The BBC carries a story about the ignorance prevalent in those supervising learner drivers between their lessons with an ADI.
Drivers are risking fines, disqualification or jail because they do not know the rules on supervising learners, according to the AA.
The motoring group’s survey of 19,000 members suggested nearly a quarter did not know it was illegal to use a mobile phone while out with a learner driver.
Nearly one in 10 respondents was unaware falling asleep was not allowed.
The law states that somebody supervising a learner driver is effectively in control of the car.
Is it me, or is every one of those statements blindingly obvious? But, then, given that there is no regular update of our driving skills, what should we expect? I passed my motorcycle test in 1977 and my driving test in 1980. I could, had I wished, done nothing in the intervening years to update my skills and no one would be any the wiser. Therefore, while competent to supervise a learner driver, it’s entirely possible that I would be unaware of many of the new rules and driving methods necessary for a test pass.
Had I not updated my skills, I would be unaware, for example, that changing gear sequentially will lead to a failure – yup, really. Apparently it is very old fashioned. Okay, so I block change these days without thinking about it and will pass that on should I be supervising, but, then, I’ve been a driving instructor, so I’m aware of what the examiner is looking for.
When I was teaching novice drivers, my advice to those who asked about supervised practice was that they should try it and see how things worked out. On the occasions when it did work out, they made tremendous progress very quickly as their confidence increased with exposure to the roads on an extended basis.
The French have formalised this approach with their conduit accompagne whereby the driving school carries out the basic training and the qualified driver then supervises the novice for 3,000km. It works and both driving schools and their clients are happy with the arrangement.
I usually advised potential supervisors to say nothing about driving technique and to merely supervise, so that they did not risk contradicting my training because their skills were invariably out of date. There is an argument for supervising drivers to upgrade their skills prior to taking learners out – particularly given that they are in charge of the car without the safety net of dual controls. Been there, done that, no joke.
Frankly, we should all keep ourselves up to date with our skills. I would have no problem with the idea of regular refreshers or assessments. I would, however, have a huge problem with the state being involved with such an arrangement, as the state is notoriously incapable of running anything particularly well. Whereas private organisations will provide a service – assisting the driver with their skills, carry out an assessment and recommend, if necessary some development, a DSA re-test merely sees things in terms of pass or fail. We do not need re-testing, we need ongoing improvement. These are different things.
Given that, I balk at any form of compulsion.
So back in the day when we had to drive quite a distance for a beer, me getting pisssed, sticking L plates on the car and getting Mrs Bucko to drive home, that would be frowned upon?
Er…
“Is it me, or is every one of those statements blindingly obvious?”
it’s certainly not you!
I heard this on the radio this morning, and thought it must be one of those bizarre polls they do from time to time, where the questions are phrased deliberately to get the answer they want to hear.
“Had I not updated my skills, I would be unaware, for example, that changing gear sequentially will lead to a failure – yup, really. Apparently it is very old fashioned. Okay, so I block change these days without thinking about it and will pass that on…”
I don’t suppose you could explain it, could you? I do have a manual licence, but I’ve driven autos since passing, and I remember doing nothing BUT changing gear sequentially while learning! 🙂
Or perhaps I don’t understand the terminology – I assumed ‘changing gear sequentially’ to be going from first, to second, to third, etc..?
Are those rules really new? I seem to remember them from when I was learning to drive 35 years ago. Or maybe those were self imposed rules of those who supervised me?
Hands up to not updating my skills but when it came to my son learning to drive I was aware I was out of date when it came to passing the test*. I therefore restricted myself to teaching how to use the gears and drive the car in a large empty car park. I then left the teaching to the driving school.
When I took him on the road I restricted myself to making sure he was safe and let him do what the driving school taught him as long as he was endangering anyone – including block changing, which I now do.
I know I have been remiss in not updating my skills but as you say, compulsion isn’t the answer. I do think that people who have been suspended for more than, say, 6 months should have to take some sort of abbreviated test to show they are safe, especially if they lost their license for dangerous driving.
