great. Well done. I liked how you checked there was enough room to go with that car coming towards you.\u201d And they say \u201cwhat car?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can\u2019t help get the same feeling when ADIs ask dumb questions like this. I mean, what the hell are they doing on their lessons if they don\u2019t know this basic stuff?<\/p>\n\n\n\n