In recent times, the Driver Training industry has seen lots of change in the way Driving Instructors are both initially and regularly tested to ensure the highest quality of training is being given.
Traditionally, the process of teaching somebody to drive involved telling them how to do something, watching them to ensure that they were doing what they were being asked to do and looking out for signs that they'd learnt what they were doing - learning by repetition (or for those of you who have studied this stuff, learning by rote). Once the pupil had learnt what was expected of them, the instruction could be taken away and replaced with prompts and if that was successful, then the pupil was left to their own devices with the instructor watching closely for any mistakes. If a mistake was spotted, it was a question of "See it, Say it, Sort it" and following a few targeted questions to establish the root cause of the problem, a solution would be offered to the pupil and the cycle began again until everything was right - basically a lot of talking being done by the instructors and not a lot of input from the pupils aside from following instructions.
These days, we try to involve the pupil a lot more. We try to find out what they already know and build on that. At the age of 17, if a learner driver has been in a car once a day and been present when the car has been driven through just 5 junctions on each journey, then they have witnesses well over 30,000 demonstrations of how to drive through junctions. They've seen all different types of junctions from roundabouts to motorways to open and closed junctions to those controlled by traffic lights - there should already be a lot of knowledge in there before they even get into a car with a Driving Instructor and we ask them for this information as part of their lessons, with an aim to trying to work in partnership with the pupil to fill in any gaps rather than just fire information at them.
However, as these conversations flow, I am learning some pretty uncomfortable stuff!
The average learner driver doesn't appear to respect anyone as being a good driver and they don't appear to have any reasons for holding this opinion with most saying that they've never been involved in any crashes or anything. Apparently, everyone else on the roads can't be trusted to stop at red lights, go at green ones, stop and give way at junctions as defined in the Highway Code or even cross a road safely when on foot. I even had one girl tell me once that a driver ahead of us who had passed through a junction might suddenly stop and reverse back across it, in spite of having never seen anyone do that and in spite of her saying that she wouldn't because it would be a dangerous thing to do - that was her reason for stopping at a green traffic light and she said a number of times "you never know what they might do do you"
Why are young people thinking like that??
The answer is "prejudice"
In the dictionary, the word "Prejudice" is defined as "holding a preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience" or "to make biased" - the word fits this situation almost perfectly.
We live in an age where people are accepted for being different more than ever before. Racism, sexism and homophobia may not be totally eradicated, but we're generally a lot more tolerant in society towards those groups of people than we were... or are we? Maybe we've just made it unpopular to target those groups and made it okay to target others?
For some reason, a very high proportion of young people today tell me that they think "other road users" are "all idiots" and it's such a well established opinion that it's almost impossible to challenge it and see change - I must stand out as being about the only person they've ever spoken to who doesn't hold that opinion!
Of course, I am one of those other road users, and as such I identify with words like "everyone" and "all" - because by definition, saying "everyone's an idiot on the roads" includes me as well (and you). I have tried pointing out to people expressing these views this attitude that if you pick any individual car driving down the road, it could be a highly qualified driver with years of experience and a raft of advanced driving qualifications or it could be a recently passed driver who might make a few mistakes. Those people are uncomfortable when they're asked to justify their attitude towards me as one of the "everyone". The truth is that prejudice isn't fair, but I think it's entirely fair to say that if you're uncomfortable discussing your prejudices face to face with somebody, then that's the clearest sign of all that maybe you shouldn't hold those prejudices at all.
There is the strong possibility of course that this opinion doesn't reflect the true attitude of the new driver I am working with - they may simply be telling me what they think I want them to say and to be fair to them, I see plenty of stereotypes around me that encourage that opinion!
Only last week, I watched a viral video taken by a cyclist where a Driving Instructor was arguing with them that they should be using a cycle lane by law (which isn't true - use of cycle lanes is encouraged and the intention is that they're safer places for cyclists to be, but using them isn't mandated by law). The tone of that video is very much anti-cyclist but also "I am the be all and end all of motoring, so don't you dare to challenge me" - if that attitude is transferred from trainer to trainee (as attitudes often will be), then we've got a new driver on the roads that would never ask a question to a Driving Instructor and may develop that prejudice towards cyclists.
I had a pupil once who was a week away from passing a driving test on his first shot at it when he did a parallel park for me. I asked him what he thought of it (encouraging self reflection is one of the modern ways of training people). He thought for a bit and said he was very happy with the manoeuvre, but was keen to hear from me if there was anything wrong that I could see that he wasn't aware of. My reply was that it was a good parking exercise, and that it would pass a test with ease but to make it perfect, he might want to try and straighten his front wheels next time so they didn't stick out. Joe's next comment was that he was on a hill (a very, very minor gradient that I hadn't even realised was present until he said that) and that the Highway Code recommends having the wheels facing into the kerb when parked on hills. My answer to that was a very grey sounding "just use your common sense Joe because it depends on how steep the hill is" but it was a great moment for me because it told me that he was thinking in the right way about his driving. Sadly, many Driving Instructors I've discussed that with think Joe was being cocky and that I should have bought him down a peg or two... which is a shame when he was such an obviously well read individual making an entirely correct and factual point.
I think it's time we dropped the attitude of disrespecting each other when we're on the roads. We're obviously all in possession of different levels of skill, but the crashes aren't being caused by idiots, they're being caused by people just like the rest of us. Like you, they're busy, distracted by kids fighting on the back seats and stressed out with the pressures of life, so they make mistakes... just like you do. Surely those of us that are trained to a higher standard should be looking after those that struggle a bit rather than just belittling them?
Those of us that are in a position to talk to the kids also need to drop those stereotypes too.
Good driving isn't about driving slowly, it's about concentrating on what you're doing and making good decisions. Many, many crashes take place below speed limits, and the fact that it's at a lower speed doesn't make it alright. Hitting the little girl at 20mph so she stands an 80% chance of life rather than an 80% chance of death at 30mph does not make it okay to hit the little girl - avoiding hitting her is our aim isn't it?
The young people I work with don't want to be involved in car crashes. They don't sit in cars deliberately encouraging their recently passed friend to drive stupidly and risk hurting everyone but they're told that that's what happens whenever young people get together to go anywhere in a car. Is it any wonder they crash shortly after passing their test as they listen to a bit of music and converse with their friends on the way to McDonalds when nobody ever told them that that kind of normal teenager behaviour was exactly what they meant when they were talking about "idiots"?
When it comes to drinking and driving, the average drink driver is somebody who has drunk a couple of pints or had a couple of glasses of wine and then driven whilst comfortably over the limit whilst being unaware of that fact. It's a shame the conversation isn't about them at the presentations. If it was, then perhaps people would become more educated about what it takes to become a drink driver. As it is though, the people who feature in the presentations have always been out on a fifteen hour bender and they're 5 times over the limit at the point in time where they crash and kill everyone in the car. Is it any wonder that the so many drivers see nothing wrong with a couple of pints when driving? Is it any wonder that they don't see their two pints and that guy's 15 hour bender as the same thing?
We have a greater understanding now than we have ever had before as to the real causes of car crashes, it's perhaps about time the training system (at all levels) caught up.
Nick Heath Driver Training is based in Alsager and teaches people to drive from scratch as well as training new driving instructors and working with more experienced drivers to help them to improve their driving. Nick is a qualified Diamond Advanced Driving examiner and trainer, is heavily involved with the local Driving Instructor Associations and is regularly asked to feature on local radio stations to give expert analysis on driving related new items. More information is available on our website www.nickheathdrivertraining.org.uk
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