The good news for many learner drivers is that the current 2 manoeuvres required on your driving test will be reduced to just 1 reversing exercise.

This will allow more time to be spent on accessing the overall driving standard of the candidate, whilst not increasing the time of the driving test.

However, the major change comes in the format of a new category called ‘independant driving’. 

Essentially what will now happen is that a candidate will be given a series of instructions/directions to follow and will be expected to either follow road direction signs to a local place, or be given 3 or 4 directions to follow in the format of, ‘at the end of the road turn left, then at the end of the new road turn right, then at the roundabout take he 3rd exit’.

This new exercise will last for no more than 10 minutes during the driving test and will asses a candidates ability to ‘read’ the road ahead and make correct decisions based on their understanding of road layouts and directions, which is exactly what they will need to do whilst driving on their own without supervision from a driving instructor.

My pupil pulled out left onto a main road and was immediately confronted with a pedestrian crossing that was just turning to red, we stopped safely and my attention immediately focused on the car behind, they just about stopped, much to my relief, unfortunately the next car behind them didn’t and went right into the back of them!

Getting out to see if there was an damage to my car, I could hear the conversation between the two unfortunate drivers that had collided, it was along the lines of

‘why did you stop?’

‘well the learner in front had stopped’

To which I came in with the fact that the light was on red, to be confronted with,

‘well it’s never been red before in all the years I’ve been coming out of this road’

I did explain the virtues of looking where you are going but it seemed to fall on deaf ears! 

My pupil then added that perhaps he should read the highway code!

I can understand this point to a certain respect but these days all driving instructors are CRB checked to make sure they are not a complete weirdo, so is it that the reputation of driving instructors in the old days is so bad - that people still think driving instructors are ’strange’.

What do you think? I’m interested! 

I’m convinced it’s because people have either forgotten how to drive correctly or more probably, it’s because the rules of the road have changed over the years but drivers are not up-to date with them.

I know that when I was a driver out on the road before I became a driving instructor, I was very good, at least that was my own opinion of myself. When I started to train to become a driving instructor a number of years ago now, I realised how much had changed since I learnt to drive and how bad I was.

Yes I admit I was not a good driver but at the time I believed I was. I’m convinced that this statement must be true for many, many thousands of drivers out there on the roads right now!

So what’s the answer to this dilemma - well what about compulsory retesting of drivers every 10 years!

Probably won’t happen but why not, would it not ultimately make our roads safer, cut down the number of deaths on the roads - and drivers might actually signal correctly on roundabouts!!

I took a pupil for PassPlus who had learnt to drive and passed their test with a different school and had learnt in a diesel car. Problem was she couldn’t drive my petrol car! and took about 2 hours to get used to it in a way that we could then carry on with the passplus modules.

The problem is that in a diesel car, you don’t need any gas on to be able to move the car off in most situations. In a petrol car you need to apply gas before bringing up the clutch to the biting point, before being able to move off.

Not too much difference but one that caused alot of pain for the young driver trying to get to grips with it.

Maybe only driving tests should be done in petrol cars.

If you learn to drive in a petrol car, it’s easy to pick up the technic for a diesel - but very difficult the other way round!  

Basically don’t get suckered in by a free DVD or a free Highway Code, both of which cost a few pounds from any where - don’t pay for a block of lessons up front before you know what your instructor is like.

What if you pay for say 10 lessons to get a cheap rate and on the first lesson you decide you don’t like the driving instructor, basically you’ve already paid so you will probably continue. What then happens is that you begin to hate your lessons and in many cases this leads to giving up driving altogether - what a disaster!

In stead just go for a few lessons paying the normal hourly rate, this will give you the opportunity to decide if you want to continue to learn with that instructor but without the burden of knowing you have to stay with them.  During this time, it will give you chance to see what they are like, do they turn on on time for the lesson, do they answer your questions, are they teaching you anything, and probably most importantly - do you get on with them!

Try before you buy!!

Many young people are pushed into having lessons by their parents, they don’t want to drive, have no desire to drive - so why waste your money, or in most cases their parents money.

There is only a small majority that fall into this category, most people need to learn to drive - want to learn to drive and put 100% into their lessons. That’s great and always ends up with a safe competent driver at the end of their training and go on to be safe drivers for life.

The small majority where their parents pay for their lessons and they don’t want to drive - are in truth extremely difficult to teach - take 2 or 3 times longer than someone who wants to learn, but most importantly are very often not safe because they don’t want to drive!

With anything that we do - if you want to do it - you will - if you don’t - you won’t.

So before booking driving lessons or blaming the driving instructor for not getting on with your driving - think about wether or not you want to learn first!

 so we all know how nerve racking it can be out there when you are not confident about your driving skills -

so why do so many drivers forget this fact and see you with that L plate on and just have get past you?

Often driving in such a way that scares the poor learner that’s trying their best to concentrate. Is it not them that needs driving lessons?

I think it just comes down to one thing, life is lived in the fast lane these days and people cannot be held up by anyone else. OK but don’t do it and put yourself at risk or others, otherwise that fast life will be over, for good!

The number of pupils that drive in their own bubble is quite scary, driving by only looking forward a short distance is dangerous. In order to pass your driving test but more importantly, to be a safe driver you need to continuously scan ahead, looking for dangers long before they become an issue. When you are on your next driving lesson, try looking as far down the road as you can see, to the left and to the right, then scan back towards your car taking in any problems that you may see. This way you will have a continuous assessment of any problems ahead and be able to deal with them in an effective manner.

To be a safe driving - you must burst your bubble! 

But wait - sometimes it may be that you just don’t get on with that particular driving instructor or you just might not get on with their car. It is always worth getting a second opinion with another driving instructor before deciding to change to an automatic car.

Why - because if you pass your practical driving test in an automatic you will only be entitled to drive automatic cars and you will have a restriction on your driving licence.

However, if you feel that you are just not getting it in a manual car then switching to automatic could be the answer.

Without a clutch and gears to worry about, it certainly makes driving a lot more pleasurable. Don’t think that it is realy easy though; you still have to be safe and aware of the road, you still have to complete all your manoevres in order to pass the driving test. It’s not as easy as some people make out - but it is certainly easier than a manual car and you should pass your test sooner.

The best thing to do is give an automatic driving lesson a go and see for yourself, then you can make a better decision as to which way is best for you.