Breakdown affects position - www.BIGTOM.org.uk

Driving Lessons in Peterborough.  Driving Lessons in Grantham.

I want to give a quick example of how an unexpected incident can really throw you while you are driving round.  The following link, will put you through to a very short video, and there you can watch how a breakdown of a car affects how my Pupil has to approach some traffic lights (as it happens, this is directly outside the Test Centre in Peterborough).

Now what I would ask you to consider, is how you would have dealt with this on your driving test if, on the approach to the lights the Examiner had said "And straight over the traffic lights please".  Imagine you had approached them to go straight over, but they went red.... THEN..... the left green filter arrow had come on, and you had traffic behind you wanting to turn left.... perhaps the driver behind was getting impatient that you were stopping them from turning left, and using the horn.

This kind of thing could happen, and does happen on test.  What would you do?

Take a look at the video here.  Put up your answer in the box below if you like, or just mention it to me next time we see eachother.

This blog highlights the need to always be prepared to think on your feet while driving, and aims to encourage you to be an independent driver.... as ever, please grade/comment below.

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Driving lessons have moved on.... catch up! www.BIGTOM.org.uk

Driving Lessons in Peterborough.  Driving Lessons in Grantham.

As technology improves all of us are increasingly using it to do things a bit ‘smarter’.  We seldom do one thing at a time; we talk live to our mates while we play xbox, we play games on our phone or iPad while we watch tv, we listen to a podcast while we walk the dog, and we update our Facebook or tweet while we queue.  It’s all about personal choice, and it’s all about seizing the opportunity.

Take a quick look at my website, this is a sign of how things are changing.  For starters, you can view it on any type of device.... nice.   You can choose if you want to keep up to date via one of the social networks, or you can go ask a question on anything driving related and get an answer, or you can view driving videos and on it goes.... it's your own personal choice.

How would you like the opportunity to learn to drive in 1 week? By watching the driving videos while on the bus going to College/work, or while on the train, you can make that happen.  You could watch it at work on the headphones in your lunch break, you could watch it to break up your homework session at home.  Why?  In order to make the in-car training sessions as efficient as possible, by having you watch the videos before we start, you are already accelerating the learning process.  THAT is how people like you, learn how to drive in a week.  You've heard about friends doing it, and often wondered how they do it.  They are choosing to use technology to seize an opportunity.

You could of course decide that’s not for you, and that is your choice.  But just so long as you know that you don’t have to take one lesson per week, for 10 months, costing you over £1000 in the process. 

Using technology to our advantage is what all of us are doing every single day, and learning how to drive is no different.  The opportunity is out there for you right now - take a look at some sample videos on my YouTube driving channel (via my website) if you can't believe it - things are changing..... now, are you?

For more information on my Intensive Driving Course in Peterborough or Grantham 
Call me right NOW on 07894 262 718

www.BIGTOM.org.uk

Pass Your Driving Test First Time Round - www.BIGTOM.org.uk

Driving Lessons in Peterborough.  Driving Lessons in Grantham.

If you want to pass the driving test on your first attempt, then in my experience, you will need to tick certain boxes in order to make that a realistic goal.  So, if you are NOT overly concerned with actually passing first time, then the following is not necessary for you, carry on with your driving lessons as normal... I don’t want all Learners reading this blog going into a mild panic over the contents – this is a 'goal specific' blog.

The first thing I would suggest to you, is that you can be technically a very good driver, and yet still fail the test on your first attempt.  Now I appreciate that may sound like a contradiction, and something that you might strongly doubt in your opinion, but allow me 2 minutes to explain why I make that remark.

The driving test is a very structured assessment of your driving ability and attitude to driving.  As such, the marking of it can appear to be rather harsh or strict.  It has to be that way, because the examiner only has 38 minutes to assess you.  Whilst they will be prepared to consider your overall drive on a test, be under no illusions, if you commit a driving fault that is classed as either ‘serious’ or ‘dangerous’, it WILL result in a test fail.  As such, there are some key boxes that must be ticked to improve your chances of success:

Do you properly realise what a ‘serious’ or ‘dangerous’ driving fault is?

Have you demonstrated an ability to consistently drive to a standard whereby you do not commit either of these 2 driving faults?  By ‘consistently’ I would advise that means your last 3 driving sessions of at least 1 hour each.

Do you know exactly what the structure of the driving test is?  Have you given yourself enough experience of how it feels, so that you continue to drive at the same high standard in those conditions?

