Social media & how it’s affected people learning to drive

It’s human nature to try & find the easiest way around any particular task & in this day & age, that has never been more true

In modern times, learner drivers have told me in the car that they “can’t” sit down & watch a film, they don’t read books because it takes too much effort & they find learning anything tiring

The reasons for this are very well researched & understood

Firstly, social media has created an environment which gives the illusion that the world can be explained in 30 seconds, detail is unnecessary & can easily be skipped

Secondly, our increased understanding of learning difficulties means that we’re more tolerant than we have been in the past if people don’t learn & there are no real consequences to not actively working around your limitations

That is… until you learn to drive!

A failed driving test hurts & some people have to give up learning to drive completely as a result of being able to pass a theory test – mental fitness is an important aspect of driving

Many years ago, I read an interview with a man who retired after being a Driving Instructor for 50 years. He was asked the question “you’ll have seen a lot of changes over the course of your career, have all of those changes been positive?” He replied “no, most of the changes have been positive, but the introduction of the multiple choice theory test (which was 1996) was a backwards step. In the past, an examiner asked verbal questions at the end of the test & where a pupil didn’t give enough detail in the answer, they would prompt for more information in order to satisfy themselves as to the pupil’s level of knowledge, now we have pupil’s guessing the correct answer from a choice of two having dismissed another two answers that are frankly quite stupid & getting through”

I wonder what that man thinks of today’s learner experience where most learner drivers are open & honest in that they don’t possess a copy of the Highway Code & if they do, they have never made an effort to read it? This is what they tell me in the car, even in cases where parents have bought them a copy of the book for their birthday, which is rare

I also wonder what he would make of learner drivers looking at a 15 second video on an entertainment website & then saying that they know the subject enough to face a test of their knowledge?

And I wonder how he feels when he sees things on the road like people using left hand lanes to turn right on roundabouts without being directed to do so by road markings?

A few years ago, a “driving school” became very prominent on social media giving out bad advice on how to drive on the driving test in the form of a series of clips of “real life” recordings of “real DVSA Examiners marking failed driving tests”

Firstly, this in itself is against the rules of the DVSA which don’t even allow dash cams to record the voices of examiners, never mind permit mounted cameras to clearly film the occupants of the car from various directions. Where an Examiner has reason to think that they’re being recorded, they will activate their own body cameras & terminate the test

Secondly, a lot of the incidents that were discussed weren’t serious faults. We had one for example, where a serious fault was marked for not applying the handbrake at a zebra crossing whilst people crossed. Any experienced ADI will tell you that with no loss of control, that’s a driver fault at most

We also had a serious fault marked for a pupil who stopped at a zebra crossing as people walked towards it, only for them to apparently change their mind about crossing the road, turn & walk away. On a test, this would not attract a fault at all (I’ve had a strong test pass this week actually, in which a similar incident occurred, no fault associated with that at all)

Finally, we saw an examiner give praise at the end of a test for dropping to 2^nd gear for all of the 20mph speed limited zones that they’d driven through. I don’t think they’d comment on that sort of thing at all! If anything, if it was demonstrated a few times on the test, I think they’d mark a driver fault for not using 3^rd & being more considerate to the environment

The last time I saw that driving school come up on my news feed, it was a load of pictures of a lady (recognisable from the examiner videos) walking on a beach wearing a bikini – now what’s the story there?! Was this ever a qualified ADI? The page is owned by a man according to the home page, why is this lady the only “instructor” to regularly feature on it?

Again, DVSA rules on sexual activity & sharing of sexually suggestive content between ADI’s & under 18’s are very clear & strong, & quite rightly so. I’m sure they don’t like what they see that school doing

Another thing I saw recently was over the winter where a “Driving Instructor” criticised people for moving around potholes, saying that there was no need to do that, you’d fail your test for it & you won’t damage your car if you “just glide over the pothole”

Any experienced driver will tell you, car’s don’t simply glide over potholes!

What cars do is drop into the pothole & smash their wheels into the opposite edge of the pothole with violence & momentum carried by weight over 1000kg, often rupturing tyres but sometimes cracking alloy wheels or damaging suspension or steering systems

Why on earth would a driving examiner have a problem with you looking ahead, seeing the pothole & adjusting your road position to avoid potentially damaging your car?

My advice to anyone wanting to learn to drive is not to try & shortcut it. The Highway Code is a simple book, costing less than a fiver & split into bite sized chunks of just a few sentences for each rule. It’s almost like looking at a paper version of Twitter when there’s a common subject. My advice is to read that book. Don’t take any advice from anyone who says that they’ve seen something on social media at all if it’s advising you on what to do & when because of the sheer volume of poor quality information there. Do make use of apps to practice for your theory test but instead of just being happy or unhappy with a passed or failed mock test, note the things you got wrong & look them up in your Highway Code

With a bit of luck, we’ll improve the pass rates for theory again (which were once in the 90% bracket & have dropped massively in the last 15yrs or so since smart phones took over the market) & also help some of you to pass your practical tests too (because if you demonstrate any lack of understanding of the Highway Code on that, it’s pretty much an automatic serious fault)

You might even train your brain to concentrate on a task long enough to watch a film or two too!

For more information & a wider look at this subject, I recommend reading “Stolen Focus” by Johan Hari

 Nick Heath Driver Training helps people of all levels and abilities with their driving. Established in 2005 and based on the South Cheshire / North Staffordshire border in the UK, I can help you to obtain a licence, become a driving instructor, regain your driving confidence or reduce your road risk for work purposes. I am a regular contributor to local and national radio when driving items come up in the news and am willing to contribute to the wider driver training conversation

Anyone wanting more information should call 0800 8 20 2038