Learning to ski v learning to drive

Being willing and able to forward plan when driving is essential as you progress with learning to drive.

 I draw an analogy with skiing.  As you become a more competent skier, you realise that if you fail to plan in advance where you are going, then the consequences can be really painful!  When on a driving lesson if you find yourself stalling a lot, or braking too soon or too late, or being in the wrong position in the road, or the wrong gear, these are all signs that you are not planning in advance what you need to do and giving yourself enough time to actually put the necessary actions in place.




When we start off on the nursery slopes with a skiing instructor, there will be a lot of controlling elements happening; the location tends to be fairly flat, there is a lot of space around you, the instructor will ask you all to have a go one at a time, and he/she will be standing a few feet from you, giving you instant verbal instructions of what to do, how and when.  If something goes wrong, the risk of injury is minimised, you inevitably end up landing hard on your backside.  After a while, this becomes less funny, and more annoying, and your motivation to improve becomes more focussed, as not listening tends to result in pain!

It is very similar when you are learning how to drive.  The demands required of you will be limited to reflect your current ability.  Large flat off-road spaces, and no other traffic are ways of assisting you; things are done in slow time, your Driving Instructor is giving you lots of help and support, demonstrating and prompting you to do your actions in a methodical, logical sequence.  You are told why something needs to be done, you are shown how to do it properly, you are given tips of how to make that action more manageable and slowly but surely progress is made.  As long as you keep applying the fundamentals then with time, the actions become more and more efficient, and the controlling elements around you are gently released so that you are driving in more demanding locations.

Your Driving Instructor will ensure that you do not crash, you do not run anyone over and you do not overly affect other road users.  There will come a time where you will be given the opportunity to take on the responsibility of applying these fundamentals on your own.  And this is where this forward planning comes in.  Previously, you will have been encouraged to identify hazards, spot oncoming cyclists or junctions, consider what is the sequence of actions needed and given time to put them in place, as prompted by your Driving Instructor.  For further learning to take place, those key skills need to be seen by you, and then you apply the sequence independently.  It will still be good to make mistakes, because that is how all of us learn, so tips and techniques will still be coming your way to further refine the fundamental skills learnt.  But the key thing is that you are building blocks, you are slowly but surely developing skills, progress is being made and you can see for yourself that you are becoming a more competent driver.  

Go back to skiing for a second.  When your skiing instructor gives you the nod to go and practise on the slopes, it will be you who is deciding the grade of run you go on, you decide how to ski across the slopes and you who will feel the pain if you try to do things too soon or without applying the fundamentals.  As such, it tends to grab your attention just a little bit more dynamically than it can do on driving lessons.  If you find yourself hurtling down a ski slope uncontrollably, and colliding off the main slope into a tree, and your leg is broken, you get air lifted off the slopes, game over.  If you are finding that your Driving Instructor is not giving you the freedom of driving on more busy roads, then just consider why he/she might be doing that..... are they concerned for your safety, their safety, the safety of other road users, their driving school car?

Trying to short cut that learning process is troublesome.  It tends to result in inconsistent driving ability because the learning blocks have been built on weak foundations.  It can still be possible to pass the driving test, it may take you a few attempts, you may only just pass, but a reliably safe driver you will almost certainly not be.  The insurance premiums for newly qualified drivers are as high as they are for good reason, and not applying the fundamentals that were covered on your driving lessons can be a major factor.   

Has this blog been useful to you?  Can you relate to any of the above, are you getting frustrated at your lack of progress?  Any comments/feedback please feel free to add below.