The best way to learn to drive

We should take care of and pay attention to all types of pupil learning to drive.  Their attitude to learning can affect outcomes, and driving instructors at BIG TOM recognise the importance of knowing our customers.

Take the high achieving "academic" learner driver, for example.  In this blog, I am referring to students of the more traditional academic subjects, excluding subjects such as art, PE etc. 

This pupil knows what effort is; they are used to successful outcomes in the educational arena.  Depending on the age of the pupil, this could be an attribute and a warning sign.  The pupil may have little experience in managing difficulties in the learning process.  Why would they? They are used to success.

The activity of learning to drive is not the sterile environment of academia.  Other road users may not comply with the highway code necessarily.  The urgency of such situations that arise does vary, as is the risk it brings.  It can be a challenge for the academic learner driver as they are used to managing pre-defined workloads and methodically working through them.  Surprises in the study period will be new and different.  "If I am being told to do "x" in a given driving scenario, why is not everyone doing the same?".  This can lead to frustration, annoyance and a sense of bewilderment because it defies logic, and 'just doesn't make sense'.  Highly focussed academic learners monitor their effort levels and behaviours; they are not so used to needing to pay attention to others.

Unresolved difficulties can be a source of frustration.  Driving is utilising skills hitherto unused.  Metacognition in the driving training environment is unchartered territory; requiring a rethink.  Academic learners are used to a strategy of long periods of study, cramming, high-intensity concentration in a controlled environment.  

Senses are stimulated with driving.  The touch needed for clutch control, smell when the clutch plate is burning.  How the sound of the engine changes in different situations.  Recognition that the body is tired and needs oxygen, or that limbs need stretching to optimise performance.  The eyes are very used to being perfectly still, at a set focal point to a book or screen.  Now the eyes are needing to work hard when driving, and the head needs to turn, peripheral vision utilised.

The rate at which the vehicle moves has a direct impact on the time the pupil has to identify hazards, assess, make decisions, review.  An enthusiastic academic learner, used to quick gains and accelerated progress can adversely affect outcomes by not giving them enough time.  They naturally want to keep up with other road users, maybe even outdrive them, they are not used to the idea of taking time to develop skills.  They can have many years of experience of out-performing other learners in the academic sphere; the concept of self-regulating the pace of the vehicle to accommodate learning is pretty alien.

A high achieving academic learner is used to the idea of 'feeling the pain'.  They relate hours sat studying to outstanding results.  Why should driving be any different?  The perception is one of condensing time spent behind the wheel into the required number of hours and hey presto.  Revision, homework, cramming all follow that strategy.  Therefore, if they drive for "x" number of hours, then they perceive that the resulting output (driving ability), must also be a given.  If they are used to last-minute, highly intense study periods going through to 4 am, then that pain is just a necessary evil. They will want to adopt the same strategy to their driving training programme. 

 

Academic students submit assignments to deadlines; they receive feedback and re-do.  Initial applications do not need to be perfect, and there is scope for rehashing submissions.  The practicalities of driving do not permit this liberal approach to "trial and error".  The instantaneous feedback of performance (in real-time) may not be welcome because the academic learner likes total control of what gets submitted before being open to feedback. 

 

An academic learner may recognise the non-academic aspect of driving.  This point may be either misleading or threatening.  Anyone can drive or pass driving tests - there is nothing 'elite' about this objective. 

"How difficult can it be - everyone drives?"

At BIG TOM, you are encouraged to discover how your pupil feels about this subject.  Time invested in exploring feelings about the process adopted to learn how to drive can pay dividends further down the line.  There should never be any sense of judgement or criticism, but guiding our pupils to help them to maximise the effectiveness of their time with us. 
 

Recent DVSA publications

In an effort to help keep you informed, here is a list (with handy links) of all the recent DVSA publications that I've been thumbing through in the last 12 months.  In no particular order:

DVSA Annual review 2017-2018

DVSA Strategy 2017-2022

DVSA Annual progress report 2017 - 2018

DVSA Business Plan 2018 - 2019

DVSA Annual Review 2018- 2019

DVSA Road safety statement 2019

DVSA Annual report and accounts 2018 - 2019

Towards Zero Foundation: Safe System

Teaching the whole person

When you want something so bad that it starts to affect your logical thinking, then someone needs to step in and put you straight.  True?

