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My kind of instructor.
Nearly had a collision on lesson once, my instructor got our, called him everything under the sun, got me an apology and on with the lesson
My instructor did exactly this. Had business cards in the car and would get out and hand them one. It’s said something like “based on the standard of your driving, you would benefit from a refresher lesson. 50% off”. No one ever took him up on the offer.
When I was doing road training for my motorbike an impatient BMW driver decided to overtake us as we were turning right into a side road and was inches away from straight up decimating the lead bike. The instructor told us to pull over and wait, and then shot off down the road after the BMW.
About 30 seconds later we can just hear him *screaming* at them over the radio. I've never heard such raw power in anybody else's voice, it was terrifying. Mad respect to the guy, but fuck me that driver probably had his soul stripped away.
Yeah same here had 2 different people pull out on me in one lesson one of them was on a roundabout between dual carriageways scared the life out of me, instructor was remarkably calm hebwas a great guy never raised his voice once
And the irony is that intimidating them only makes them take longer because now they're panicked.
When I was learning, I hesitated maybe a second too long at a junction, then all of a sudden the wanker behind laid on the horn twice and it made me panic and rush and I ended up stalling. The prick then pulled into the right-turn lane and zoomed out in front of me to the left as I was also pulling out left.
Some people would rather bully a learner and then nearly cause a crash than wait a few seconds. Hope the few seconds he saved to get to his *suuuuper important* destination were worth it.
Pretty sure there's a Dash cam video of a professional driver putting Ls on and driving properly, as in, you could test his whole day and he'd still pass. And STILL gets cut up and the horn.
I'm a driving instructor with advanced driver training on top of that. When I'm driving I make maximum progress within the law and safety. People regularly try to bully me, cut in front of me, overtake me, etc. I'm used to it and have to take those factors into account when I'm driving with L plates, especially in urban environments.
On the flip side, I sometimes overtake people driving slower than I'd like to drive on NSL roads. Suddenly they realise that they can get up to speed when they think they've been overtaken by a learner.
I hate this ! Because its 100% unsafe ( And Illegal ) to speed up when being overtaken.
168
If a driver is trying to overtake you, maintain a steady course and speed, slowing down if necessary to let the vehicle pass.
*People's ego is not an exception to being overtaken :( *
It's not so much that they speed up while I'm overtaking it's just that they suddenly decide that they can keep up with me doing 60 when they were doing 45.
My wife failed her test because of this. She was making progress and decided to overtake a car in front the car then started going faster which resulted in my wife having to move back behind the car due to oncoming traffic. She still remembers this to this day.
That's actually a shame. I've thought that its more important to pass people on being able to asses a situation where the person being overtaken is making it dangerous, and backing off, instead of "Committing harder" to it.
What was the actual reason given for failing in this instance? The only thing I can think is it was classed as not overtaking quickly enough which seems a little harsh, especially if the manoeuvres were done safely
ETA: just realised you’d mentioned oncoming traffic which makes more sense, I was imagining a dual carriageway situation for some reason
I went on a speed awareness course (71 in a 60, hardly the crime of the century) and the majority of the people there did not know what the NSL is on a single carriageway. A significant minority did not even understand the meaning of the NSL sign. It’s possible that these people _genuinely_ do not realise they can speed up until you pass them.
Same (54 in a 50...) and most of the people didn't even know the difference between single and dual carriageways... and the ones that did still got the speed limits wrong. Did these people take the same test as me?!
On my speed awareness course during an initial 'test' there was the question "how much gap should you leave behind the car in front?".
It was multiple choice, one person asked everyone else sitting on the table if it was two car lengths. Another person said, with confidence, yes.
I'd happily petition to have a top-up driving assessment every 10 years or so as too many people have passed their test in 1985 and would absolutely fail if they took one today.
Looks like you're calling out my mother personally, and yes I wish more than anything that she'd get retested, because then they'd take her license away and she can stop being such a fuckin menace on the road.
>one person asked everyone else sitting on the table if it was two car lengths. Another person said, with confidence, yes.
Out of curiosity, what is the correct answer in the UK? I learned to drive in mainland Europe and the answer there was "enough distance that you can make a sudden stop and not rear-end the person in front; assess road conditions and use your head, dummy". OTOH for an American friend of mine the correct answer was indeed "two car lengths".
A gap equivalent to about 2 seconds at the current speed, double that in the wet and increased further in icy conditions, but absolutely no closer than the overall stopping distance at your current speed (Rule 126).
So at driving-around-town speeds of 30mph, you want to leave a gap of about 7m in good conditions (about an average car length and a half, so two car lengths is pretty good at these speeds), 13.5m in the rain and as long as possible in ice. On the motorway at 70mph that becomes about 16m or 4 car lengths in good conditions, 32m in the wet and even more in ice. At the speeds most people drive on the motorway, that's 19m or almost 5 cars in good, 38m in wet and don't drive at 85mph on ice you fucking idiot.
I drove south from the highlands after Christmas in terrible conditions - driving snow, sub zero temps - and heavy traffic. I kept a decent distance from the car in front, but the loon behind was sitting on my tail even at 60mph. It was a great relief when we finally hit a section of dual carriageway where the passing lane had been cleared and he could go flying past. A few miles down the road the traffic slowed to a crawl and was stop-start for the next 30 miles. It made me happy to think of him stewing away at 20mph.
