A sad day

It was a sad day for me yesterday, I pay a lot of attention to relationships with my customers, and here is an example of it going wrong.

Yesterday I asked one of my Learners to make a decision.  I wont mention any specific details so that this person is not identifiable but I think what has happened is an insight to how things can go wrong. 

She failed her test a few weeks ago.  In my 3 years of running she is the ONLY Learner that decided that I do NOT accompany her on the test, which is her right of course.  The disadvantage with that decision, is that I don’t then see, first hand, what happened on the test.  But although I positively encourage my Learners to agree for me to observe the test in the back, it is of course, their decision, and I respect their right.  So although I cannot say I physically witnessed the test, from listening to the examiner on the de-brief at the end, I think I would respectfully suggest that it was not a ‘near miss’ so to speak.  There were 2 significant incidents that occurred that the examiner mentioned, and either on its own, would fail a test, in addition, there were a whole raft of minor driving faults – far more than the 5 or less that my Learners tend to achieve. 

So the first thing that raises in my mind is how well was this Learner prepared for the test.  Prepared in the sense of knowing the standard required, and prepared in terms of knowing how her ability matched that standard.    I have blogged/posted pretty comprehensively on this subject, and all my in-car training constantly refers to this very important subject.  If you are not a regular reader of my blogs, then please feel free to browse them, and you will see exactly what my approach to getting 'test ready' is.

What happened next, there appears to be a difference of opinion.  According to the Mother of this Learner, I apparently then said after test, “Oh well, there is nothing more I can do for you, just book up another test”.  Quite why a professional Driving Instructor would be recommending a Learner follows up a test fail, with another test, with no further training is a mystery to me.  My recollection of the chat afterwards was that I had stressed the importance of not only thoroughly dealing with the 2 significant driving faults exposed, but also not dropping any other balls, so that the overall number of errors was reduced too.

It is my opinion that on test day, a Learners driving ability will reduce due to test day nerves.  However, that is not a reason/excuse in itself for failing tests.  What I like to strive to do, is get my Learners overall driving standard so high, that when test day comes along and that % reduction occurs due to nerves, there is still plenty there to comfortably pass the test.  It’s an approach that works for me.  It works for my Learners in general, because they generally pass first time.  But if you think about it, what it does require, is for the Learner to ‘buy’ into that approach.  If a Learner just wants to go to test asap, chancing their arm so to speak, then you can see, that flies in the face of my approach.  Ultimately, I get no personal satisfaction seeing my Learners go to test, again and again and again and again, failing, and would question what effect that would have on building a successful business.  

So when a Learner speaks to me at the start of a driving course, I do show them my recommended syllabus, and that syllabus is designed to achieve that high standard of driving that will be needed on test day.  I should point out that it is of course their choice.  This Learner I am talking about here for example, never once used the syllabus, never recorded progress, and consciously decided to omit what I personally consider to be pretty important subjects that improve the driving standard eg commentary driving.   I offer options, it is for my Learners to take the responsibility as to the extent they learn.

So there is a 2^nd attempt looming in 2 weeks, and not 1 minute of training has occurred.  The decision that I asked her to make yesterday was:

1.        Postpone the test so that the time/money can be accrued to train

2.       Find another Instructor who will not mind taking her to test for what will inevitably be another fail.

For your information, I charge £46 for a Learner to use my car for the test and have 1 hour before the test.  So what I was saying was, that on principle, I would rather not receive the £46 than see my Learner fail another test. 

The Learners Mother then stepped in yesterday saying she was going to make a formal complaint to the DSA.  I referred her to their website to assist her in doing that.

So there we go.  I am passionate about my job.  I don’t take things for ‘chance’.  I want my customers to succeed, and be happy.  Clearly with this Learner I have failed in that regard.   I don’t like making people upset, in fact, yesterday I immediately apologized when I discovered that, but likewise, I am a professional, trying my utmost to provide a quality service, and build a reputation of actually caring about the standard of driving achieved from my Learners. 