It's great our pupils are shooting for the stars, good luck to them; but we should help them to keep it real.  A Joe Rogan interview with a very successful musical artist and movie producer Rob Zombie is well worth listening to if you have the time.  That is one 'grounded' person.

Zombie is pulling on his experiences of life; pupils learning to drive may be pretty short on that at 17 or 18 years of age.  They may struggle to appreciate the process or journey that they will go through.  It won't help them if they are either still in academic education or fresh out of it.  The sixth form at schools and universities are in a bind whereby they are competing for student applications, and there is increasing evidence that it is impacting the quality of education they provide.  The challenge that creates for driving instructors is that some pupils will enter the process of learning to drive, with a distorted understanding of what it means to learn a practical skill.  These pupils are very used to an institution which is geared entirely on exam grades (by whatever means), instead of a meaningful education.  

I find myself having conversations with pupils about the process of learning to drive where it becomes clear, very quickly, that my pupil does not have the faintest idea of what it means to learn by tapping into the long-term memory.  Many are not used to that concept.  An analogy I would suggest is that academic institutions are conditioning them to eat out at fast-food restaurants for instant gratification.   The details of fine dining, savouring good food, social etiquette at the table, are not being developed.  They are too busy looking at phones while scoffing junk food rather than benefitting from the social skills of good company with friends.

Why does this matter to us as driving instructors?  It flies in the face of the DVSA objectives of 'safe driving for life'.  It ignores the importance of developed habitual driving skills by repeated and sustained practice.  It also turns its back on the notion of continued learning post-test.  So we have our governing body who have objectives entirely at odds with those of our customers.  That is why this matters.

You would be able to spot the fast-food eater who dines for a 4-course meal if you paid attention to the level of interaction with other diners, the quality of conversation, where the mobile phone is located, how quickly each course is consumed etc.  But this blog is not about how the DVSA choose to assess learner drivers.

I have walked through the process of learning to drive with some pupils, basing my narrative on DVSA researched statistics, only to discover that what I am saying is either not believed, or just not understood.  I've used graphs, practical analogies, comparisons to academic learning but so strong are the forces within, that the message simply does not get through.  These forces can come from the accounts given to pupils by parents and peers.  We should never under-estimate the power of these influences.  

Clearly, what doesn't help is when unscrupulous instructors 'coach' pupils to display certain behaviours on test, knowing full well that the pupil does not possess habitual skills and techniques for safe driving. 

Here is a little teaser for you.  The next 5 pupils you see for driving training who are taking English Literature at school, ask them to tell you HONESTLY how many books they have read from cover to cover.  See what they say. Be ready for an honest: "none".

When you talk to your pupils about their attitudes to road safety, the conversation is not 'results' based because your role is not one of judgement.  Pupils will disclose thoughts on the law, learning to drive, and driving behaviours that you could never predict.  'Non scholae sed vitae (discimus)' - We do not learn for school but for life.  It may be a 2000-year-old quotation (from Seneca the Younger), but it holds to this day.  We can choose to educate our pupils beyond the scope of passing the driving test.  Not all conversations have to align with a measurable outcome.  If you want your pupils to think about driving behaviours, you will need talks that give them the freedom to express their inner thoughts.

Changing public norms

Section 2.36 of The Road Safety Statement 2019 (DfT) states that 17-24 year-old men are the highest risk group according to road casualty statistics.  I have both seen for myself and heard of some shocking accounts to back up this finding.  I have mentioned before on this blog the dangerous combination that I'm afraid I see with increased frequency from learner drivers matching this profile: lack of communication skills to express their thoughts/feelings/beliefs and attitude to road safety coupled with behaviours that are the height of irresponsibility.  

