"I just lurve your red car"

I was out last week-end with a new Learner and asked her why she picked my driving school.  “Because you’ve got a red car” came the reply.  You have to laugh!  Nothing quite like some good old fashioned honesty.  What did worry me a little though was that I discovered that if she had her own way she wouldn’t start lessons until the Summer holidays, because she is really busy studying.  That’s quite an understatement actually, it worried me greatly then, and it still is in my mind now.  It turns out her Mother wants her to learn to drive because she is tired of ferrying her daughter around like a taxi.  Which is all very understandable but it is kind of missing a point.

The reason why you very seldom see driving schools offering driving lessons in a package deal – “as many as you need until you pass”, is because that approach immediately takes the ‘incentive’ away from the Learner to crack on and learn.   Anyone learning anything you care to mention will know that the longer period between your training sessions, the harder it is to learn.  If you know you have an unlimited resource of training, then the temptation would be to just take it as it comes. 

Although my new Learners’ parent is providing the finance for the learning, she is neglecting, in fact, removing any motivation to learn.  This can only spell problems. 

Motivation is an absolutely key element in our world.  Some Learners get their motivation by competing with friends/family, who can pass first.  Others are motivated by need such as, work or university commitments.  It’s massive in sport too, you only need to look at the recent episode with ‘Carlos Tevez’ at Manchester City to see the consequences of having a player who is not motivated.

However, it is possible to have too much ‘focus’.  I remember playing an important and very tough league match in snooker many moons ago, talk about cutting the atmosphere with a knife.  We had got down to the colours and I was at the table and fully engrossed in the game.  I was so busy planning where I was going to position the cue ball after my shot, and the following shots, that I actually played the wrong colour. 

About a year ago, I was helping a PDI with some remedial training for her Part 3.  She was under immense pressure.  She had financial constraints – a single Mother with many young ones depending on her, she had time pressures – as her 2 year period after passing the theory was nearly up, and she also had peer pressure from a Sister who was already a very successful driving instructor.  I recall one of her test attempts where she was literally shouting at the SE to do something or other.  She pulled him over afterwards, and in the ‘analysis’ he threw her lifeline of “Well you were shouting at me so much, I was getting scared”.  She needed a pass SO much that it was actually inhibiting her ability.

It’s not nice when we have Learners in the driving seat who quite frankly don’t want to be there.  You may as well get that £20 odd quid for the driving session, and throw it down the drain, as there will inevitably be very little ‘learning’ going on.