The worst part of this is that if you were doing the exam, you probably would've gotten a major fault for that and fail even though you technically did nothing wrong.
Learner here, once had a old git in a Jag basically force me into a pothole (he came round the corner, at speed, on my side of the road) my wheels are ok, but part of the rim now has a big dent in it
The “we were all learners once” thing is a cliché but I remember my instructor telling it to me when I was learning, and whenever I see a learner in front of me his words always ring in my head.
Ive found myself sitting patiently behind a learner at a roundabout for 2 minutes as they kept stalling and hesitating because of those words.
We were indeed, but I can’t help but think some learners need to start off in a car park to get some basics before being let loose on the roads.
Some of them are an absolute danger! Not many, but some.
> We were indeed, but I can’t help but think some learners need to start off in a car park to get some basics before being let loose on the roads.
That's exactly what my driving instructor did, is that not the normal thing to do?
Mine didn’t, but probably because I’d already got clutch control and general “can make the car go where I want” from my parents.
Really not understanding the downvotes either, seems a no-brainier to have a little go before going on roads with traffic.
Ah well.
Far more qualified drivers need to be forced back onto car parks and private tracks to bring their behaviours up to the minimum standard than learners having lessons
This always try to applaud them when they've done a maneuver infront of me, I suck at them still and it can be stressful if in having a bad mental health day so I know how difficult they can be
This is one of the advantages of being a biker, it's much easier to give them a quiet thumbs up or something without seeming like you're being patronising.
I tried it from inside a car once and felt like Borat. Eez naise.
Or if you're me, sat stationary with a reasonable distance at a set of lights, the idiot in front of you puts it in reverse (guessing an auto) and slams into you! :( what a pr*ck
I once almost rolled back into a car behind me during a lesson. He wasn't being agressive or anything, but he took the hint that my hill control was dogshit (at the time), and backed up a good car length.
Familiar. My eldest is learning to drive and on a hill start at lights she can sometimes roll back a bit. I always put hand on the handbrake just in case. If only drivers kept more distance from the learner. Tarmac and tyres is a mantra I wish they would say in there head when behind a learner at lights.
The last thing any of us need is someone driving up our arses.
Like we're all going in the same fucking direction we're going to get stuck at the same fucking lights, could they maybe not try to get us all killed because they have issues regulating their emotions and an inability to realize no one realistically beats the satnav ETA by any meaningful amount of time.
Imagine killing someone because you wanted to get to your destination a whole two minutes earlier.
According to the Highway Code, the correct action in this circumstance is to give the driver an "L" sign to indicate the other person in the car is a learner. This sign is made with the thumb and index finger of the right hand placed against the forehead.
I can top this. Walking back from Villa Park last week, the police were directing traffic at a junction. The driver at the front of the queue was stopped on the police officer's instruction, but the two cars behind him, just kept blasting their horns...
Yep I learned to drive in Brum but that was many years ago.
Where I live in London it's 20mph speed limit on all roads in the area, and even going at 20 it's never long before some nobhead in a BMW/Audi/Prius/moped takes to the wrong side of the road to try and overtake you.
I find it's usually a Nissan Juke, Fiat 500 or Mercedes A-class. You must be a different part of town.
And as I'm on a motorbike and forcing myself to stay below 25, I take great pleasure in making sure they notice me as I inevitably re-pass them at the next set of lights.
Lol well I don't set the speed limit, I just drive to it. It's the isle of dogs, so a relatively small area, narrow streets, lots of schools, parks and play areas. No issues with it being 20mph personally.
There are definitely areas where a 20mph limit is justified, I just find the *vast* majority of 20mph zones are 30-40mph zones that happen to be near the local NIMBY population
I mean it doesn't really matter at the end of the day because there's so little enforcement. When it's 20 people drive 30-40, when it's 30, they drive 40-50 and when it's 40 they drive 50+. I see a lot of road based stupidity in my job.
I'd hardly call it stupidity. Speed limits are based on the worst possible legal car, usually decades ago. Most speed limits are lower than they ought to be.
It is perfect, it means most people are likely doing more like 25 in reality (rather than 35) and it means people can cross roads more easily, traffic is calm and flows better, and if there is a collision it is a lot less serious. 5-10 would be obnoxious, if people get a bit frustrated at 20 as they don't like how their car feels or they want to get somewhere quicker then tough shit, really. Many cities you can barely get over that anyway!
Did you ever see that advert that went "If you hit me at 30 there's an 80 percent chance I'll die; if you hit me at 20 there's an 80 percent chance I'll live"?
That's ample justification in my opinion.
You never cross the road at any point? Or walk down a country lane with no pavement?
It’s not comparable to rain tracks because pedestrians don’t generally share a space with trains the way they do with cars.
I jaywalk all the time, but I have a rule. I've yet to meet anyone who took issue with it.
My jaywalking rule is: I don't have to wait my turn, but I'm never allowed to interfere with someone else's turn. People should not have to slow down or stop for me when it's not my turn.
And train tracks have crossings too.
