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4 Lessons for £20 from motoskool.net
(conditions apply)


This unique offer will get you of to the right start in learning to drive; give Pam, Bill or Raymond a call or check out our website for more details of our offer. Our contact details are in the advert on this page.

Our Instructors have a wealth of experience and ask you to do your homework before deciding on who you should train with.

At motoskooL we are committed to improving driver safety in the West of Scotland. If you have any questions or concerns about learning to drive please give one of our instructors a call for free advice – we are here to help even if you already have a Driving Instructor.

Please keep an eye out for our monthly driving features in this paper, and if there is any aspect of learning to drive you would like covered please contact motoskooL


Tips on choosing your instructor

• Use a local instructor, this should save you money. They don’t have high advertising costs which reflect on lesson prices. (Guess who’s paying for the adverts with the national driving schools “YOU”)

• Your instructor should be on time, patient and friendly.

• You should be encouraged to pass your theory A.S.A.P.

• You should if you can have 2 x 1 hour lessons per week which will help reduce the time in learning to drive.

• Always ask the length of time of the lesson (not all instructors offer 1 hour)

• Most of all you should enjoy your lesson.

Motoskool in Paisley

Here is the team in their motoskooL sponsered kit.

motoskooL has also agreed to write a monthly driver eduacation feature for the Paisely daily Express and the Renfrewshire World so please keep an eye out for us there and if there is any advice you would like covered in a feature then please let us know

The POM routine

There are lots of acronyms in learning to drive, they are supposed to make it easier to remember what you are doing.
We have already covered MSM - Mirror, Signal, Maneuver
another important one is the POM routine.
You need to do this every time the car pulls away.

Prepare
You usually prepare the car by selecting first gear, setting the gas and finding the bite point. On hills there are different ways you can do this - but we will cover that later.

Then the tricky bit - hold your feet still

Observe
Good all round observations are needed here starting from the left looking out all windows and mirrors and finishing up looking out the blind spot just before you move.
At this point you can consider if a signal is needed, in most situations it isnt.

Move
The easy bit (although it can sound scary) Just release the hand break and the car may already start moving slowly (depends on how high on the bite point the clutch is) Then slowly raise the clutch all the way off, giving more gas if the car needs it (you will hear the change in the engine noise if the car needs gas)

Thats you driving.

As you become more experienced P and O merge together as you are preparing the car as you are observing - just remember not to Move until you have Observed that it is safe to go.

Motoskool and the community

As motoskooL is currently based in Paisely we like to support the local community

Motoskool.net are proud to be support Gleniffer Thistle boys club

Also, as well as our website and all the helpful hints and tips in this blog motoskooL is also just about to launch a monthly advice article in the local newspaper.

Clutch control / Break control

Before you can start any manouvers you first have to be able to control the car at slow speeds.

If the car is pointing downhill this is very easy.
You still have to select the gear you want - 1st or reverse (very important reverse if you are reversing so you are giving the signal of your reverse lights to other road users) but keep the clutch all the way down. (if you are moving off remember your POM routine)
Controling the speed of the car now is just a case of gentle pressuer on the footbreak, more pressure to slow the car down, less to let it go faster.
At slow speeds it is NOT considered coasting to have the clutch down.

For clutch control - if you are uphil or on the flat.
As the clutch at bite point controls how much the engine is conected to the wheels, tiny movments of the clutch will effect the speed of the car.
So you keep the clutch at the bite point and just move it very tiny amounts as you need to.
If you bring the clutch up a tiny bit then the engine is more connected to the wheels and the car goes slightly faster. If you dip the clutch slightly then the engine is less connected to the wheels and the car slows slightly.
Remember the momentum of the car will mean it will take longer to slow down the faster you go.

You are looking for a slow walking pace

It is good to practise this uphil as gravity will help slow the car more and you get a better feel for the clutch. You can also get to the point where the power of the engine pulling the car forwards is balanced by gravity pulling the car back and the car stops moving. It is useful to practise this as many junctions are on a hill so you could use the clutch to creep out past obstructions, pause with the clutch to make sure it is safe and then move out - or even creep further forwards.

Remember with clutch control

Up to go (faster) down to slow

Practise makes perfect

It is a common mistake for new instructors to try and rush their pupils into doing too much at once. Although they then feel that they are giving their pupils good value for money as they are covering lots of topics they are actually setting their pupil up to fail.

Firstly, you need to practise things, this builds up muscle memory.

But worse still if you are going to fast for your pupil then they will be making mistakes, and the more you let them make the mistakes then the better the pupil will be at making the mistake.
Practasing the wrong thing also makes you perfect at doing the wrong thing, and as we all know from our part 2 test, well practised bad habbits can take a while to relearn.

So remember when teaching your pupil to drive take it one step at a time and give them lots of chances to practise the right things, rather than pushing them faster than they can cope with and letting them practise bad habits.

Mirror, signal, manover

Mirror, signal, maneuver, MSM or the hazard routine is one of the best known term in driving.

Most people will have heard of it but they don't always know when to use it or really HOW to use it.

You use the hazard routine every time you see a potential hazard

A hazard is anything that could cause you to change speed or direction, so that is just about anything, junctions, parked cars, lights, bends, anything.

How to use it

Mirrors

Mirrors are always checked at least in pair, always starting with the drivers mirror (for more info on mirrors see later) and then the mirror in the direction you are heading in or where danger might be from

Examples of when a left mirror check is needed

Turning left, pulling in after parked cars, road bends sharply to the left, coming in after overtaking, pulling in to park.

Examples of when a right mirror check is needed.

Turning right, before speeding up or changing gear, before slowing down, pedestrian crossings, passing parked cars, overtaking, road bends sharply to the left.

It is also a good idea to check all mirrors before moving away at lights.

Signal

You only need to signal if it would benefit another road user (this includes pedestrians)

As you cannot see what is coming to junctions then you always need to signal for a junction.

For all other maneuvers think if it would benefit or confuse someone if you put on a signal

For example

If you are pulling out round parked cars and there is also a junction on the right a car may mistake a right signal to mean you are turning to the right when you only meant you were pulling out to pass the parked cars.

Maneuver

Whatever needs to be done to avoid the hazard should only be done after the first two steps, that way you know the positions of all the other traffic around you and they know what you are planning to do.