andy_s:
I’ve always looked at most driving lessons as just a way to get you through a test rather than actually being proficient driving on the road in the real world. As for this idea, not a bad one really… I’d also like to see more time spent teaching people how to park more often in a congested car park… the amount of people I get stuck behind who spend way too long shunting a ford fiesta into a bay I could fit a truck in.
Bay parking is a part of the driving test in certain areas.
bald bloke:
Bay parking is a part of the driving test in certain areas.
Yes, and the way my sister and my other half were taught to perform this manoeuvre was dead wrong in my opinion.
They were taught to drive past the space exactly perpendicular and then reverse back and screw it through a full 90 degrees into the bay… 
■■■■■■■■.
F-reds:
bald bloke:
Bay parking is a part of the driving test in certain areas.Yes, and the way my sister and my other half were taught to perform this manoeuvre was dead wrong in my opinion.
They were taught to drive past the space exactly perpendicular and then reverse back and screw it through a full 90 degrees into the bay…
[zb].
That’s obviously to appease the examiner .
F-reds:
bald bloke:
Bay parking is a part of the driving test in certain areas.Yes, and the way my sister and my other half were taught to perform this manoeuvre was dead wrong in my opinion.
They were taught to drive past the space exactly perpendicular and then reverse back and screw it through a full 90 degrees into the bay…
[zb].
I do not know why ADIs teach it that way because there is nothing to stop them teaching the easy way and the examiners are quite happy for it to be done any way as long as safe
ROG:
F-reds:
bald bloke:
Bay parking is a part of the driving test in certain areas.Yes, and the way my sister and my other half were taught to perform this manoeuvre was dead wrong in my opinion.
They were taught to drive past the space exactly perpendicular and then reverse back and screw it through a full 90 degrees into the bay…
[zb].
I do not know why ADIs teach it that way because there is nothing to stop them teaching the easy way and the examiners are quite happy for it to be done any way as long as safe
Just asked the wife but her test centre don’t include bay parking in their tests.
bald bloke:
That’s obviously to appease the examiner .
I’m sure you quite right BB, but that just highlights what I was alluding to; unfortunately driving to a “test standard” in a car, currently doesn’t prepare you for real world driving, because either what they teach is not applicable, or it is not done enough.
I would campaign for not only motorway driving for learners, but also a minimum number of entrances/exits and lane changes too.
ROG:
I do not know why ADIs teach it that way because there is nothing to stop them teaching the easy way and the examiners are quite happy for it to be done any way as long as safe
Clearly the ADI standards are not clear enough then ROG…
I don’t have time for learners on todays busy roads but I reckon it’s down to instructors as to why they don’t do so well,maybe instructors need more training,as regards motorways I listened to a young woman on the news tonight and she stated that she would be very nervous going on the motorway and said even members of her family who passed have never been on the motorways and never will as they are too scared to do so
truckman020:
I don’t have time for learners on todays busy roads
We’ve all been there.
discoman:
Long over due … in Australia, u do motorway driving as part of the 120hours … you also have to do night driving. Restricted to 90kph once you pass the tes you then go on red P’s for a minimum of 12 months still restricted to 90kph. After that you do another hazard perception test to progress on to green P’s for a minimum of 18 months restricted to 100kph … then you do a written test before you get a full licence.Maybe the DFT can learn from this … and should help make learning harder.
All of them 120 hours need to be documented with licence details km and roads driving on and locations etc.
Australia had over 1200 road fatalities in 2015 so my question is does the system work…?
Hopefully people will start getting taught to put their [zb]ing lights on when driving in the fog!
Been down to Gatwick today, and the amount of knobs on the M40 in the thick fog with no lights on was unreal. I can understand the odd driver or two not realising because their dash binnacle is lit up on these modern cars, but they can’t all have been under that illusion.
eagerbeaver:
Hopefully people will start getting taught to put their [zb]ing lights on when driving in the fog!Been down to Gatwick today, and the amount of knobs on the M40 in the thick fog with no lights on was unreal. I can understand the odd driver or two not realising because their dash binnacle is lit up on these modern cars, but they can’t all have been under that illusion.