For sure, I could have taken the £46 for test day again, had another failure, quite how many times that would have happened is anyones guess, but yes, it would have been very easy money for me, but I choose NOT to do that – it goes against everything that I do.  I know there are other instructors out there, who don’t share my philosophy on this, and that was why I gave my Learner enough time to take option 2 (above). 

Rather than considering which of the 2 options would be most appropriate for my Learner, instead, the Mother chooses to make a formal complaint to the DSA.  I've said it before on this blog, there is a direct relationship between the attitude to learning shown from a Learner and their carers/Parents.    

The recipe for success

Very recently, a Learner of mine had a tough session.  The Learner was not applying the fundamentals that we’d previously discussed and practised and as such was finding that the driving was out on position, speed, accuracy etc.  My attitude is that in order for learning to take place, there has to be a realisation that I am not going to sit there and ‘talk through’ everything for ever more.  In other words there is a shift of responsibility for learning. 

I let the dust settle for a few hours, and later that evening sent a brief email to first of all bolster confidence, and secondly request my Learner do a little ‘digging’ to reinforce the necessary learning that had been lacking earlier in the day.  I was extremely specific with my words - watch this, read up that etc.  Not only was it an attempt to reinforce the necessity of reinforcing the ‘nuts and bolts’ learning points, but also it was a request to read up a short article on road safety that DIRECTLY related to where this Learner lives. 

In order to send that email I had needed to text the Learners Mother to confirm the correct email address.

So the next time I see this Learner, this is how the discussion went:

“Hi.  Mum told me that you’d sent me an email, so I read it”

“Oh really?  When was that, I don’t recall sending you one?”

“Not sure, the other day”

“Oh right, I don’t recall that, what was it about?  Anything in particular?”

“Urmmmm...... no not really”

“No?  Was there anything in it of note?”

“No, just something on road safety”

“Oh ok,  and what did you get from it, anything?”

“Urm... no, it’s just that in my last lesson I had a nightmare”

Clearly, I could have tried to tease more out, I could have been more direct.  I could have suddenly remembered the content of the email and pointedly asked what actions had/had not been done.  I provide the opportunity to learn, I can’t provide the motivation and responsibility to learn. 

A Learner of mine who failed the test a few weeks ago, has re-booked another test without a single minute of further training.  When Driving Instructors take their Learners to test, they display their badge for the DSA to allocate that Learners attempt to the Instructor.  Why should I have this second attempt that I can say with complete certainty will be another fail, go against my name?  I wonder in the eyes of this particular Learner whether it is expected of me to persuade the Learner to take more training?
 

“Please, please, please take a few more lessons with me, so that you pass your test on the 2^nd go”.

No..... I don’t think so somehow.  


Interestingly, in the eyes of the Learner, the cause for the 1^st fail was the examiner being picky, I wonder whether that opinion might change when I withdraw the use of my car for the 2^nd attempt.  
You see, I could choose to take my ADI badge out of my car, so that the 2^nd attempt does not go against my personal stats.  But for me at least, this is a matter of principle.  Morally, I don’t see what is to be gained (other than a measly £46), for providing my car for test, for what is going to be a guaranteed fail. 

Yesterday, a Learner who I had not seen for 2 months to the day, really struggled.  What’s the strategy here, a lesson every 2 months?   Is it my job to keep harassing this Learner to please take more lessons with me so that he learns to drive?   


I don’t think so somehow.

Learning to drive is tough at the best of times, and what it absolutely needs is for the Learner to take the responsibility for learning on board, so that they become a safe, independent driver. 

So what do we need?

A dollop of organisation skills (for planning of lessons), a sprinkling of communication skills (for effective 2-way comms between us) mixed in with a nice teaspoon of ‘attitude’ (for ‘owning’ the learning and setting goals).  And for good measure, add 2 drops of ‘effort’ to make it all gel together nicely.  


You can rely on me to provide the perfect conditions for the cooking.

The perfect recipe for achieving that pass!  

Save money .... instantly

Get technology working for you while you learn to drive.  This can save you big bucks!

