If you have done any of the Standards Check courses with Andrew Love one of the things he will point out is that our driving needs to be of a high standard.

While as teachers/coaches of driving this should be something that we all aspire to. The real benefit is when your pupil does something wrong it will stick out like a sore thumb. It will not feel right.

I had a trainee instructor who failed his Part 3 on risk, because his driving had gone back to what it was before we started his Part 2 training. He did not see the need to keep the standard up.

I did subsequently get rid of him which for me was an awful experience as I have never had to do that before. It felt a bit like what I imagine committing your first murder must be like.

The point here being that if he had kept his driving standards up, we would have likely had a different outcome on his Part 3 and possibly a different outcome with him working with myself and my colleagues.

This leads us to where we now say ‘drive the way you teach, and teach the way you drive’. Besides knowing instinctively when something is not right with your pupils driving, you will be aware of the advantages of driving in a safe, smooth and systematic way.

You will be your own advert for safe driving. You will see the advantages above and beyond passing a driving test and be able to put them over in a convincing way to your pupils.

I was followed the other day by an ADI who had his roof sign up advertising his services. He was tailgating me, arm out the window smoking a cigarette. Draw your own conclusions about an instructor like that!

Assuming we want to keep our driving standards up, and over and beyond what is required for a Part 2 what can we do?

Taking and passing advanced tests is very good. It’s nice to be able to say you are a RoSPA Gold . They will retest you every three years so that should help keep you on your game. The process of testing should serve to remind you what your pupils go through.

Commentary driving forms part of an advanced test. A lot of us use it with our pupils. One of the reasons given for commentary driving is that it forces more awareness on the person giving the commentary.

There are other reasons of course, but it does raise the game of the person giving the commentary. But if commentary is a process of looking forward and dealing with things, it is more about awareness and is external.

So what about our internal thought processes. Can we change the way we drive, can we change the way our pupils want to drive. They will do it the way we tell them in order to get them through the test. But what about after the test. How can we get them to commit.

I particularly like reflection. It does not cost anything which I definitely like. But what I get from it when I do it, is some deeper thoughts about what I do. It’s the process of writing it down and answering questions that makes a difference. Having written it down, I now own the process and the conclusions.

Searching for the right words to express yourself will challenge you. It will take more effort and this will make you own it. We are all lazy so find excuses not to do something. Even the writing of this article has changed the way I thought about it.

If something happens on the road like a near miss or worse still an accident, have a think about it and process it. Next go through the reflection cycle. The questions asked in the cycle should concentrate your mind. As you write stuff down you will find that you are articulating in different ways than when you just thought or talked about it. It will make you a better driver or instructor.

In terms of dealing with our pupils how many of us just pay lip service to the section on the SC/P3 marking sheet ‘At the end of the session-was the pupil encouraged to reflect on their own performance’. Have a think about how you handle that competency with your pupil.

There is a particular reflection cycle called the Gibbs Reflective Cycle. What I think is useful in Gibbs is that there is an emotional element in it, that refers to feelings. We are all creatures of emotion who justify what we do by logic.

In Gibbs the questions under each phase can be more or less as the situation demands it. You can use this process in many walks of life.

Each phase is described along with some of the questions that could be asked. I then follow with an example from an incident that happened to me on the A27.

Writing out this example was a useful exercise.

Description

  • What happened
  • Where did it happen
  • Who was there
  • What was the outcome
  • Why were you there
  • What did you want to happen

Feelings

  • How did you feel before it happened
  • How did you feel during and after it happened
  • What do you think other people think about it
  • What do you think about now

Evaluation

  • What was good and bad about it
  • What went well and what didn’t go well
  • What did you and other contribute

Analysis

  • Why did it happen
  • What do you make of it
  • How can I understand it

Conclusion

  • What have I learnt from it
  • What else could I have done
  • What skills would let me deal with this better

Action Plan

  • If that happened again what would I do differently
  • How will I develop the skills to act differently
  • How can I make sure that I act differently next time

My Example

Description:
I was driving to pick a pupil up, on the A27 Dual Carriageway heading toward Chichester. I was in the middle lane driving between 60-70 mph overtaking some slow moving traffic that wanted to turn off for Havant. A very fast moving car came from the outside lane and cut in front of me, missing me by inches before they took the Havant turn off.

Feelings:
Before it happened I wasn’t thinking about much at all. As it happened I thought WTF! It was a big adrenaline dump.

Evaluation:
It was good that we both survived. I think that even a small bump at those speeds would have had both cars rolling.

Analysis:
Maybe the other driver was racing someone or could have been late for something. Sometimes life’s lottery wins are not what happens to you, but what does not happen, like that other driver just missing me.

Conclusion:
Most bad driving is just that, it’s just done badly. But drive badly often enough and something will catch up with you. I’d like to think the other driver has learnt a lesson from it, but I doubt it. I remember that he had a look on his face that he was enjoying the speed.

Action Plan:
There is nothing I can do about speeding drivers but I can be more careful in places where their speed may cause me problems. In this particular case at exits off fast moving roads. Just thinking about the idiot that nearly killed me should make me more careful at slip roads.

You may or may not agree with what I have written here. You might have used more questions or maybe reached different conclusions.

But I will certainly be more aware at junctions on fast moving roads. I could have read that advice somewhere, someone has probably told me that in the past. The process of writing out the above incident has certainly made me own the thought.

© Liam Greaney

driving-pro.com

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