Driving Test

[CXRAndy]

My lad wandered into work last month with his driving instructor, though it was a bit odd!.

He had his Driving Test Pass certificate in his hand, had kept his test date quiet for over a month (fair play to him for that).

Then he insured his car, Phase 1 Peugeot 106 that he's been doing up for over a year, £6000. Bloomin ridiculous really..

That is ridiculous insurance premium. Less than £2k is what my kids have paid for first couple of years after passing test.

Are you living in a high risk area?

 

[Gunk]

After daughter 2 failed her first test using a driving instructor's car and my car, we bought an Up! as her first car. That way she was comfortable with the controls, space and turning points for the next test and everyday driving.
It worked, but the insurance still stung after she passed.

He’s also having lessons in a Fabia so the Citigo should be more familiar

 

[icowden]

That is ridiculous insurance premium. Less than £2k is what my kids have paid for first couple of years after passing test.
Are you living in a high risk area?

I think that Phase 1 puts it in the same group as the GTI so he's insuring a group 25 motor. It's counted as a sports car.

 

[Stephenite]

I gave a family friend a driving lesson earlier today and I’m still reeling from the experience. She’s had twenty lessons apparently. I don’t know what they’ve been teaching her because she has zero road positional sense, can’t use mirrors, and often loses concentration. Resulting in several near misses.

 

[Jameshow]

My daughter passed her driving test Thursday. Got 9 minors😳 but she's a confident yet cautious driver. Getting used to her new car KA but getting the hang of it!

 

[Bazzer]

He’s also having lessons in a Fabia so the Citigo should be more familiar

My Golf was our daughter's "second" car. The Up! and its varations are really city cars, so except in the couple of weeks or so before her test when we solely used her car for practice, we tended to use my car for open road practice. In terms of engine revs, it was much more relaxed.

 

[CXRAndy]

I think that Phase 1 puts it in the same group as the GTI so he's insuring a group 25 motor. It's counted as a sports car.

My lad had to wait till he was in his twenties with no accidents or convictions to be able to get high performance vehicle he wanted.

He lusted after RS3, but even that was too much, ended up with RSQ3, now moved onto Model Y performance. Performance with peanut running costs

 

[CXRAndy]

I gave a family friend a driving lesson earlier today and I’m still reeling from the experience. She’s had twenty lessons apparently. I don’t know what they’ve been teaching her because she has zero road positional sense, can’t use mirrors, and often loses concentration. Resulting in several near misses.

My eldest child passed with 12 minors, most of them being overly careful. I taught her to give plenty of clearance and to wait for ample gaps in traffic when pulling out of junctions.

There does seem to be a little bit of backlash from teaching your own children with their own car as opposed to using a professional instructor.

My second child I mainly taught him, but he had a number of erm 'professional' lessons. The biggest difference between my teaching and the 'Pro' was, the approach to junctions, the 'Pro' wanted my child to keep rolling when pulling up and out of junctions- albeit slowly.

I thought that was so stupid and dangerous, it gives little chance to observe properly, to see if its clear to move out of a junction. We adjusted his driving to creep out on left turns only and to stop fully for right turns.

The other point we picked up is called making progress. The examiners and instructors, expect you to quickly pick up speed, almost rapidly between difference speed limits and not wait for (my opinion) safer gaps to pass parked vehicles or go around cyclists etc.

Over the years I've taught relatives, friends, partners of children, my wife. Overall, no accidents or convictions from my children or their partners and very few incidents in over 25 years of family driving, so I take it I'm doing something nearly right.

 

[icowden]

My eldest child passed with 12 minors, most of them being overly careful. I taught her to give plenty of clearance and to wait for ample gaps in traffic when pulling out of junctions.

I think that's the difference between DIY and using an instructor. An instructor is teaching the pupil to pass the test, not necessarily to drive in the safest way possible (although the two should be synonymous). My eldest passed with no minors, but she had driven all of the test routes many times and been coached from day 1 to pass the test. Her instructor even sat in the car when the test was done, so she was always up to date with how the examiners were marking.

 

[grldtnr]

My eldest child passed with 12 minors, most of them being overly careful. I taught her to give plenty of clearance and to wait for ample gaps in traffic when pulling out of junctions.

There does seem to be a little bit of backlash from teaching your own children with their own car as opposed to using a professional instructor.

My second child I mainly taught him, but he had a number of erm 'professional' lessons. The biggest difference between my teaching and the 'Pro' was, the approach to junctions, the 'Pro' wanted my child to keep rolling when pulling up and out of junctions- albeit slowly.

I thought that was so stupid and dangerous, it gives little chance to observe properly, to see if its clear to move out of a junction. We adjusted his driving to creep out on left turns only and to stop fully for right turns.

The other point we picked up is called making progress. The examiners and instructors, expect you to quickly pick up speed, almost rapidly between difference speed limits and not wait for (my opinion) safer gaps to pass parked vehicles or go around cyclists etc.

Over the years I've taught relatives, friends, partners of children, my wife. Overall, no accidents or convictions from my children or their partners and very few incidents in over 25 years of family driving, so I take it I'm doing something nearly right.