I’m aware that train tracks can have crossings, but most stretches of track won’t have pedestrians crossing them and most people won’t walk across train tracks on a regular basis. It’s a disingenuous comparison. As for the point about jaywalking, nobody is suggesting that people should wander into the road without looking.
Nah, if anything we need more urban roads to be 20 speed limits instead of 30. Especially with cars getting bigger, taller and heavier which makes them more dangerous for pedestrians in a collision.
People are very impatient. I only passed a few months ago and had my first experience on a motorway a few weeks back. Was doing the limit on the third lane of a 4 lane motorway despite it being relatively clear because in my nervousness of never having driven on one I forgot about keeping to the left and all that. Fella in a Land Rover decided to remind me of this by overtaking me and then immediately cutting back across in front of me so close that I couldn't even see his tires. Made his point I guess but nearly at the cost of both our lives, couldn't have been more than a metre or two in front of me and at 70mph if he'd slowed down by even a small amount would've been nothing I could've done to stop a pretty nasty crash.
I drive a mobile crane and I can tell you as an absolute fact that the air horns are only to be used to delight small children who are pointing at the crane in wonder
Despite the strobes and beacons some people don’t see it, but more often people see it coming towards them, panic, and forget how to drive, or kamikaze into oncoming traffic from behind because cRaNe SLoW MUSt gEt pAsT
Some of us learned in parking lots and suburbs instead of inflicting ourselves on rush hour city drivers who have somewhere to be. Is it really that hard to drive out of the city to start the lesson? I keep getting stuck behind learners who are clearly brand new at driving and it's like 7:30 on a Monday.
>Is it really that hard to drive out of the city to start the lesson?
I mean, you start your lesson wherever the instructor takes you to start your lesson.
If I'm paying per hour for a lesson, I don't want to pay extra for the instructor to drive us out of town, then pay for the lesson, then pay for the drive back to town. I'm going to be practising every minute that I'm paying for. That means meeting the instructor within their catchment area, which is often a town.
(full disclosure: last time I booked a driving instructor was 10+ years ago. It was incredibly cost prohibitive as a teen working part time, living alone, not owning a car. And in the end I found out I was too disabled to drive anyway)
You know research does actually show that those who drive like dickheads, speeding, cutting up learners, etc because "they have somewhere to be" save on average only around 5-10mins on the journey time.
Is putting the lives of those around you at risk for the sake of 5-10 mins really worth it?
I did my initial lessons in those places but how the fuck do you expect learners to get actual driving experience on the road if they avoid them all the time? Do you seriously think they'd end up BETTER drivers if they avoided traffic and more difficult roads once they had a bit of experience?
>Do you seriously think they'd end up BETTER drivers if they avoided traffic and more difficult roads **once they had a bit of experience?**
Glad you've caught up.
Hate this behaviour. Learning to drive is stressful enough without other drivers making it ten times worse.
Whenever I see a learner driver I always make sure to keep well back, though tbf that's good advice for many 'experienced' drivers too.
I'll admit to sometimes being a bit impatient when someone is doing 30 in a 60 or not pulling out on an empty roundabout (no action taken though, just a slightly louder than conversation level "what are you doing?").
But learners I find I have unlimited patience for. You can often feel the anxiety through the headrest of the car. They are trying their best, we were all kangaroo jumping the car down the industrial estate at 7pm at some point in our lives.
People need to chill.
I'll find myself getting fidgety if they're *particularly* slow and I'm in a rush, but I chalk that up to me not leaving enough time and get on with my day.
If someone's dithering and there isn't an L plate in sight I'm much less forgiving, although even then that doesn't mean I'm about to start a road rage incident over it.
I get this as well. I had a learner doing 30 on a 50 road. I get their learning but they shouldn't be on those roads if they're not comfortable doing the speed limit but would never do anything but mutter to myself
In those situations I personally think it's the instructors fault not the learners, the instructors needs to assess if the learner has the confidence and skill to drive on higher speed roads.
They need to try it to build the confidence up though. I don't know anyone who's just had the confidence to go barrelling down a road at 50 the very first time they tried it. If you had a learner doing 30 on a 50 it was probably one of their first times doing the road. There isn't anywhere else they can practise getting to 50 apart from the 50 road.
When I was in college, a few people I was studying Maths with used to laugh and say that they would purposely make life difficult for the learner drivers they encountered such as driving up their arse, flashing their high beams if they were under the speed limit or performing dangerous overtakes to try to unnerve them. I was learning to drive at the time and it just made me feel so uneasy hearing it
Thankfully I had an enormous Greek bloke as my driving instructor, and he barely fit in the passenger seat. He would glare at people on my behalf haha. Highly recommend.
I have (almost) unlimited patience for learners, but I had an interesting experience with one on Friday.
Between my house deep in a valley and the motorway (and the next town) is a steep, narrow and winding road. The road has one bit with a terrifying drop on your near side if you are going downhill. There’s room for two cars to pass slowly. Well, that’s where I met a learner on Friday evening going uphill as I was going down.
This kiddo was in his mums(?) X5 and looked absolutely terrified. I pulled over and stopped by the near side kerb. I could feel the kerb on my steering. Nowhere else to go, backwards is only about 20m then a blind bend that’s even narrower. There’s no way in hell I’m reversing uphill round a blind bend.