I have over 100 driving related videos on my YouTube driving channel ‘2010BIGTOM’.  When we are training in-car, you cannot help but notice how often I’m referring to very specific videos..... all the time.  Not only do I mention it at the time, but if you scan through your Drivers Pack for a second or 2 right now, you’ll notice that I’m backing up key learning points with the word ‘VID’ encased in a square box.

Are you making full use of this? 

Going over these videos in your own time, when relaxed, will reinforce the learning that is happening in the car.  This is an absolutely key component to effective learning.  The amount of information that you are able to digest when in-car is less than that you can process when at home.  I am not for one second suggesting that you can learn to drive simply by watching the videos, there is no substitute for physically driving around, but what I am saying is that your rate of learning, and depth of learning can be significantly boosted by taking the time to reinforce the learning by watching these videos.  The way I talk, the mannerisms, the style of questioning and explanation is exactly the same as you experience in the car – as such, you will instantly ‘connect’ with the content of the videos.... that’s why it REINFORCES the learning.

If you’re not doing this, you are reducing the rate of learning, and affecting the effectiveness of the learning experience.  This, is costing you money.

One more feature that makes this a ‘smart’ thing to be doing.  You’ll notice that there is the opportunity to post on the bottom of the video.  Some people already have, and you can see my responses/replies.  My advice is to comment away, get involved, ask questions, say what you like and connect with, and what you are not so keen on (some people are asking me questions that are not even learning with me, you’ll see they still are getting my replies).  This makes the experience personal to you, which can only be a good thing.  Not only can you get a speedy reply to anything that is niggling you, how annoying can that be when you have a question that eats away in your head?  But also, you’re indirectly letting me know what works for you, so I’m getting direct feedback of the kind of tips/techniques that work for you and help you learn..... this can only be good for you personally, as I can then channel very effective learning specifically your way when training.  And THIS will also save you big bucks.

This is the way forward in learning, and proven to be an effective means to make your learning more personal and more efficient.  This is a win/win for reducing the time taken to pass your test, which means you pay less money, and importantly it means you increase the depth of learning, in other words, your learning becomes habit forming.... this takes your learning experience way beyond just passing the test.

So in summary, get involved in this.  Engage.  Watch these videos, post up comments, you will only be with me for a fairly short period of time, get yourself involved to make the experience positive.

Subscribe to ‘2010BIGTOM’ right now for free, and take the first smart move in saving you money while learning. 

Regional variations in Pass Rates

Whether you be a Learner or a PDI, I will raise the subject of where you want to do your test very early on.  I am often asked if there are regional differences with pass rates – a perfectly valid question.  The short answer is ‘yes’. 

So starting with Learners, let’s look at some stats which have been lifted straight from the DSA website – so these are their stats.  For the sake of clarity, let’s just consider the stats for Learners who go to test for the 1^st time and pass 1^st time – my training is very much focussed on this goal.

From 1/4/10 – 31/3/11 Peterborough had a 46% pass rate.  Contrast this to Boston that had a 60% pass rate, Melton Mowbray 53%, Grantham 58% and Kings Lynn 45%.  Peterborough is by far the most busy of all those Test Centres.  When someone passes first time, a certain % will pass with a ‘clean sheet’ meaning, no driving faults were recorded at all.  Interestingly, despite Peterborough performing 4101 ‘first time’ tests, only 9 people achieved a ‘clean sheet’ (0.2%).  Contrast this with Melton Mowbray who performed a quarter of the amount of tests, and yet 37 people achieved a ‘clean sheet’ (3%).  So statistically, you are extremely unlikely to be awarded a first time pass in Peterborough with a ‘clean sheet’.

More recent stats going from April 2011 – Dec 2011 indicate that Boston passes 62% of the time, compared to Peterborough at 48%.

So whilst we must always be careful of how we interpret statistics, I think it would be fair to say that you stand more chance of passing a test first time in Boston, than you do in Peterborough.  When you consider the numbers we are talking about here, a 14% swing between regions is significant in my opinion.  When you consider what that means financially between the Test Centres, it grabs your attention.  If Peterborough were to have a comparable first time pass rate as Boston for example, then it would effectively lose £37000 due to those first time passes not having to re-take the test.

