Monday 17 June 2013

Forming good habits www.BIGTOM.org.uk


Intensive Driving Course in Peterborough or Grantham

Having recently lost 41 pounds in weight, the subject of my eating habits has been very much in my focus of late.

As I have discovered, when you start measuring weight, recording your daily food/liquid intake, recognising the relationship between what you eat and how you feel, then it brings it home how easy it is to fall into ‘bad habits’.  That regular intake of carbohydrates, the ‘occasional’ glass of vino, the convenient ‘drive by’ snack – the habitual dietary slips that eventually, all add up.

Driving habits is a subject I’ve been interested in, and making videos about, for some time.  I’m not wanting to focus in this blog how driving habits evolve through the years, but I would like to concentrate on the importance of developing good driving habits when you learn to drive.

Failing to develop good driving habits when learning to drive, is at least partly responsible for two things: the low driving test pass rates achieved in the UK (approx 48%) and the high incidence of collisions by newly qualified drivers (approx 20%) – both of those figures by the way are from the Driving Standards Agency.

One of the reasons why this problem exists is because it is very ‘convenient’ (there’s that word again) when taking driving lessons to focus solely on the driving test standard.  As such, many fall into the trap of attempting to do driving actions IN ORDER to pass the test, rather than in order to be a safe driver. 

A case in point would be the driving actions of ‘observations’.  A general term meaning what actions a driver takes to appreciate what is going on around them, and how they affect, or could affect, other road users.  The full extent of observations, the timing of them, and the proper use of the information gained from them, takes time to become habit forming.  But with good and proper training a driver doesn’t just get into the habit of making effective observations, they understand WHY the observations are so important in terms of road safety.  I cover on my Intensive Driving Courses in Peterborough or Grantham a ‘system’ of observations, and my customers get to appreciate why such a system is important, and they repeatedly practice this system – because that then develops a ‘good driving habit’.

Contrast that approach with someone who goes to the driving test NOT with any particular habit of observations in place.  Instead they have the tactic that they will pass the test by making mirror checks every 8 seconds, so that the examiner can see they are looking in the mirrors.  Now that person may well pass the driving test, but for how long are they going to keep on looking at the mirrors every 8 seconds after they have passed?    

Not only does this approach to driving seem odd to a Learner, as they are doing driving actions for no apparent reason other than passing the test, but it is also very difficult to effectively pull off.  Trying to remember to robotically do something with no idea why it is necessary, is a hard thing to achieve in any walk of life, but when on a driving test with the added nerves.... many cannot do it.

Forget about any pre-conceived idea you might have of what a crash course might mean, having driving lessons in Peterborough or Grantham with me is all about developing good driving habits.  Understanding why they are good, and being given the opportunity to develop them so that they become 2nd nature to you – not false, not just for show on a driving test, not just to please a Driving Instructor, but because that is simply what you do, you just..... do it.  Now that sounds like an approach to learning to drive that might well buck the trends given above. 


Question is.... are you up to it?   Text "YES" to 07894 262 718 right now, and I will send you 3 really useful habit forming techniques that I use every day when I'm driving.  Go ahead, you have nothing to lose, and everything to gain.... I look forward to hearing from you.

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