An 18-year old female pupil recently recounted to me an incident that occurred about a year ago.  She got in a car (rear nearside) with two other known male friends of equal age.  The driver was unknown to her but known to her friends.  One of her male friends said to the driver: "Scare her".  The driver proceeded to drive at a speed that he could not control the car, which ended up flipping upside down in a ditch (see image).  Miraculously, all four occupants survived with minimal injuries which is nothing short of a miracle in itself.

Many thoughts are in my mind, which leaves me quite cold regarding what is behind the instruction "Scare her".  I don't have any daughters myself, but this is the stuff that would make fathers lose sleep, I imagine.

A different pupil relayed to me only a month or so ago another horrifying event.  She also found herself in a car (sat in the same position), with two female friends but a male driver.  The driver was only known to her friend, who was sat in the front passenger seat.  The driver, unprovoked, starts 'showboating' by driving at speed with left and right swerves on a single carriageway road.  He loses control of the car with a lorry oncoming, swerves abruptly to miss the lorry and similarly, overturns the car.  Not so lucky on this occasion regarding consequences.  Out of all the occupants in the car, my pupil was the only one wearing a seat belt.  She regained consciousness outside the overturned car (her exit remains a mystery to her to this day).  The friend in the back next to her died.  The driver was seen by witnesses emptying vodka out of a bottle.  

The similarities between the two events are striking.

Time for some Merton

In our line of work as driving instructors, it is so important to cultivate the relationship with our pupil to develop an effective working relationship.  It is so easy to be distracted by a pupil who is obsessed with the driving test.  Thomas Merton is quoted as saying:

"Do not depend on the hope of results.  You may have to face the fact that your work will be apparently worthless and even achieve no result at all, if not perhaps results opposite to what you expect.  As you get used to this idea, you start more and more to concentrate not on the results, but on the value, the rightness, the truth of the work itself.  You gradually struggle less and less for an idea and more and more for specific people.  In the end, it is the reality of personal relationship that saves everything."

Making connections

Pep Guardiola on Teaching: "Decision making is key. Players have to experience the ideas in training before they can fully grasp what they're doing & it's not enough just to tell them. Players have to first simulate the tactics in training to then execute the ideas in matches"

Pupils need to know the reasons why they practice what they practice.  As Pep says above, it's not going to be good enough just telling pupils what they need to do.  They need to see it being done well, understand how it is achieved, and recognise the reason why it is important. Driving techniques have to be put into context for it to be meaningful.

Understanding is key.  

Do your pupils know how to apply the stopping distance knowledge to real-life situations?

Do they know why the reverse parallel park is done the way it is on the driving test?

Can your pupils make decisions about which manoeuvre to do based on assessing risk?

Inner calm

"Hold on a minute will you, just quiet for a second; I need to think."

You know that feeling?  Clarity of mind often comes in moments of quietness.

Here at BIG TOM, much emphasis is given to still, calmness in a learning environment.

Think beyond the need to have a break from distractions; as beneficial as that undoubtedly is.  Instead, think more about inner calm, rather than controlling external 'noise'.   There is a great deal of inner turmoil in the mind of our pupils as they attempt to navigate through the learning programme.  Learning by reading in silence is one thing, but driving around with a range of external influencers while attempting to think about driving actions is something entirely different.  The mind of our pupils is chaotic at times.  There is a mixture of emotions flying around.

Learning to drive can be perceived as incredibly exciting, annoying, satisfying, tedious, challenging, demanding, uncontrollable, traumatic, rewarding.  Pupils emotional state will flow between feelings of pride, disappointment, anger, resentment, conflict.  Much of this will be experienced in silence; oblivious to the driving instructor who does not enquire or have any skill in reading non-verbal body language.

Pupils need to recognise how they feel while driving, will affect performance.  Some of this inner turmoil will be consciously acknowledged but others not.  Frequently an instructor will enquire with their pupil about a passage of driving in terms of perceived safety, control or ability, and the answer will defy what the instructor has just observed.  

Pupils need assistance in recognising their emotional state.  PDI's, ADI's (and dare I say driving examiners) would benefit from appreciating how their inner turmoil affects their professional capability.
 
At BIG TOM we employ techniques that encourage quietness, still, calm, peace.  Rarely do people achieve optimal cognitive working while being in a state of chaos in their mind.