Let’s now consider the situation for PDI’s who take their Part 3 tests.  There are huge regional variations in the pass rate.  For the period Apr 2010 to Mar 2011, Peterborough passed 30%, Norwich 43%, Bedford 53%, Exeter 87% and Plymouth 92%.  Colchester passed just 17% (well done again Kat).  This is one of the reasons why I believe the test urgently needs restructuring.


Despite the clear instructions given to examiners, there is clearly far too much flexibility in how the test is performed.  I have said for a long time that it is too difficult a task to expect an examiner to choose the directions of the route to be taken, whilst accurately performing the character of the role play, whilst accurately introducing relevant driving errors, whilst accurately responding to the PDI’s instruction, whilst accurately assessing how the PDI is doing.  That is simply too much to ask one person to accurately do, and as these statistics clearly demonstrate, they cannot reliably, consistently do it.  When you consider that this is peoples careers in the balance here, that is an unacceptable variation between Test Centres.  

Learning to the MAX!

  My Son who is now 10 and 4 days old, came home this weekend with a book that has the following sentences in it:

“A man, too frightened to drop the portmanteau he carried on his shouder (sic), swung round and sent me staggering with a blow from the corner of his burden”       and

“They thudded against chairs, whirling their moustached runners, kneading the rug nap, sucking gently at hidden dust”.

Of the page he read to me, I would be surprised if there were more than 3 sentences that he was able to read without stopping.  When I asked him what the story was about, or what he had read he had no idea.  What is the point in this nonsense?  This is a book that has been specifically bought by his school and graded for his particular reading ability.  What is going on here?  “Step by step how to put a child off from reading for the rest of his life”.  Challenge him with new words, grammar, and styles by all means, but for heavens sake make it enjoyable!

Striking the balance of new learning, continued improvement, whilst also making it enjoyable is a tricky business.  I want my Learners to experience new, unfamiliar routes, encounter a variety of situations so that they continue their learning but still enjoy themselves.  In my 3 years so far I believe I have let down 2 people specifically on this point.  They started with me at different times, about 2 years apart but were remarkably similar. 

Both were absolute beginners and both were progressing slower than average – which in itself is not unusual, I’ve had plenty that fit into that bracket so far.  They had booked a course of 10 driving sessions.  They found the feet/hand co-ordination very difficult to control.  Normally I would expect a Learner to get to the standard of driving to/from their home within 3-4 hours, yet both of the above took 7-8 hours.  One packed up after his first 10 hour block booking, the other after his first 15 hour block booking.  The feeling of disappointment to lose them is very strong, even thinking about them now, a long time after the event.  I worked hard, really, really hard with them; probably the hardest I’ve had to work.  Although they were in a safe environment, they would have worked the car hard too, straining the clutch/gear mechanisms and bashing tyres against kerbs – in their efforts.  This makes it all the worse really, I know that I worked really hard to get them progressing, and yet, both decided to quit after their bookings.  I also feel kind of robbed, robbed of a challenge.  Despite the fact that I found them both really hard work, I really enjoyed their sessions – the feeling I got when I saw their faces when they achieved a particular objective will stay with me for a long time. 

But I would be naive to think that I will appeal to all.  I wonder if in my eagerness to help them progress, I dropped the ball marked ‘fun’, and it all became a bit too much for them. 

It’s a little bit like my Son with his ‘inappropriate’ book.  I dare say that theoretically, yes he could sit there with a dictionary by his side, and on each and every occasion of discovering a new word, he looks it up, reads the appropriate meaning and then go over the sentence again, and make sense of this new word in the context of the story.  And yes, I dare say he will learn some new words in that way.  But at what cost?  If this process means that he struggles to understand the story, or it takes him 2 months rather than the expected 2 weeks to read the book, then you have to wonder whether he is learning to read so that he can enjoy books for the rest of his life, or whether he is being force-fed to tick that book title off a list.  It’s exactly this lack of attention to detail that, in my humble opinion, is creating the problems we have in education right now.   It’s possible that book was incorrectly selected, it may have been incorrectly graded in terms of ability of reader, or my Son's ability was incorrectly assessed, or perhaps, despite it being formally stamped up and identified as a school book, perhaps it was donated to the school.  Whatever the reason, as I know only too well with my Learners/PDI’s, if learning is not enjoyable, then it will be ineffective. 