*I know lots of people who have passed a test but they scare the living daylights out of me. Passing the test isn’t the same as being a good driver.
Simon, many of those rules are not new – hence my comment about being obvious.
Tell me about it 😐
Julia, sure. The vehicle should always be in the right gear for the speed. it is not necessary to change through the box one gear at a time to do this. Block changing – i.e first to third to fifth may be more efficient if you are accelerating briskly as there is an overlap in the box, making the interim gears redundant for the manoeuvre. The same applies coming down through the box; you brake until you are at the desired speed and select the appropriate gear for that speed. Overall, it eases strain on the car and improves fuel efficiency.
Ah, right! Thanks for that. 😉
I think I might have done that a few times when I took some post-passing motorway and dual -carriageway lessons. I’d prepaid for a block of lessons and thought it was a better idea than just getting a refund. It was very useful – I’d recommend it to anyone, as passing the test is, as Simon says, when the REAL learning begins!
Incidentally, the standard of driving is pretty appalling in my part of London. I had a day off last week and, while driving to the supermarket at about 11:00 in the morning – 30mph stretch of residential road with many small junctions leading to several schools – was passed on the wrong side of the road by some ****hole on a people carrier (I suspect an unlicensed minicab) who clearly thought the limit should have been 50mph.
I was only surprised that he went ROUND the traffic island, rather than cutting in front of me. It is, sadly, not unisual…
Definitely. On the occasions where people took motorway lessons from me, there was a huge leap in confidence. If I had the opportunity prior to the test, I would take learners out onto dual carriageways and get them to put their foot down. Their forward perception improved as a consequence.
Block changing? what happens if you are riding about on a Suzuki RGV 250 🙂 ? being a IAM member passing my test for motorcycles and an ex LGV driver, I understand block changing very well, I could block change up starting in 4th low range low split, go to 6th ( upper range ) low split and finally 8th high spit there fore missing out on 13 gears, of course this was with the tractor unit only, having 560 horse power and hundreds of pounds torque pushing 8 tons made a power to weight ratio that gave a hard time to the poseurs in their newer generation Golf turbos 🙂 , or am I being too irrelevant for an IAM member?.
More than five gears..?
*faints*
😉
I’ve done quite a bit of racing over the years and there has been a block-change v. “rowing” debate for years. This really only applies to down-changes as you would always want to keep the engine in the sweet spot where torque is at its maximum when accelerating on track. I tend to combine the two, block-changing on some corners but not others- for a big stop from high speed into a second gear hairpin I’d “row”- I think there’s less danger of over-revving that way. With one of my latest squeezes, that doesn’t matter- flappy paddles, a sequential ‘box and software that matches revs to wheelspeed in each gear and won’t select the gear until it is safe to do so. Awesome stuff. 🙂
I do a bit of race instructing and a lot of road miles, and the standard of driving is uniformly shite.
Indeed. Both my vehicles have six. Every so often I forget which one I’m in… Ahem
I would like to see you accelerating away in my morris 1000 without going sequentially through the gears!
I passed my test (first time) in 1977 and remember my instructor telling me that changing from fourth to second when decelerating would impress the examiner… But I’ve never heard it called ‘block changing’ until today…
He also smoked cigars through every lesson… is it too late to claim compo do you think…?
To what extent are these endless rule changes – some of them mere fashion, such as the block-change thing – simply credentialism or barriers-to-entry by another name?
Andrew, as I mentioned earlier in the discussion, the legality regarding supervising learners is nothing new. The mobile phones thing is only in that there is now a specific offence relating to drivers, but the principle is as old as “driving without due care and attention”.
Block changing and other similar techniques required by the test are driven[sic] by the DSA’s desire to promote eco-driving. So it’s new in that respect. Your assessment of it is spot on. Using the gears sequentially may not be efficient, but is not unsafe and should not, therefore result in a test fail. Unfortunately, it will…
@Private Widdle: “…software that matches revs to wheelspeed in each gear…”
Don’t you yearn for the days when you actually drove the car, rather than playing the computer game that’s driving the car its own way?
I know I do…