Learner Drivers come in all shapes and sizes and with often pre-conceived ideas as to what is required and how long it might take to get up to speed so to speak!
For many, getting up to speed is no problem at all; after all, all you gotta do is press like blazes on the gas pedal and hope that nothing gets in your way!
By the way while we tend to call the gas pedal the Accelerator in UK. and Ireland, which is where this treatise is coming from, most Driving Schools now use the term “Gas Pedal “ since it is short, sweet and to the point! It is so short in fact that if your Instructor is out of breath, reading the paper or talking about the weather, all he or she has to do in order to maintain some forward motion is to bellow just the one word. GAS! Very economic and an instantly recognisable command!
“Get on the Gas" …"Get off the Gas"…" More Gas" …"Less Gas" or preferably just …GAS! These will be phrases that the Learner will become attuned to frequently while being trained by the friendly neighbourhood Driving Instructor. Knowing when and more importantly, when not to step on the Gas is an integral part of Learning to Drive. It is going to become even more important from now on due to the ever increasing cost of fuel and the ever increasing time spent in traffic jams!
While there have been many myths about Learning to drive and the need or otherwise of Driving Lessons, perpetuated over the years, one such myth does ring true however. And that is that taking lessons from Mum or Dad (Mom ‘n Pop outside of Europe!) is the quickest way to create an Ice Age and a Nuclear Winter scenario in the normally tranquil environment of today’s 2.2 Litre Nuclear family.
Dads, particularly, are not renowned for their patience, especially when trying to coax their Daughters to get a move on! I should know, and I should also know better, since we are coaching our Daughters right now! It is Labour of Love rather than a relaxing afternoon’s drive! Practise makes perfect or so they say but They didn’t give any pointers to those of us unfortunate to be both Dads AND Driving Instructors!
In the crazy world of Driving Today when more and more Learners take to the road every minute, it has become absolutely essential to enlist the services and expertise of a Driving School. We are not talking about the Driving Test here since that requires another 1000 pages but the need to build on a sound foundation of Driving Skills and Advanced Awareness without which a driving career can often be over before it has started!
Driving Lessons need to be taken at the outset to create substance on which skills are built. Driving Lessons only taken just before a Driving Test may have the desired effect on the day but what happens subsequently? The first two years AFTER passing the Driving Test are the most crucial and a huge proportion of Learner Drivers experience the embarrassment and financial heartache of serious accidents during this time. These can be avoided almost entirely if the Learner Driver takes sufficient Lessons at the outset.
It is often argued that Driving Lessons are expensive and prohibitive but the cost of the fallout from accidents, even relatively minor ones, is far in excess of a good course of lessons
Learner Drivers are really only concerned initially with the Driving Test, with a few exceptions. Driving Instructors are really only concerned initially with Skills for Life and teasing out (with some difficulty) an awareness of the dangers involved in sitting in the driving seat. Finding a balance and a smooth path through these apparently contrasting mind sets is really the greatest challenge for a Driving Instructor. The need to give Driving Lessons to those that are not really interested and who are blissfully unaware of the dangers is something that Governments the world over at the present time are grappling with.
The realisation that young Learner Drivers will always think the same way unless shown another more realistic approach to safety and long life behind the wheel, backed up by well enforced regulations, is gathering momentum. Legislation in Ireland covering all aspects of Learning to Drive, Driving Lessons, Driving Tests AND Driving Schools has been backed up for several years but is now seeing the light of day and the next year or so is set to be momentous in this explosive environment.
