SINCE putting my driving skills to the test with Redditch and Bromsgrove Advanced Motorist’s course I have been learning to take my driving up a gear, and last week’s session was no exception.
As much as we all like to think we are amazing drivers who can spot a pigeon in the road from a mile away, most of us don’t actually take a lot in. After my last session with observer David, I realised just how much I was missing by driving with tunnel vision.
How many of us drive down the road and miss the sign to get off at the next exit? Or are surprised to see three buses pulling out despite going past a bus station?
I learned exactly what to look for on the road which is basically anything which may cause me as a driver to react. David likes to use the term expect the unexpected, but I learned how to take in as much information as possible so most things would not come as a surprise. That means not having to do those emergency stops, when it isn’t actually an emergency. Let’s face it we all hit that break a little to hard at times and blame the driver in front or the lorry which came out of nowhere. But part of the advance motorist course is to learn how to prevent having to do that in the first place.
One of my biggest fails is definitely breaking too late and coming to quite an abrupt stop. After just a few weeks with David I already drive a lot smoother. That means breaking earlier, slowing down so I don’t have to stop at the lights because they have already changed by the time I get there. Not only is it a much safer way to drive it’s already been saving me those precious pennies I spoke about in the last instalment.
Each session is between one and two hours, which can be a lot of driving. I would definitely recommend get a good night’s sleep and maybe keeping your driving to a minimal on the day you go out with the observer. It does get tiring and as we all know it’s not a clever idea to drive while tired.
However, David is great at picking up when you’ve reached limit. He uses great diagrams and acronyms to explain things but he can so tell when you have glazed over and knows when enough is enough. This makes it a lot more enjoyable than back when you were learning to drive and the time seemed never ending. He knows when you just can’t take in any more which I think is a rare quality in teachers.
