Driving training - the art of deceipt

The day before yesterday I had a call from a chap who was asking if I wanted to go on board with his organisation that specialises in intensive driving courses.  Nothing particularly interesting or exceptional about that I realise but what he actually said I found interesting. 

He immediately went into what was clearly a bit of flattery talk which was designed to make me feel good about his call.  And he went on, for about 5 minutes telling me who is in his organisation and what they do, and why they do it.  The more he went on, the more I realised I was being fed a typical marketing speech. 

He dropped a name or 2 at the start telling me they used to be in the Police, and what their responsibilities were, ‘so we are what I guess you could call a serious bunch of guys’.

He said that their training methodology is based on the Police driving system as outlined in Roadcraft, ‘which means that you can never be involved in an accident that was your fault’.  He left that one to sink in before saying that again, ‘So what that means is, that if you are trained to drive to that system and you do drive to the system, you can never, ever have an accident that you can be classed as blame worthy’.

Now THAT is some claim and he made that comment twice. 

What he didn’t know is that I come from a Police background, I’ve seen first hand the standard of training for emergency call driving.  I’ve driven to Roadcraft, and I’ve seen the collisions that have occurred from Police drivers who have been trained to this system he speaks so highly of.  Saying that to drive to that system you can never be ‘at fault’ for a collision, is a bit like saying to young males ‘if you practice safe sex you wont be responsible for any STD’s or for getting anyone pregnant’.  The point is, and this is what I find is so misleading in his speech, is that if everyone drove to DES, there would be no accidents too, but it’s such a meaningless statement, it defies belief that he can even say it.  He is in effect saying, ‘train with us and you’ll never be involved in an accident that is your fault’ – which is so incredibly deceiving, it is unforgiveable.    

The sad fact is that if he’s coming out with this fantasy speak to me, a driving instructor, you can be sure he’s saying it to his potential customers (learners) too.... and they wont necessarily be in a position to see through his flannel.

Before I upset too many lovers in the Roadcraft world, I should point out that I provide a pre-course video viewing list to my customers who book up on my intensive courses, and the number 1 video, top of the list, is this video......

 http://youtu.be/JZi6993qjro 

If you take the time and trouble to view that, I hope you will then realise precisely my stance on this subject; in my training I provide to Learners and PDI's, I continually, without any prejudice, make reference to both publications, Roadcraft and DES.


http://www.amazon.co.uk/Roadcraft-drivers-handbook-Essential-Handbook/dp/0117021687
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Official-DSA-Guide-Driving/dp/0115531343/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1341023326&sr=1-1