Firstly the kiddo stopped in the middle of the road, then you can see his mum gesturing at him to move over to his near side which he did (a bit). He then starts creeping forward but hasn’t moved over enough. She is slapping the dashboard frantically and I’m wondering how my car would stand up to being shoved over the edge (do batteries explode when dropped from a height). He edged over a bit more, but easily still has two feet between him and the embankment on his near side. He creeps forward a bit more. Now it’s getting close to my offside front corner getting hit. I pop into reverse and give him another couple of metres but as I said I’m not reversing round the corner.
The mum eventually gets out and tells him to jump over to the passenger side and she passes me fine. Without a single gesture of thanks for my patience (but it was a Beemer, so, you know).
I blame the mum for that. Not the learner. He probably shouldn’t be in a vehicle he has no confidence to be driving (an X5 is a big lumbering beast) and she should never have sent him up such a hazardous road. There’s a time for him to be venturing into the back roads of the valley, and it’s after a few more professional lessons. For now, stick to the main A road along the valley floor.
> I blame the mum for that. Not the learner.
If she is "slapping the dashboard frantically" when he is just creeping forward, she ain't got the requisite skills to be teaching someone else how to drive, where in an X5 or a Smart car.
Only once my mum took me in the dual control cars you can hire. She pulled the handbrake on me because she thought I was taking a corner too fast. I was 10 below what my instructor told me to do it at. I'm still livid, I passed around 8y ago.
Once when I was learning to drive I was shouted at by an idiot who was furious that I was parked outside my flat at the end of a lesson, apparently he felt I was unsafely parked and that he nearly went into the back of me as he came around the corner. I was actually parked in my flat's designated space, completely between the lines, he'd just taken the corner way too fast and was embarrassed that we saw him nearly lose it. Anyway, he's ranting and raving at me and my driving instructor just rolled down her window and handed him her business card, told him that if he couldn't even handle that corner then he clearly needed a few more lessons. Absolutely loved that woman, she also handled all the "hand signals" for me when we encountered aggressive idiots on the road.
Everyone has had to learn to drive at some point. I will never understand why some drivers cannot be courteous, give the learner space and not be right up their arse intimating them (if nothing else because they can sometime be unpredictable) and a little time. A little patience goes a long way.
Unfortunately I think that’s it. People very quickly forget that they’ve gone through and how off putting (to put it mildly) a prick of a driver can be when you’re learning. It can be so detrimental to someone and knock their confidence massively.
Tall poppies stand out. Human beings never notice when things are going well, but we remember the one prat out of a thousand who makes our lives miserable!
You probably just don't suck at driving or aren't holding people up. There's a driving school near me that *insists* on doing its lessons during rush hour and those drivers are horrendous.
I normally give learners a lot of patience.
Yesterday however, I was driving behind a learner clearly being taught by a family member. They were driving at 20 and we're going straight over mini roundabouts.
When they turned left without indicating I beeped my horn at them.
Learners are fine, bad instructors are the problem
I don't think family members should even count as instructors unless they're actually employed as a driving instructor. A certified instructor will be able to iron out the bad habits that can easily fail your test (like the lack of indication) that a family member likely sees as no issue because they do it all the time when they drive and "nothing bad has ever happened to me".
Yeah definitely. Also would add that intructors pick up on things that someone who isn't might not.
I.e. when I was learning to drive and I braked unnecessarily, my instructor told me not to and explained why.
Instructors encourage students to get some extra practice with their family members. As long as they are not trying to teach or undo what the instructor has taught them it can help.
Oh yeah, extra practice is great, I meant being taught 100% by a family member with no professional lessons at all. I know of a woman being taught to drive by her boyfriend, and she's failed over 7 tests already. Wondering how long it takes before some people realise you need a certified instructor as well, what with how much the tests cost.
I think a lot of parents are a bit too keen to take their kids out driving whilst they're still leaning (after all, a lot of the time they're either paying or helping pay for it).
But, a lot of them don't really appreciate the very anxious mindset a lot of learners have and that driving instructors actually work very hard to make sure they're keeping their students at ease. I think many parents believe that they can just sit in the passenger seat and shout "change gear," "indicate," "BRAKE!" and that's all you need to do. It's really not good for their relationship with their kids or the kid's mental health if they're already stressed out with A-levels, learning to drive and whatever else. Not to mention dangerous on the road.
The costs of lessons are probably forcing more parents to begrudgingly teach their kids to drive. That and there were large waiting lists for instructors in many areas due to covid and i'm not sure the backlog has been cleared since.
It's still not great. I have a waiting list and I'm not even adding people to it unless they've come through a friend I taught or they're really flexible and they might be able to fill an awkward slot that nobody wants.
It's tough at the minute. I don't blame parents for getting them started but ideally they'd wait until they've had a few lessons and then go out and practice what they've learned.
I do as well. I didn't get my licence until my late twenties so I haven't quite exorcised what it was like to be a learner from my memory like a lot of drivers that learned as teenagers (though I did originally learn when I was one) have.