The DSA are telling us on their website that there is a worryingly high proportion of newly qualified drivers that feel ill-prepared for driving independently after they pass their test.  It makes me wonder if there is a connection between that situation and some young adults coming out of education being unable to perform the most basic maths for example.  It seems to my untrained eye, that much emphasis is being placed on passing tests, with little regard for how well the subject matter is applied post-test.

The other side to this subject is ensuring I stretch the more abled too.  This is something that I believe can be easily overlooked in the training of PDI’s.  Most PDI’s will readily grasp the concept of the phase 1 and 2 on the Part 3 test representing Learners of differing abilities.  Generally speaking, with a ‘phase 1’ Learner, nothing is left to chance.  They are tightly controlled.  A ‘phase 2’ Learner is generally asked what his/her actions/considerations are in order to deal with a ‘soon to be’ eventuality.  But how many ADI’s will place as much emphasis stretching an ‘able’ Learner as they would meeting the needs of a less able Learner?  It’s an interesting point.  A more able Learner will learn with less effort, quicker, and better.  So theoretically, should they not go to test sooner and pass with less attempts?   Or, if they are not being given the opportunity of going to test sooner, should they not be passing with less driving faults?

This is where the continual assessment really comes into its own.  Only by taking the time and trouble to log your performance, monitor it, and assess where it fits into the bigger picture, can you have any hope of bringing your goals into fruition on or before schedule.  When a Learner gets in the car without their Drivers Pack, they have nothing to show me as to what they did last time, or overall what subjects they have covered, or how well they felt after the previous session, so reviewing the previous session becomes hard work and we haven’t even turned the engine on yet.  Monitoring your progress is an absolute key component of achieving goals, especially if you add a timescale to it.    

32 in a 30

I was asked the other day to keep an eye on the speed of one of my Learners.  Not unreasonable you might think, surely I do anyway others might think.

If I describe the context of the discussion....

This Learner likes to drive round at 30 in 3^rd gear, which is perfectly acceptable.  Personally, in my car, I like to be in 4^th at 30, but that approach does demand you are disciplined with monitoring speed to avoid just creeping over 30mph.  So when I raised this with my Learner, who is learning in his car, he told me that he likes to stay in third – this is what he’s used to.  Ok.  When I said it would be better on his pocket due to using less fuel*, his response was that he cares not about the fuel because it’s not his car, not his fuel.  Ok. 

But what he then observed was that he was consistently going just over the 30mph speed limit.  So when I said that fault can easily creep in when you are sat in 4^th in a 30 but should not quite so readily in 3^rd at 30, he asked if I could just keep a casual eye on his speed.

Now that was interesting to me.  This subject of being just over the speed limit had come up before with this Learner and I had explained about an extremely useful technique to combat this problem.  I had also directed him off to this video that I made several months ago directly on this subject....

   http://youtu.be/BQrsmRZHSA8

So when he asked me to keep a casual eye on his speed it raises an issue in my eyes.  Firstly, I won’t be there to keep a casual eye on his speed on the test, but he can be sure the examiner will be keeping more than a casual eye on it.  Secondly, I wont be there once he has passed his test, to keep a casual eye on his speed.  As I pointed out to him, my job is to identify a meaningful solution to this problem that is going to work for him, in the long term, not just in this short period of time I see him before the test.  I reminded him that as a newly qualified driver, if you accumulate 6+ points on your driving licence (that only takes 2 speeding endorsements), then he will need to start all over again.

I can of course just do as he has asked, and sit there like a parrot on his shoulder saying “speed” every time he goes 1 mph over that speed limit – one would have to question though whether this would be an efficient use of his money when hiring my time.  But then, perhaps he cares not about the money?

