Intensive Driving Lessons in Evesham and Crash Courses in Worcester
Why I don’t offer them, Why can’t you learn to drive in 10 lessons?
Learning to drive is no different to any other educational course and is basically structured the same way with a series of tests and accompanying textbooks.
There’s a syllabus, called oddly enough “Car and Light Van Driving Syllabus” which has been developed from “The National Standard for driving cars and light vans category B”
This breaks down into sections, what you must be able to do, and what you must know and understand in order to drive a vehicle safely.
For example:
An extract from Element 3.1.3 :-
You must be able to: Apply a safe systematic routine to negotiate all types of junctions, roundabouts and crossings safely and responsibly.
You must know and understand the rules that apply to particular junctions and roundabouts such as priority rules.
As learner you can monitor your progress by using Drivers Record for Learner Drivers which puts many of these requirements in an easy to use grid.
What this doesn’t tell you is *how* to do all that or what the rules are.
To know that you need to look in “Driving the Essential Skills” and “The Highway Code” and “Know your Traffic Signs”
Don’t just take my word for it:
Some of these knowledge requirements are tested in the Theory Test and the Hazard Perception test and some are tested in the practical test.
The driving test itself is not intended to be a difficult test, a test for an experienced driver, or a test that demands a high level of competence – It’s intended to set the minimum safe standard for driving on the road.
In the same way as any exam it cannot possibly encompass the entire driving syllabus. It’s focus is on the main key points of achieving a minimum standard of safety.
So yes you can pass a test in five days, if you aren’t taught best practice and you aren’t taught the entire syllabus, but you need to understand that you aren’t being taught to drive and aren’t covering the full level of knowledge requirements that you’ll likely need for a lifetimes driving.
Especially when most people will never undergo any further driver training for as long as they hold as driving license.
And that’s a lot of information to learn in 5 days.
On a related note:
The Standards Check
All Driving Instructors approximately every 4 years undergo a “Standards Check” by a Senior Driving Examiner to ensure their standard of tuition is maintained.
It was called the Check Test until a couple of years ago and structured differently.
Why was it changed? Because the national standard mentioned above was introduced, along with an additional standard called “The National Standard for Driver and Rider Training” (Its 33 pages long and available in case you want to take a look and it details everything you should know as a driver trainer) – and its the reasons why its now called a “Standards Check” – it’s checking your tuition against the National Standards.
So we now know – what we need to learn – where to find the information to learn, so all that remains is how is it marked?
The DVSA also publish:
DT1 -This is the examiners handbook and contains a comprehensive guide to the test procedure, how it should be conducted and how it’s marked.
ADI1- Again a comprehensive manual detailing how all the instructor tests and the Standards Check is carried out and marked.