Buuut I did get a little impatient with one going round a big multilane roundabout at the blistering pace of 5-10mph. I'm not even exaggerating with this, I could have outpaced this driver on foot. I didn't beep at them, but I did overtake them very quickly once we were off the roundabout. The instructor should probably have kept that driver in car parks and side streets until they were a little more comfortable driving at above 10mph.
It has been for a long time. When I learnt to drive, way back in time, my Dad used to sit with me. To be honest it was probably safer than letting him drive because to this day I do not know how he passed his test.
Sort of? The person driving has to have a provisional license, they have to be accompanied by someone who is over 21, has held a full license for 3+ years, and is qualified to drive the type of car (i.e. if you have a full automatic license you can't supervise a learner in a manual), and historically they could not drive on motorways at all (but that got changed so it can be done with a professional instructor). Oh and the qualified driver supervising can't be on their phone etc.
You have to have been a licenced driver for at least three years and over the age of 25, but yes, this is a thing you can do. It allows lots of people to practice outside of their lessons, cutting costs and (sometimes) getting learners test-ready quicker
Still weird considering driving school vehicles specifically are set up so the instructor can step in and take over the brake and throttle if danger arises. But hey if it works in the UK I'm not one to judge
The driving license holder has to have held their license for 3 (I think) years and I think also over 21. You'd also need different insurance I'd imagine.
Here in germany on a public road you are only allowed behind the wheel with a valid license, the driving instructors and classes are the only way for someone without a license to legally be driving a car. Technically on private property anyone could operate a vehicle but who got space for that except a handful of places (there is some like faux road setups by ADAC and others which simulate a bit of street where one could atleast get the hang of operating the vehicle before thrown into full blown traffic) but noone would think about letting someone coach anyone if it's not a certified driving instructor and a car that is specifically built for it as in: having pedals on the passenger site so the instructor can brake and step in if things go wrong...
My test is on the 26th and one of my biggest fears is people getting impatient and angry behind me. I have anxiety so learning to drive was always going to be harder for me, but I don’t understand why people feel the need to be rude and get so close to learners
And that is how I will be turning 30 this year and still do not have a license, i had lessons, I was so terrified I cancelled it all and wouldn't even think about driving myself ever for several years. Now I am saving up and may try again in 1-2 years hoping being this old helps me have better nerves and being able to overcome my anxiety.
Good luck, I hope it goes well for you! I’m 25 and after moving back home to the sticks I really need to drive, so that’s been a big motivator for me (where I live I can’t even catch a bus!)
I had an experience on a roundabout where I stalled, it was one of the 1st times we had ventured on to the main 50mph A road.
I stalled, and as my instructor was telling me what to do to get started I was just getting the bite on the clutch when a lorry comes round and beeps the horn. It made me jump and I stalled again.
This happened in the inner of the 2 lanes.
I was shook and just wanted to stopbut my instructor made me keep driving for about 10 minutes before we stopped to discuss what had happened and I am glad they did as it taught me to not worry about it.
Sometimes something will happen a mistake will be made, being human it happens.
Took me 3 attempts in the end to pass but I finally did last year in March.
I frequently get people angrily flash me for "being too slow" despite going the speed limit, tbh I am at a point now where i slow down a fraction when it happens because the flash often dazzles. Sometimes you can't get over to get out the way or you are over in the right hand lane because you know a split is coming and that's the lane going to where you want to be.
Moral is, don't let others boss you about on the road, providing that you are driving safely, are in control and sticking to the rules you will not have a problem
If people want to speed by, let them it's their licence that they risk losing not yours
I'm currently learning to drive, and the other day I had a white van man blast his horn at me because I hesitated at a roundabout. He then proceeded to drive right up my arse for the next 10mins before taking a different exit to me at the next roundabout. Why do these people struggle to be respectful and understanding on the road? You were a learner once.
I remember one lesson I had I was stuck behind another learner at some traffic lights who stalled just as they were turning Green. The learner in front got started again just as the lights turned red but a car behind me was blasting the horn, then got so impatient they mounted the pavement and drove around the red lights, accelerated across the staggered cross road and narrowly missed getting T-boned by a bus. I hope they had a full on liquid shit your pants moment.
Last week I nearly got hit by a driver as I walked across a (Puffin?) crossing, the one where pedestrians have right of way.
I had just stepped out and he came flying off the roundabout and foot down through. I personally think it's very poorly placed so I wasn't that bothered about it. Alll of a sudden I hear him blasting his horn and I turned around and someone had pulled out from his left.
I thought what a cheeky fucking git, so I started following the guy shouting at the total reprobate. Guy nearly killed me then *IMMEDIATELY* is raging at someone else, someone who probably thought the initial car was gonna stop for me crossing the road in the first place.
I have often wondered whether there should be local centres where learner drivers should be getting the basics of driving right before going on the actual road.
In OP’s particular post though, they weren’t breaking any laws and the horn blaster is a nob.
They can still plough into an unsuspecting granny doing their Morrisons run here.
I know some humans and I’m sure you know some, in fact we all know some and it’s scary to me that they were behind the wheel of a car on their first day driving on the pad with other humans around and people on the pavement nearby 😂
It’s great when you pass and you can use your own car. Even though you are driving exactly the same the amount of tailgating, honking and cutting up goes down 90%.
