MisterMMM.com: When do you think I will be ready for my test?

May 20

There are different views towards this question. Some people are worried that they are not keeping up with the Jones's and compete on some basis, either how long since they started , or how many hours they have been learning. How many hours? This is not a good way of measuring things in many ways, because different people are not surprisingly, different. If you have a natural coordination, and have done lots of technical sports, you are often able to learn to drive quicker than someone who hasn't.

There are plenty of stories about people passing with only 20 hours of lessons, and then you find out that they grew up on a farm, and have been driving tractors since they were 6, and on the road with them at 16. No wonder they are good when they get in a car on the road at 17.

One driver I taught, had been racing cars at race tracks around the country for a number of years, and tried to hide it. At the end of their first lesson they drove home, with perfect clutch control, changing gear, and perfect pull-push steering. Of course, they didn't take long to pass!

One of the most important things to remember about driving is that it is not a knowledge based thing, but skill based. Skill takes practice to get good enough for test, even when you know what you are meant to do! Practice makes perfect, and even though I aim for perfection, I don't expect it to happen. This article looks at skills and knowledge.

One aspect of driving which many drivers don't really have a proper grasp of, is that getting it wrong is dangerous. Most drivers when they start learning are very aware of the safety side of things, but after a few lessons, realise that they are really quite safe with the instructor or supervisor. This can lead to a false sense that they are safe, but the real safety comes from dealing with serious situations out on the road, without intervention from the instructor or supervisor.

People are killed or seriously injured each year, and it is mostly due to the driving skills (or lack of them)! The major contributory factor in 2009 is stated as "Failed to look properly".

On test you are allowed 15 errors. This seems like quite a lot, but the examiners are talking simple technical errors, like a wrong gear change, or touching the kerb on a manoeuver. Serious errors though are not tolerated, like not enough time to turn across traffic, or not looking where you are going when you reverse. This is where the potentially serious consequences can occur.

I have only ever had 3 drivers, who got into double figures with errors, and they all passed. In other words, the only time people fail is when they do something potentially or actually dangerous. I have been trying for years to work out how to train people to see the potentially dangerous thing and deal with the situation before it goes wrong, and it seems that experience as well as knowledge, matters a lot. Practice supposedly makes perfect, but all you need to pass the test is to be good enough. You must deal with the real hazards out there, or things will go wrong, not just on test, but when you drive ordinarily.

If you get the chance to drive the family car, do it! The more you see of what people out there try and do, the more you can avoid it!

I never like people to go to test before they are ready. Are you ready yet?

The examiners talk about the frustration they have, when they conduct a test that doesn't give a driver a chance to prove that they really can drive, i.e. nothing happens so they pass them, and then compare that with the driver who technically didn't deal with a really ridiculous situation or dangerous driver perfectly, and they have to fail them.

I teach people to drive, and nothing pleases me more in this line of work, than seeing somebody pass. There's no other point to the job really.