On the day of your test, you need to eliminate all physical feelings and mental emotions that distract you from your ability to drive.  So nerves are a classic example, butterflies in the stomach, the feeling of fear, the increased heart rate and on it goes.  The reason why this is so very important to recognise is that it actually has little to do with your ability to drive ‘normally’ and yet can significantly affect how you drive on a driving test; as such you cannot afford to ignore it.  In sporting terms, there is a distinction between being physically ‘match fit’ and mentally ‘match fit’ – it can be surprising how your mind is able to affect the working of your body.

When we are anxious about something, it can affect our breathing, the rate of breathing and the depth of breathing... this can then affect some very basic workings of the body – you could find yourself feeling tired, your muscles aching, your alertness is affected, your ability to make good observations because you become very tense and on it goes.

On my Intensive Driving Courses in Peterborough or Grantham, firstly, you are properly prepared by getting your technical driving ability up nice and high so that you will technically, comfortably pass the driving test.  Then, I will develop you mentally so that you APPRECIATE you can pass your driving test first time.  This is done by identifying and managing any fears eg speed, lorries, poor weather etc, any feelings of weaknesses eg reverse parallel parking, multi-laned roundabouts, any lack of confidence eg feelings of low self esteem, and once this is achieved, you will inevitably find the driving test is actually a comfortable experience, because you are properly prepared for it.

My experience tells me that you cannot short circuit this process, much as we all might want to cut corners to save time and money, it very rarely works.  It does require a mindset of truly focussed, concerted effort and this lends itself really well to the Intensive Driving Lessons I run.

The first 30 hours of training works on your technical ability to drive, and an absolute beginner with no driving experience will make remarkable progress in that period of 7 days.  The remaining 10 hours is spent helping you properly appreciate the test standard, and your ability to drive to that standard.  This is a winning formula, it truly gets results quickly and reliably.

If you want to learn more about taking driving lessons in Peterborough or Grantham with me, Tom Ingram, then call me on 07894 262 718 or email me info@BIGTOM.org.uk

This blog is specifically aimed at people learning to drive who want to pass their test first time.  It aims to identify key actions needed to make that goal a realistic possibility.  I hope it has been useful, please feel free to grade/comment below – I guarantee to answer any questions you may have.  Thank you.     

www.BIGTOM.org.uk

The angle of the what? www.BIGTOM.org.uk

Driving Lessons in Peterborough.  Driving Lessons in Grantham.

Dangle.... the angle of the dangle.  My Learner clearly thought I'd gone mad.

She was practising doing reverse parallel parks on one of her driving lessons in Grantham.  The problem was that she kept getting too close to the kerb when she was behind the parked car.  (Check here if you want a reminder of the driving test requirements for this manoeuvre).

The ACTUAL problem though was the angle in which the car was coming into the kerb .... it was unnecessarily steep.  In real life, we may well need to come in at a steeper angle if say there is just one car lengths gap to fit into, but for the driving test, the DSA give us a very generous 2 car lengths to play with ("3 cheers for the DSA!").  This may not sound like a big deal, but believe me, it is.  As such, we can control the angle in which we reverse into the kerb, to make it more shallow, and that means it is more forgiving.  

Try and picture this in your head.  If you reverse into the kerb at say an angle of 2 o/c on the clockface, that is much steeper than an angle of say 1 o/c.  Coming in at a 1 o/c angle gives your eyes more time to appreciate the distance from the kerb... why?.... because the car does more travelling, slowly but surely, towards the kerb.  Go in at a 2 o/c angle, and it all comes in too quickly, it leaves very little room for ... sorry to say it..... manoeuvre!

All that remains is to find some means of repeatedly, accurately, coming in at an angle of 1 o/c.  There's loads of ways of doing that.  On my intensive driving course I spend time identifying a method that appeals to each particular person (I find a 'one size fits all' approach, does nothing of the sort in reality).

The same concept can be applied to the reverse bay park.  If you set up the manoeuvre starting too close to the bay you intend to reverse into, then you end up 'cutting across' the white line of the bay.  You simply do not need to make it hard for yourself.  Think of it like a large boat that you are trying to moor into the bay.  You don't want to start off near to the tip ends of the bays, you need some space to 'swing' it round in a larger turning circle.

As with all the manoeuvres, my preferred method is have the freedom to controllably experiment.  If you control the pace at which you reverse, and control the amount of steering, then all that remains is discovering the precise point to start steering.  

Anyway, hope you now know what I mean by "It's all to do with the angle of the dangle".  I might talk gibberish, but there is something meaningful in what I'm saying!