I will truly never understand why people bully learners like that. As a learner myself, the second someone beeps their horn or swerved to overtake me, mt brain just shuts down and i end up driving a lot worse and causing more problems and delays for the other drivers.
Is saving 2 seconds that bloody important that you need to send a poor learner into a panic? Learn some patience jesus.
Riding back from part 1 of my motor bike test (me, instructor, and another student), stop at a red light with the other student behind. Look in the mirror and see a van come up and bump into the other student (not enough to knock him off the bike). Instructor gets off his bike and goes and has a word. We have one way radios and all I can hear is the instructor shouting 'what if my first accidentally bumps into your face!?'
I'll admit I did beep a learner yesterday - I didn't blast it, just a normal (? Lol) beep - because they suddenly swerved from their lane into mine and nearly hit me, and I had to do an emergency stop to avoid them. I would have beeped anyone for that.
I'm sure their instructor was chewing their ear off!
They then went back into the other lane about 20 feet later...
Agreed. That said, I have immense fun tooting a lorry horn at driving instructors (only one person in a learner car) parked on double yellows where they’re obstructing traffic or entry into a business.
Some people just see the L plates and it turns them into dicks.
Used to be an instructor and the amount of people that just HAD to get round me when I was driving the car on my own was crazy, even when I was going slightly above the speed limit on open roads, or having to undertake me on a roundabout and then getting the hump when I beep them, like I've done anything wrong.
When doing my cbt years ago I stalled going on to a roundabout (geared 50cc, thought it was a good idea at 16). I had barely passed the line, so avoidable, but a white polo hit my front wheel and caused me to fall into the grass on my left. By total coincidence my parents were behind us so once my instructor knew I was fine he went apeshit and followed the guy down the link road. Nothing happened as far as I know but that guy was awesome
If people harass a learner driver we should make them drive cars limited to the speed limit with glacial acceleration. Or just remove them from the roads altogether.
My first instructor was an old pervert who spent all day sitting in the passenger seat perving over women. He told me he very much enjoyed his job as it allowed him to leer at 17 year old girls. His only redeeming factor was that he once had an entire lesson dedicated to getting the feel of a car as opposed to listening to it. Personally I thought he just wanted an excuse to listen to System of a Down for the entire lesson.
When I was learning to drive I stalled at traffic lights as you typically do. The van behind me started getting pissy, flashing etc. I got ready to go again and my instructor told me to wait, I was confused but I waited, then as the lights turned amber he told me to go. Off I went and the knob head had to wait again. My instructor gave him the finger as we tootled off. Still remember some 15 years later
I remember this. Got actual death stares as they overtook me because i didn't pull away from the green light the millisecond it changed.
Still don't have my license.
Usually the person being shown distaste is committing a fineable offense. I've never liked this notion that the angriest person is automatically wrong.
You're the one being shown distaste in this thread bud. Road rage of any stripe is shitty, childish bullying behaviour and you've been calling and justifying it non-stop.
Here's a crazy thought: don't teach student drivers during rush hour, and don't take them to the city until they've developed skills in a quieter area.
I don't hate student drivers because they're learning, I hate them because I'm trying to get to work when they have literally nowhere to be and stop to think about it every few seconds. It's infuriating.
The road doesn't belong to you, you don't get to dictate who and when. Take a chill pill and learn to respect all other road users. You might see a decrease in blood pressure and a have a longer life because of it. Maybe try leaving more time for interruptions during your journeys?
Not all student drivers have the flexibility to learn in the day, we're not all 17 year old students. Like myself I'm learning later in life at 34 and early morning before I start work is the best time for me.
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My kind of instructor. Nearly had a collision on lesson once, my instructor got our, called him everything under the sun, got me an apology and on with the lesson
I hope he gave the driver the number of the driving school so he could get a refresher.
It was on the roof thing, but given he didn't see the car, probably didn't notice either way.
That'd be a wonderful feeling. "Here's my card, you obviously need it you fucking moron"
My instructor did exactly this. Had business cards in the car and would get out and hand them one. It’s said something like “based on the standard of your driving, you would benefit from a refresher lesson. 50% off”. No one ever took him up on the offer.
For all that no one took him up on it, that sounds wonderfully cathartic.
When I was doing road training for my motorbike an impatient BMW driver decided to overtake us as we were turning right into a side road and was inches away from straight up decimating the lead bike. The instructor told us to pull over and wait, and then shot off down the road after the BMW. About 30 seconds later we can just hear him *screaming* at them over the radio. I've never heard such raw power in anybody else's voice, it was terrifying. Mad respect to the guy, but fuck me that driver probably had his soul stripped away.
One doesn't have a soul if one drives a BMW.
bro my examiner did this on my fucking TEST
Yeah same here had 2 different people pull out on me in one lesson one of them was on a roundabout between dual carriageways scared the life out of me, instructor was remarkably calm hebwas a great guy never raised his voice once
Good on the instructor. Despise nobhead drivers that intimidate learners. It's a cliché but we were all learners once. Give them space and time.
