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.

Reference points (instructors)

Reference points are a really useful tool to help your pupil learn to drive.

All it is is finding something for you to see that helps you line the car up.

Looking at the foto on the left (ignoring me taking the foto in the mirror)

This is an example of a parking reference point.

At the begining of your first lesson you will be driving your pupil to a suitable area. Make sure you are parked well and then you will be able to give them a good reference point.

Looking out the front windscreen you can see the kirb running down the left hand side of the road, then you cannot see it anymore, it dissapears behind the dashboard. Looking at the point where the kirb seems to cut into the dash it seems about in the middle, just to the left of the drivers wiper blade.

Then when your pupil is looking to park again if they aim to have the kirb in the same position as they saw it before then the car will be at the same distance from the kirb.

Reference points are also useful for reversing and doing manovers.

It is important that you let the pupil find their own reference points rather than tell them yours as everyone is a different height.

It is also important as an instructor to have reference points from the passinger seat too. This is really helpful in parking to help prevent kirbed tyres, it also means you can prompt the pupil when they are only slightly off position rather than wait till it is too late to correct.

It is really easy to find these reference points, just (when the car is in a safe position) change seats and see what everything looks like from that seat.

Or when you are out with your trainer take the time to really notice good reference points.

Positive driver training

As those of you know who follow my other blog as well as being a driving instructor and training instructors I also love training dogs.
I was having a think about how the two things are linked and I have seen a really good link

Dogs who find working with you rewarding want to work with you and learn things. If mistakes are made it is because YOU have not trained it as well as you should.
Either the dog does not understand what you want, or you have rushed them too fast into a situation they cannot cope with.

Same with pupils
In general the people in your car are there because they really want to learn to drive and they are paying you good money for the lessons
- of course there are a few who want to mess about, but even some of them might be doing it cos of nerves or bravado.
So if they are making a mistake you should be IAR'ing yourself as well as the pupil

Sure, sometimes people have bad days and things just go wrong - or they can forget something once - no big deal
But, have you pushed them too quickly into busy traffic?
Have you progressed to quickly from prompting to independent??

Far too often I hear of instructors who yell at pupils or worse still hit them
But in reality it is more likely the instructors fault.

For example I was speaking to a trainee who was telling me his pupil was often forgetting her mirrors before changing gear on busy roads.
They were both getting frustrated with the situation and feeling they were not making progress.
He was constantly pulling her up AFTER the event and saying something along the lines of
'Again you forgot to check your mirrors, why?, what could happen? what are we going to do next time?' So she had a whole lesson where she felt she was constantly doing things wrong

Now I know it sounds like and easy solution, prompt, prompt, prompt, before she is going to change gear 'what you checking?' then she wouldnt get it wrong and would start practasing the correct thing.
But
Digging deeper there was even more too it. She had only had 3 lessons and was not confident at all. All that scary traffic around she just didnt want to take her eyes off the road.

So the solution is 2 fold, get back to the quiet roads so she has a chance to build her confidence and practise the right things in comfort and prompt.

Remember practise makes perfect, so practise the wrong things - like forgetting a mirror and then you have a bad habit to reteach.

In summary
Mistakes are more often the instructors fault and not the pupils, try and figure out why.

Driving instructor (ADI / PDI) area

For advice for those wishing to be an instructor, tranee instructors and working driving instructors this area will contain links to useful posts and websites.
Check back often for more advice and if you would like something covered here then please comment below.

Positive learner driver training April 2009
Reference points April 2009
Practise makes perfect April 2009