The 'making progress' thing is something I do not agree with, if fast driving is encouraged, then is it safe?
I can understand the reasons, but surely better to drive appropriately for conditions, rather to emphasis making progress.
I passed my test back in '81, more than one test required, one had to be abandoned ( not through my own fault ).
I recently took my motorcycle license and passed first time this year, , not normally my style of driving, but I made progress as advised.
Actually I am pretty pleased that I have maintained the pass standard with 40 years between tests,, riding motorcycles , requires a higher standard of awareness ,I think than driving cars, and it has improved my driving.
Perhaps 40 years experience does that,, teaches you patience with modern traffic.
Mind you, seems to me that once they have that pass certificate ,it's lobbed out the window ,so to speak, given the driving standard I see every day.

 

[Electric_Andy]

I failed the first time (1998) due to hesitancy, which I didn't agree with because it was a 20mph limit, parked cars on my left, absolutely peeing down with rain and I was doing about 15mph. A white van overtook me at about 30mph and I was told I was holding up traffic. Totally the wrong message to send to new drivers IMHO. I do admit that I was waiting at a junction/roundabout for too long a gap when I could have pulled out and "made progress". The only real reason for making progress as I see it, is if you are joining a 40+mph road from a minor road, you can't pull out and dawdle your way up to speed as it could be unsafe. But this is all cloudy now. We were told that other drivers expect you to be doing 40mph on a 40mph road, but what about horses and cyclists? Should the other drivers not be taught to expect slower moving vehicles as par for the course?

 

[grldtnr]

Further more, under instruction from riding school, motorcyclists are encouraged to 'speed' ,by that I mean within 10% of the speed limit, 34 in a 30 , 44 in a 40 and so on,
Reasoning is to discourage tailgating and risky overtakes, my thinking is, if that's so, then a bit more over doesn't matter, when in truth it does !
That is advice from advanced motoring, in all the advanced schemes that are Knocking around.
Yet Roadcraft ( police manual ) doesn't mention that ,just appropriate speed.

 

[Alex321]

I failed the first time (1998) due to hesitancy, which I didn't agree with because it was a 20mph limit, parked cars on my left, absolutely peeing down with rain and I was doing about 15mph. A white van overtook me at about 30mph and I was told I was holding up traffic. Totally the wrong message to send to new drivers IMHO. I do admit that I was waiting at a junction/roundabout for too long a gap when I could have pulled out and "made progress". The only real reason for making progress as I see it, is if you are joining a 40+mph road from a minor road, you can't pull out and dawdle your way up to speed as it could be unsafe. But this is all cloudy now. We were told that other drivers expect you to be doing 40mph on a 40mph road, but what about horses and cyclists? Should the other drivers not be taught to expect slower moving vehicles as par for the course?

Of course they should.

But part of driving considerately is to not unnecessarily hold up other traffic. Which means you are expected to make progress sufficient to avoid doing so whenever that is practical and reasonable.

And driving inconsiderately is an offence under section 3 of the Road Traffic Act.

That doesn't mean you should always be driving at the speed limit (it is a limit, not a target), but it does mean that if you have other traffic behind you, and conditions (and your vehicle) are suitable, then you should be somewhere near it, or be pulling over when opportunity allows to allow the other traffic past.

 

[grldtnr]

Of course they should.

But part of driving considerately is to not unnecessarily hold up other traffic. Which means you are expected to make progress sufficient to avoid doing so whenever that is practical and reasonable.

And driving inconsiderately is an offence under section 3 of the Road Traffic Act.

That doesn't mean you should always be driving at the speed limit (it is a limit, not a target), but it does mean that if you have other traffic behind you, and conditions (and your vehicle) are suitable, then you should be somewhere near it, or be pulling over when opportunity allows to allow the other traffic past.

I diagress, let's just say you may be driving a veteran or classic vehicle , which may not have the performance of modern cars, but then again you should drive on appropriate roads,

Whatever your driving, it must be in the appropriate manner, not above posted speed limits, and a good distance apart, the current thinking isn't at all appropriate, it doesn't encourage responsible driving to conditions.
Emergency services are trained to a much higher degree than all other motorist on our roads, and I do not attempt to drive in such a manner , not will I be bullied to do so.
It's symptomatic of modern life to get somewhere before you even started, not to mention all the driver aids fitted to cars nowadays, not to mention some high end autonomous self driving ones.
Drivers are in charge of a dangerous machine, and having their skill sets , steadily eroded.
Given that I also cycle, that's all too evident from my daily riding. Our driving standard has regressed, it isn't about passing a test, it's about learning to drive, which being pendantic perhaps many don't , so perhaps it's good thing many nerd multiple tests to get a full licence.

 

[Alex321]

I diagress, let's just say you may be driving a veteran or classic vehicle , which may not have the performance of modern cars, but then again you should drive on appropriate roads,

I assume that was a typo, and meant to say "disagree" rather than "diagress"

But what do you disagree with - nothing else in your post contradicted anything I said.