Alternatively, he could invest 3 minutes of his time to view the video, and then try practicing that technique so that he actually alters his mental processes while driving – it may take a while to develop that skill, but a skill it most definitely will be.... that if he chooses, could last him a lifetime. 

This comes down to ownership of learning.  Not taking the responsibility on board to learn so that you are truly an independent driver after your test is quite a stumbling block. 




*Take a look at your rev counter when you are doing 30mph in 3rd and 4th gear.  In my car, in 4th gear it's at 1500 revs, in 3rd gear it's at just shy of 2500 revs - that means the engine is working harder, more fuel is being used which costs more money.  Doing this from the start of your driving life, for 50 years will make a significant difference in the amount of fuel you pay for and consume.

Every driver is 'unique'

I was out the other day in the sticks, with a Learner, and we found ourselves on one of the rural roads that surround her parents farm.  The driving conditions on these roads differ significantly to those encountered on urban town roads, for quite a few reasons:

They have an unusual mix of long straight roads, and also severe bends (makes for an interesting experience if you ‘like to drive’)

They will often ‘look’ different to town roads; potholes, uneven road, no kerbs, no white paint, ditches on the sides, hilly, mud/manure on the surface etc

They will have a variety of road users; horseriders, motorbike riders (love rural roads), tractors, lorries, pedestrians walking on the road (there is often no footpath)

Vision is often severely reduced; not only due to those severe bends but often farms will have entry/exits from the road which are completely blind to road users, also you often encounter dips in straight roads which will completely swallow up an oncoming vehicle and you can easily think no-one is oncoming.

When driving at night, you often are left unaided by the Council; there may be no white paint on the road, no cats eyes, often no street lighting, sometimes no pre-warning of severe bends

The road users will often not be experienced of driving on them; people off on tourist trips will inevitably not have much experience of driving on rural roads, so they may not be as confident at reading the severity of bends, or whether an overtake is safe, or what the speed limit is etc and this can often have a knock on effect on other road users.

Getting back to my session the other day.  We had a long narrow stretch of rural road, farms all around us, very bumpy road, severe ditch on the right side of the road, massive trees to the left, and yet all around was vast stretches of very flat farmland.  There were no kerbs, just verge, we had vehicles oncoming and a vehicle coming up fast behind us.  My Learner was doing 50 in a national speed limit (60).  It’s fair to say, that given these circumstances, my ‘alertness’ increases, I feel more anxious, my pulse probably quickens, and I am making big efforts to anticipate things more.  I’m not a gambling man, but I guess to summarise, I would say that the odds are slowly but surely creeping against us in these conditions.  We don’t have many ‘escape routes’ to go to should an emergency crop up, we are more in the hands of other road users due to our limitations of options in position, which is never a good thing..... they may be drunk, tired, foreign, 90 yrs old, nervous, distracted, on medication etc.  Our speed is higher than a town 30 road, yet our vision is often less – not a nice combination.  If it’s going to go wrong, it’s going to go seriously wrong.  I wanted to test if my Learner was sensing the same, so I asked “How do you feel right now about our driving conditions?”, and to my surprise, she told me that she felt quite comfortable, because she is used to being on these roads, she felt quite at home with them, and she didn’t see any increased risk to note of.  She then asked me “Well, these kind of roads have less accidents on them than other roads don’t they?”.

What a great question.  Any driving instructor reading this, will instantly connect with me when I say these are like golden moments in our job.  When a Learner is willing and prepared to ask a question, no matter what it’s about, it’s an opportunity for learning (for them as well as us), but a question like that?!  I said that it was my belief that they pose more of a threat for it to go seriously wrong, but as I couldn’t give her instant facts, I’d dig about and get back to her with more concrete information.  She smiled at this, I think she quite liked the idea that for once, I was being given homework to do ... from her!