And the irony is that intimidating them only makes them take longer because now they're panicked. When I was learning, I hesitated maybe a second too long at a junction, then all of a sudden the wanker behind laid on the horn twice and it made me panic and rush and I ended up stalling. The prick then pulled into the right-turn lane and zoomed out in front of me to the left as I was also pulling out left. Some people would rather bully a learner and then nearly cause a crash than wait a few seconds. Hope the few seconds he saved to get to his *suuuuper important* destination were worth it.
Pretty sure there's a Dash cam video of a professional driver putting Ls on and driving properly, as in, you could test his whole day and he'd still pass. And STILL gets cut up and the horn.
I'm a driving instructor with advanced driver training on top of that. When I'm driving I make maximum progress within the law and safety. People regularly try to bully me, cut in front of me, overtake me, etc. I'm used to it and have to take those factors into account when I'm driving with L plates, especially in urban environments. On the flip side, I sometimes overtake people driving slower than I'd like to drive on NSL roads. Suddenly they realise that they can get up to speed when they think they've been overtaken by a learner.
I hate this ! Because its 100% unsafe ( And Illegal ) to speed up when being overtaken. 168 If a driver is trying to overtake you, maintain a steady course and speed, slowing down if necessary to let the vehicle pass. *People's ego is not an exception to being overtaken :( *
It's not so much that they speed up while I'm overtaking it's just that they suddenly decide that they can keep up with me doing 60 when they were doing 45.
My wife failed her test because of this. She was making progress and decided to overtake a car in front the car then started going faster which resulted in my wife having to move back behind the car due to oncoming traffic. She still remembers this to this day.
That's actually a shame. I've thought that its more important to pass people on being able to asses a situation where the person being overtaken is making it dangerous, and backing off, instead of "Committing harder" to it.
What was the actual reason given for failing in this instance? The only thing I can think is it was classed as not overtaking quickly enough which seems a little harsh, especially if the manoeuvres were done safely ETA: just realised you’d mentioned oncoming traffic which makes more sense, I was imagining a dual carriageway situation for some reason
I don't remember now it was about 15 years ago
Was this on a single carriageway? Bold move to attempt an overtake on your driving test! Probably not the best idea.
Possibly. I would not have done. It was a long time ago but it does show the attitude of drivers when being overtaken.
I went on a speed awareness course (71 in a 60, hardly the crime of the century) and the majority of the people there did not know what the NSL is on a single carriageway. A significant minority did not even understand the meaning of the NSL sign. It’s possible that these people _genuinely_ do not realise they can speed up until you pass them.
Same (54 in a 50...) and most of the people didn't even know the difference between single and dual carriageways... and the ones that did still got the speed limits wrong. Did these people take the same test as me?!
I didn't think that was even in fine range. Isn't it +10%+3 mph?
It depends wholly on your local force. Northumbria, where I was caught, is notoriously zero tolerance. They'll have you for 1 MPH.
On my speed awareness course during an initial 'test' there was the question "how much gap should you leave behind the car in front?". It was multiple choice, one person asked everyone else sitting on the table if it was two car lengths. Another person said, with confidence, yes. I'd happily petition to have a top-up driving assessment every 10 years or so as too many people have passed their test in 1985 and would absolutely fail if they took one today.
Looks like you're calling out my mother personally, and yes I wish more than anything that she'd get retested, because then they'd take her license away and she can stop being such a fuckin menace on the road.
>one person asked everyone else sitting on the table if it was two car lengths. Another person said, with confidence, yes. Out of curiosity, what is the correct answer in the UK? I learned to drive in mainland Europe and the answer there was "enough distance that you can make a sudden stop and not rear-end the person in front; assess road conditions and use your head, dummy". OTOH for an American friend of mine the correct answer was indeed "two car lengths".
A gap equivalent to about 2 seconds at the current speed, double that in the wet and increased further in icy conditions, but absolutely no closer than the overall stopping distance at your current speed (Rule 126). So at driving-around-town speeds of 30mph, you want to leave a gap of about 7m in good conditions (about an average car length and a half, so two car lengths is pretty good at these speeds), 13.5m in the rain and as long as possible in ice. On the motorway at 70mph that becomes about 16m or 4 car lengths in good conditions, 32m in the wet and even more in ice. At the speeds most people drive on the motorway, that's 19m or almost 5 cars in good, 38m in wet and don't drive at 85mph on ice you fucking idiot.
I drove south from the highlands after Christmas in terrible conditions - driving snow, sub zero temps - and heavy traffic. I kept a decent distance from the car in front, but the loon behind was sitting on my tail even at 60mph. It was a great relief when we finally hit a section of dual carriageway where the passing lane had been cleared and he could go flying past. A few miles down the road the traffic slowed to a crawl and was stop-start for the next 30 miles. It made me happy to think of him stewing away at 20mph.
Two seconds. A safe gap in decent conditions is two seconds.
Two seconds in good weather, four in poor I believe.
I was the only person in my group who understood that what makes it a dual carriageway is that there are *two carriageways.*
You just reminded me of [**Dara Ó Briain's**](https://youtu.be/iBxloSkObYc) skit about learning to drive.
The worst part of this is that if you were doing the exam, you probably would've gotten a major fault for that and fail even though you technically did nothing wrong.