Auto lights buddy, bloody things should be banned. Ambient light in fog can be quite high so the car doesn’t switch them on, and as you rightly say the permanently illuminated dash fools the drivers into thinking that their lights are on. I got sick of giving the coffee bean signal to unlit overtaking cars the other day around Oxford.
bald bloke:
Anyone can’t just stick a sign on their car and call themselves an instructor as I’m sure you know.
Not true with cars. They’re tested regularly and graded. The ‘green octagon’ sticker means an approved instructor; a red sticker (can’t remember the shape) means someone who failed the test (although they may previously have passed) and can only teach for a restricted period. Unless you’re approved, you can’t teach for money.
With HGVs, there’s no such scheme, which means any foul-tempered jerk with supposedly three years’ HGV driving experience can become an instructor.
As already said, we have the red and green P plates here for newly passed drivers and we still have loads of fatalities on the roads. We go on the M1 down to Brisbane and sit there in the nearside lane of three and watch the antics and accidents waiting to happen idiots. It ain’t necessarily speeding that kills, or being just over the limit, it’s the tailgating, weaving about and generally driving like the proverbial ****. 100KM/h road with a berk sat in the middle lane doing 85/90 and refusing to move over. Another idiot gets right up his/her clacker and then carves someone else up changing lanes to get past. As for engine size for new drivers or riders, I think it should be a limited power to weight ratio because some of these little pocket rockets are too bloody quick for a lot of experienced drivers, let alone a pimply yoof who sees his car as a ■■■■ extension. I also see so many young birds driving like right bleedin’ idiots, that I’m amazed they don’t kill their selves or some other poor bugger.
I’ve finished my rant for now, but I’ll probably think of something else soon. 
IndigoJo:
bald bloke:
Anyone can’t just stick a sign on their car and call themselves an instructor as I’m sure you know.Not true with cars. They’re tested regularly and graded. The ‘green octagon’ sticker means an approved instructor; a red sticker (can’t remember the shape) means someone who failed the test (although they may previously have passed) and can only teach for a restricted period. Unless you’re approved, you can’t teach for money.
With HGVs, there’s no such scheme, which means any foul-tempered jerk with supposedly three years’ HGV driving experience can become an instructor.
I’m aware of that read what i wrote my wife’s been at it for about 13 yrs and it’s pink not red and you can still teach for money.
eagerbeaver:
Hopefully people will start getting taught to put their [zb]ing lights on when driving in the fog!Been down to Gatwick today, and the amount of knobs on the M40 in the thick fog with no lights on was unreal. I can understand the odd driver or two not realising because their dash binnacle is lit up on these modern cars, but they can’t all have been under that illusion.
car drivers wait until it rains, then they put their fog lights on
The-Snowman:
truckman020:
I don’t have time for learners on todays busy roads
but then I don’t have children to teach and I am a miserable sod most times
The UK is one of the safest countries in the world to drive in, which I didn’t appreciate till I drove in a few other countries outside of Europe and saw what a joke the test was compared to the UK.
One example, Thailand, Jan1, 199 people died and nearly 2000 injured.
110,000 vehicles stopped for roadside document check, 33,000 didn’t possess a driving licence.
11 rollover coach crashes in the last 14 days. Nearly 27,000 died there on the roads last year.
All with a population just above the UK.
Here in Canada & the US, the driving standards are terrible compared to UK/Europe, the test here is 15mins round the block a couple of times.
Everybody should be taught motorway/dual carriageway driving over there as far as entry/exit and lane discipline is concerned whether it be before or after a test, maybe have a two stage test before getting a full licence.
in eire untill recent years you just got your provisional,then after a max 2 years you had to sit your test…if you failed,you just kept driving till you resat it within another 2 years,and when you failed.just repeat and repeat…never any need to pass so long as you kept taking a test every cpl of years…theres folk here been driving for 50 years and still never passed…since they changed it to having a qualified driver next to you,there was a flash in the pan purge,then its back to nobody really gives a toss now (including the guards).and its back to normal till stopped…
definitely the place to be for an easy life…eg…
on a genuine driving test the question to an older dude was as follows…whats the speed limit on the motorway…? answer…don’t be asking me about motorways,il only be driving to the shops and going to mass on sunday…il never be on a motorway so don’t be asking daft questions…and he passed.
in some areas,they still broadcast on the radio what a roundabout is,and in populated areas,theres tv ads about what to do on motorways…absolute bliss to watch,