Hope this blog has helped you by considering how the angle at which you reverse affects the outcome of your manoeuvres.  Please feel free to grade/comment below.  Wishing you well.

www.BIGTOM.org.uk

Intense Driving Lessons - www.BIGTOM.org.uk

Driving Lessons in Peterborough.  Driving Lessons in Grantham.

Yesterday was Day 3 of the current Intensive Driving Course in Peterborough I'm running.  

My customer has been busy with exams of late, so I've not heard much from her in the run up to the Course, but she brought the Theory Test DVD's back to me on Day 1 with a smile on her face after passing the Theory Test a few days before.  She said to me "Thanks for those, they were really useful", I hear this alot from my customers; it's always nice to get the theory test passed and out the way.

So let me tell you what we did yesterday on Day 3 of the course.  We started off with the emergency stop, sensible really because she showed me the day before that she can now comfortably drive on public roads, so it stands to reason that she should be shown how to stop the car in an emergency.

Then we moved on to 4 circuits that I have devised for my customers.  These circuits allow my customers to experiment with the TIMING of driving actions, so that they cause minimum disruption to other road users.  They drive in roads with limits of 30, 40, 50, and 60.  They include turns, emerges, crossroads controlled by traffic lights, other traffic light controlled junctions, zebra crossings, and roundabouts.  A little twist is that it also includes some emerges on uphill gradients and very narrow junctions (little surprises on Circuit 4).  

Then we went on to dual carriageway driving.  We explored how entry and exit slip roads affect us, we looked at how we safely overtake on a dual carriageway.  We looked at how driving conditions affect the correct speed on these roads, and we experienced speed limits of 70, 60, 50 and 40 - all on dual carriageways.  

So having driven all the way round the Peterborough ring road, we then drove right into the centre part of Peterborough and back to my customer's home.  I say 'we', of course I mean.... 'she'.  SHE did all that driving above.  I didn't record the mileage yesterday, but I have before, it will have been about 80 miles of driving.  She said to me on Day 2 "I can't believe how much driving I'm doing, it's fantastic".

It is the fundamental basis of my intensive driving courses, "You drive more, you experience more, you learn more".  There's no secret KFC recipes going on here, I blog what I do, for all to see.  It's a winning formula, it's how my customers pass their driving test first time..... take a look what they are writing on the timeline of my Facebook page.

This blog describes a typical day on my Intensive Driving Course - it gives you an idea of why my courses are successful.  Hope it has been useful.  Remember, I also run these Intensive Driving Courses in Grantham too.  

Good luck and wish you well.

(Please grade/comment below... thank you).

www.BIGTOM.org.uk

Checking Blind Spots On The Move - www.BIGTOM.org.uk

This subject recently came up on an intensive driving course in Grantham.  I want to clarify what the situation is regarding how we go about checking blind spots on the move.  This is very important, it is a matter of safety.

Let me just rewind for a minute to what we should do when pulled over.  The Highway Code is very clear on this, look here at Rule 159.  We can't rely on just looking at the right side mirror; it's curved, and as such it has a blind spot which can prevent us from seeing EVERYTHING that is over our right shoulder.  Ask your Driving Instructor to park up and demonstrate this to you very clearly if you are in doubt whether that is true.

However, when we are on the move, when the car is travelling forward, we do not have the luxury of turning our head all the way round to check the blind spot.  The car is travelling forwards, and our attention should mainly be forwards.  The time it takes you to turn your head all the way round to the right, and then look in that blind spot is too long if we're moving forwards.  At only 30mph you are travelling 44 feet per second.... per SECOND!  As such, we do not have the time to be turning our head all the way round.

The times I am referring to are when you want to move over to the right to pass a parked car, or pass a bus at a bus stop, or when you want to join a dual-carraigeway, or overtake a vehicle on a motorway, or change lanes on the approach to a roundabout,  or moving back into a lane to your left on a dual carraigeway.  All of these examples involve the car moving, the wheels are turning.

So how do we make sure that all is clear then before we move over to the right or left?

This is what the Driving & Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) say on the subject:

"On occasions it will be necessary to check blind spots while you are on the move.  These blind spots will be  to either side and SHOULD NOT REQUIRE YOU TO LOOK ROUND, but rather to give a quick sideways glance".  

So important is this point, the DVSA continue with this:

"Looking right round to check blind spots on the move is UNNECESSARY AND DANGEROUS, especially when driving at high speeds; in the time it takes you'll lose touch with what's happening in front".

There you have it.  Take note of what they say, they will be examining you on your driving test.