Well, the following link from RoSPA nicely summarises the situation.....

http://www.rospa.com/roadsafety/adviceandinformation/highway/rural_roads.aspx

In addition, Wikipedia confirms that more deaths occur in rural areas, but more injuries in urban areas.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reported_Road_Casualties_Great_Britain

Then pop to pg 22 of the link below which is referring to a particularly high killed/seriously injured rate on a small section of the A17 which is a stones throw from where this Learner lives.  Just read the ‘evidence’ paragraph for a flavour of this very important subject of safety on rural roads.....

http://assets.dft.gov.uk/publications/pgr-roadsafety-dpp-rural-ruralroadsafetyreport-pdf/annex2.pdf

This last link has some quality information on it and well worth a read.  Reference is made to the disproportionately high incidence of death/injury involving motorbikes, and also the migrant community.

So it seems that for a variety of reasons, when it goes wrong on these rural roads, it goes horribly wrong with fatal consequences.   It will be interesting to see if this information has any affect on my Learners intended choice of route as she drives round for the rest of her life.  For me, personally, I don’t feel comfortable on those roads, as fundamentally I’m more in the hands of other road users than on urban roads.  By that I mean, I’m not in as much control of what happens.  Poor driving from another road user on these rural roads is more difficult for me to accommodate than on the urban roads, and as such, I could be the best driver in the world, but still come seriously unstuck on these roads due to the poor driving of another.

These perceptions are an important factor.  The other day when I arrived at a Learners home, I brought up the subject of aquaplaning due to a sudden downpour* on the way to his house.  When I asked if he had any experience of it, he relayed to me an incident that had happened a couple of days before while he was out practising with his Mother.  The heavens opened and he suddenly found himself slamming the brakes on hard due to a roundabout that just came from nowhere as he put it.  When I dug a bit deeper he told me that it was due to the very heavy rain that affected his forward vision that made him not see the roundabout.  He had not reduced his speed to reflect the sudden change in driving conditions, and as such, his speed was too fast for his lack of vision (an important message that has cropped up earlier in this blog).  When he was recounting the incident originally, the emphasis was on the sudden and unusual experience of the emergency stop and triggering the ABS as a result.  In his mind, he saw a link between me mentioning aquaplaning and his emergency stop.  The link in his head was the sudden downpour.  But the important bit is seeing the different consequences of the sudden downpour.

How we perceive driving conditions/incidents, either at the time, or after the event is a very personal matter, and what makes each of us unique. 


* Talking of sudden downpours, did you know that every single day of the year, 3.3 billion litres of water are wasted in leakages underground in England and Wales?  That amount of water would FILL UP Wembley Stadium THREE TIMES, every single day.  (Just thought I'd share that with you, if you, like me, are currently on a hosepipe ban).

The word on the street

Much talk yesterday in the Test Centre amongst ADI’s of Check Tests.  The rumour mill was churning away full pelt.  One ADI apparently knows of 5 people failing.  Another named an ADI that he has heard has failed.  As ever, it’s only the fails that is ‘news’, inevitably you tend to get no context in these discussions.  Even if there is truth in that figure of 6, 6 out of how many? 

At one stage, out of the 4 of us jabbering away, there was me and one other who have just had one, there was another chap saying he’s been given a date for his, and the other chap was remaining tight lipped on the subject.  It does appear that Peterborough is having a blitz right now on Check Tests.  One chap was explaining that when he qualified he was not tested for 4 years.  He got a grade 5, and within 2 years he has now been informed of his test. 

Slight change of subject.  I’m after an automatic for my driving school.  Hyundai wrote to me 2 weeks or so ago saying they are selling off new cars at ‘cost price’ just until 31/3/12.  I went down there to take a look.  In the forecourt was a manual up for £8495 – not on any promotion.  I explained what I was after, in red, and to my surprise, I was told they could provide one on this promotion.  They asked me if I was a member of the DIA – which I’m not.  If you are, you can get a further discount in an attempt to appeal to driving instructors.  The chap dug out their annual membership, and it turned out that it would have paid for me to join up just to get this discount.  There was a £547 ‘delivery’ charge.  Even with the discount which apparently was the promotion described as ‘cost price’, the overall cost for this automatic was going to be £9100.  I left them to it.  When you consider that 3 years ago I bought a new manual from them for £7400 – their ‘promotion’ leaves a little to be desired as far as I can see.