The complete novice will drive round the nursery routes for a couple of driving lessons until basic skills are established. It will be for the instructor to ensure that their clients do not become bored or over-stretched and frightened.
Basic driving lessons
Until your client can control the driving school car well (in terms of road positioning; smooth gear changing; slowing the driving school car down to the correct speed approaching junctions; turning both left-hand and right-hand corners; good mirror checks; M-S-P-S/G-L routine; and feeling confident undertaking all this), they should stay on the nursery routes. You might consider taking your clients on brief excursions giving the same exercises on different, more difficult roads and more major roads and then taking them back to familiar territory either before or after giving driving lessons on emerging. This might show you whether or not they are confident and competent enough to venture on to more intermediate routes.
Clients will always be anxious about venturing out on to a major/main road, so choosing the right road and at a quiet time of day will be the next step. Reinforce the fact that they are making good progress and that driving on a main road is actually easier (wider roads, etc.). Also give reassurance that you will help them if any difficult situations arise.
This route should ideally be circular in an anti-clockwise direction to avoid the more difficult right-hand turns in busy traffic. Most, if not all, turns should be major to minor, with perhaps the majority of the route being bends. This excursion on to the main roads will encourage a slightly different and a more relaxed steering technique around bends, as opposed to the sharper corners found on estates. This will help to overcome your client’s possible fear of driving on major roads. Always talk to them, give praise frequently and help where required, and continuously reassure them that they are not being left alone to drive on a busier road.
Remember that emerging is perhaps one of the most difficult topics. Returning to familiar territory to do this will be less stressful. Any previous emerging, undertaken while delivering the driving lesson on turning left and right, should have been done with you talking them through the situation and encouraging them to feel and use the ‘bite-point’.
After the briefings and practice on emerging techniques, general driving using sweeping and sharp corners as well as clutch control practices on inclines – should be done in different areas. They should now be classified as intermediate drivers, and different, more challenging, routes should be sought – but avoid roundabouts and very busy roads at peak driving times. Hill starts, emergency stops and crossroads would come under this intermediate stage.
During this intermediate level you might consider introducing your client to one of the reversing manoeuvres, ideally the turn in the road. This will serve several purposes. It will allow the client to have even more practice at clutch control. You will be able to demonstrate to the client that, despite what their friends may have told them, reverse manoeuvres are not that difficult. And, finally, they will gain even more insight into how the steering works. Many instructors, however, leave the manoeuvres to the end of the course when most skills have been practised to a high level of competence.
After completing the aforementioned junctions and hill starts, the natural progression would be to deal with roundabouts. Once the client is reasonably comfortable at tackling roundabouts in all directions, the driving can then be expanded to include ever-more demanding roads and areas. This will widen their experience and help develop their expertise. Thereafter they could be classified as competent drivers.
Once the client is considered to be competent and driving with a good level of ability, confidence and independence, the remainder of the driving lesson topics can be covered.
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