What is required, are short, systematic, well timed observations using side mirrors and just turns of the head incorporating peripheral vision (some people refer to them as "chin to shoulder" or "kiss the parrot") it matters not what you call it, but getting practise with the sequence and timing of these actions will help you make very good and effective observations all around - and that is really important, because the car is moving, and like the DVSA say above, you could be moving at some speed.  In rare situations, a "glance" into a blind spot is needed, but they are not the norm - your Driving Instructor will be able to identify these situations to you.

One last thing to say on this from me.  Often our hands (on the steering wheel) will kind of follow the general direction of our eyes.  An example of this is if you look down to the gear lever when you start having driving lessons, did you notice how your hands move slightly to the left on the steering wheel?  That's your hands 'following' your eyes.  The same thing can happen if you were to do these blind spot checks on the move.  You turn your head right round to the right, and your hands move to the right too.  You might be surprised at how little a move to the right of your hands affect your driving position ESPECIALLY when you are travelling at higher speeds.   Just one more reason not to turn the head fully when on the move.

This short blog explains why you must NOT turn the head fully to check blind spots on the move.  This is a matter of safety, and WILL cause accidents and CERTAINLY fail driving tests. 

Hope this is helpful to you?  Any questions/comments, please add below.    


BIG TOM Driving School   Intensive Driving Courses in Peterborough, Lincoln, Grantham, Spalding, Stamford, Boston and Sleaford.   0800 689 4174

Emergency Stop - www.BIGTOM.org.uk

Driving Lessons in Peterborough.  Driving Lessons in Grantham.

A crucial thing happened yesterday on a driving test in Peterborough which I want to just highlight for the benefit of other Learners taking driving lessons at the moment.

I was in the back of the car and so I witnessed all of the following.  

The examiner looked over his right shoulder to check what was behind us, raised his right hand and said "Stop".  My pupil applied the brakes, brought the car to a stop, secured with a handbrake, and then this is the crucial bit.....

Normally, you would check the central mirror to see if anyone is approaching from behind, then do a sweeping all round check starting from over the left shoulder, down the left side of the car, sweeping the front of the car from left to right, check the right side of the car, finishing off with a blind spot check over the right shoulder.  Having done all of that, if it's safe to go, crack on.  But, my pupil checked his central mirror, then stopped doing anything else.  Within a few seconds (literally) a car from behind overtook us, being driven fast, and then my pupil moved off after doing the rest of the obs.

The reason why I mention this, is because it doesn't happen often.  Firstly, only 1 in 3 driving tests include the emergency stop (I've never witnessed one when the road surface has been wet).  And secondly, because the examiners take the trouble to check behind, very rarely is there anything approaching from behind immediately after the emergency stop.  But, how important that observation was in the central mirror yesterday.

Can you imagine how it would have been, had my pupil moved off WHILE the car behind was doing an overtake?!  Not good, test fail material for sure.  He dealt with it well and passed his driving test.

So, let me just emphasise the key ingredients:

There should be urgency to the intensity of the braking, the car should come to a stop quickly, but preferably without triggering the Anti-lock Braking System (it would not be a fail if the ABS was triggered), it's just that you stop in a shorter distance without the ABS.

Both hands should be on the steering wheel at the time of the braking, to ensure you control the position of the car in the road.

There should be no delay between the command "Stop" and the car coming to a stop - in other words there should be a quick response to the brake pedal.

Whether the car stalls or not is not important.  Applying the handbrake is a good habit, because if the car is on a gradient then it will not move when you take your foot off the brake pedal.  

Then the vital observations to make sure it's safe to move off - remember you are literally in the middle of the road, so you are in effect, causing a potential hazard yourself.

From "Stop" to moving off, should be no more than 15-30 seconds ordinarily.

That's a brief look at the Emergency Stop on the driving test.  I hope it helps.  There are techniques that I teach on my Intensive Driving Course to ensure you understand the reason behind all the above, and to develop good driving habits.  Do remember that a crucial difference between the driving test emergency stop and a real life one, is that in real life, you very often have the opportunity to also steer AWAY from the hazard, so braking AND steering.  But on the driving test, they only want to see you braking to a controlled stop.  It is a valuable experience to experiment with braking AND steering in an emergency stop, in a safe, quiet place on your driving lessons, because the process is different depending on if your car is equipped with ABS or not - this is NOT relevant to your driving test, but very relevant to driving once you have passed your driving test.   

Any comments/questions about this subject, please add them below.  Wishing you well. 

www.BIGTOM.org.uk