Consequences

Following on from this comment, I thought I’d expand a little.

Of course! They’ve grown up conditioned to fear no consequences because none have existed for them.

Over the past ten years, I’ve noticed a decline in the standard of candidates for CBT. Less so with DAS. Those planning to go on and complete their full licence are more motivated to learn and tend to have an underlying awareness of what it involves – although not all and I do have difficulties with situational awareness from time to time, especially when it comes to multilane roundabouts. The other factor with full licence candidates, is that being motivated, they have usually already bought themselves suitable riding kit. Sometimes we have to lend a helmet, but this is much less so than with CBT candidates and it is CBT candidates that I am discussing here.

Behaviour has consequences and as Julia says in her comment, we have a generation growing up who have been shielded from the consequences of bad decisions. As I have noticed, there are two separate demographics that are evolving. The first being youngsters who have been shielded from consequences who frequently turn up late, ill equipped and glugging back energy drinks. If you have tried to train someone in machine control who is high on Red Bull, I can assure you that it is an experience. That stuff creates a high, followed by a sudden dip. What you see is erratic behaviour and dangerous machine control. The outcome has been that we ban energy drinks on site.

However, let’s get to what I’m really on about here. We send out emails that they have to confirm with a signature via our booking system, that tells them where and when to arrive and what minimum kit they must have. We will supply a helmet, gloves and a jacket. We do not supply footwear or jeans. Therefore, in bold letters, the email tells them that they must be at the centre by 08:45, wearing as a minimum, denim jeans and suitable boots that cover the ankle. Trainers and tracksuit bottoms are not acceptable and they will be turned away with no refund if they turn up so attired.

On a daily basis we get at least one who turns up at 09:00 or later, in tracksuit bottoms and trainers. Usually, they are planning to become delivery riders (apparently the Job Centres are really pushing this option) and are under the impression that CBT is a formality that will take an hour or so. Nope. It’s a full day or more, depending on the candidate’s abilities. On Friday, I had one who was dressed in trainers and tracksuit bottoms but was at least early. I advised him that if he could go across the road and buy suitable attire and was back by 09:00 at the latest, he could join the course. At 09:00 as there was no sign of him, I started the course. Now, it’s important to realise here that I have a set syllabus that I am required to cover by the DVSA. If I missed bits out, I could lose my licence to train. I was well through the first element when this guy strolled back at around 09:25 and was upset that having bought boots and jeans I wouldn’t let him just join in. At this point, I hadn’t carried out a licence check or an eyesight check, nor had I fitted him out with the helmet, gloves and jacket that he would need, all of which would have taken another ten to fifteen minutes including him getting changed. And given the above about the syllabus, I would have had to go back to where I’d started half an hour previously. So I sent him away. Not before I had been treated to the inevitable begging and pleading, along with tales of woe about how difficult it would be for him and was there anything I could do to help? This seems to be the standard response. They didn’t read the email and then signed it (apparently his brother did that for him and said it would be okay), consequently arrived unprepared, but somehow I must do something to make it all work. Well, no. Not my problem and I won’t let them make it my problem.

The other issue we get is the complete lack of situational awareness. One candidate this week had returned to complete a road ride as my colleague had terminated the previous one early, given the candidate’s poor roadcraft (none at all). He was told to complete the online Ride Free course before returning, which, he assured us, he had done. For all the good it seemed to have done.

When he hurtled onto a roundabout, failing to adjust speed, failing to look right and failing to respond to my ‘stop! stop! stop!’ over the radio, the near miss rather than collision was courtesy of a quick witted driver who braked, swerved and gave the candidate an earful of his horn.

I terminated the road ride and was subjected to the usual pleading and begging. If I only gave him a second chance, he would do it right next time. Unfortunately, the roundabout wasn’t the problem, it was something deeper than that – a lack of situational and spatial awareness, a failure to observe the road ahead and respond to the changing traffic conditions. So, no amount of begging and pleading or hard luck tales was going to work. This really irritates. As the late Mrs L used to say, ‘your failure to plan is not my emergency’ and I really take issue with having their life problems and excuses being offloaded onto me in an attempt at guilt tripping me into changing my mind. The actual reaction is to strengthen my resolve. The repeated ‘no’ becomes ever more sharp and firm.

Now, if you haven’t already guessed I am talking about the second demographic here. There is an element of cultural enrichment going on. Many of these people come from countries and cultures where timekeeping is irrelevant, the road systems are – how shall we say – different, and begging and pleading seems to be the way to deal with awkward officials like us. One such, having turned across the path of another vehicle – again resulting in firm braking – promised me on his honour that he would never do it again, so long as I issued him with a certificate. Another, having been refused by one instructor, hung around until another group arrived back from their road ride and harangued that instructor, demanding a certificate.

So, there are two issues arising here. A massive cultural difference that sees our rules and roadcraft as nothing to worry about and can be blagged, and the younger generation who have been brought up shielded from consequences – with some overlap between the two. What is happening here is that they are coming up hard against consequences and we are refusing to budge – leading to a pretty much daily confrontation. At least we are getting well versed in it and can anticipate every exchange before it happens. I’ve even got to the point where as a new client walks in, the first thing I do is look at their feet.

One question that has been floating around in my mind is this – how long before one of us is offered a bribe?