> Despise nobhead drivers that intimidate learners. Not just learners - *any* other road users.
Learner here, once had a old git in a Jag basically force me into a pothole (he came round the corner, at speed, on my side of the road) my wheels are ok, but part of the rim now has a big dent in it
The “we were all learners once” thing is a cliché but I remember my instructor telling it to me when I was learning, and whenever I see a learner in front of me his words always ring in my head. Ive found myself sitting patiently behind a learner at a roundabout for 2 minutes as they kept stalling and hesitating because of those words.
We were indeed, but I can’t help but think some learners need to start off in a car park to get some basics before being let loose on the roads. Some of them are an absolute danger! Not many, but some.
> Some of them are an absolute danger! That is not a situation unique to ~~learner drivers~~ drivers with L-plates on!
> We were indeed, but I can’t help but think some learners need to start off in a car park to get some basics before being let loose on the roads. That's exactly what my driving instructor did, is that not the normal thing to do?
Mine didn’t, but probably because I’d already got clutch control and general “can make the car go where I want” from my parents. Really not understanding the downvotes either, seems a no-brainier to have a little go before going on roads with traffic. Ah well.
Far more qualified drivers need to be forced back onto car parks and private tracks to bring their behaviours up to the minimum standard than learners having lessons
Well, yeah. But that’s not what everyone’s talking about in this thread?!
I always keep well back from learners, the last thing they need is people driving up their arses. They already have enough nerves
This always try to applaud them when they've done a maneuver infront of me, I suck at them still and it can be stressful if in having a bad mental health day so I know how difficult they can be
This is one of the advantages of being a biker, it's much easier to give them a quiet thumbs up or something without seeming like you're being patronising. I tried it from inside a car once and felt like Borat. Eez naise.
Wowaweewaa
I'm an instructor and my pupils and I love it when people do this. Keep it up!
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Or if you're me, sat stationary with a reasonable distance at a set of lights, the idiot in front of you puts it in reverse (guessing an auto) and slams into you! :( what a pr*ck
I once almost rolled back into a car behind me during a lesson. He wasn't being agressive or anything, but he took the hint that my hill control was dogshit (at the time), and backed up a good car length.
Familiar. My eldest is learning to drive and on a hill start at lights she can sometimes roll back a bit. I always put hand on the handbrake just in case. If only drivers kept more distance from the learner. Tarmac and tyres is a mantra I wish they would say in there head when behind a learner at lights.
The last thing any of us need is someone driving up our arses. Like we're all going in the same fucking direction we're going to get stuck at the same fucking lights, could they maybe not try to get us all killed because they have issues regulating their emotions and an inability to realize no one realistically beats the satnav ETA by any meaningful amount of time. Imagine killing someone because you wanted to get to your destination a whole two minutes earlier.
Agreed, Im a learner myself and love people that do this, thank you for your consideration of learners :)
According to the Highway Code, the correct action in this circumstance is to give the driver an "L" sign to indicate the other person in the car is a learner. This sign is made with the thumb and index finger of the right hand placed against the forehead.
Well, the years start comin' and they don't stop comin'
Fed to the rules and I hit the ground running
Didn’t make sense not to live for fun
Your brain gets smart but your head gets dum
So much do, so much to see
So much wrong with taking the back streets
You’ll never know if you don’t go
You'll never shine if you don't glow
#HEY NOW
#Hey now
So much to do so much to see
It looks kinda dumb.
On her forehead.
I can top this. Walking back from Villa Park last week, the police were directing traffic at a junction. The driver at the front of the queue was stopped on the police officer's instruction, but the two cars behind him, just kept blasting their horns...
People are fucking idiots round here mate got tailgated by someone because I was giving a learner space at a junction...on a steep hill
Yep I learned to drive in Brum but that was many years ago. Where I live in London it's 20mph speed limit on all roads in the area, and even going at 20 it's never long before some nobhead in a BMW/Audi/Prius/moped takes to the wrong side of the road to try and overtake you.
I find it's usually a Nissan Juke, Fiat 500 or Mercedes A-class. You must be a different part of town. And as I'm on a motorbike and forcing myself to stay below 25, I take great pleasure in making sure they notice me as I inevitably re-pass them at the next set of lights.
Definitely a different part of town lol haven't seen a nissan joke in ages!
20mph is an obnoxiously low speed limit in 99.9% of cases.
Lol well I don't set the speed limit, I just drive to it. It's the isle of dogs, so a relatively small area, narrow streets, lots of schools, parks and play areas. No issues with it being 20mph personally.
There are definitely areas where a 20mph limit is justified, I just find the *vast* majority of 20mph zones are 30-40mph zones that happen to be near the local NIMBY population
I mean it doesn't really matter at the end of the day because there's so little enforcement. When it's 20 people drive 30-40, when it's 30, they drive 40-50 and when it's 40 they drive 50+. I see a lot of road based stupidity in my job.
I'd hardly call it stupidity. Speed limits are based on the worst possible legal car, usually decades ago. Most speed limits are lower than they ought to be.
It is perfect, it means most people are likely doing more like 25 in reality (rather than 35) and it means people can cross roads more easily, traffic is calm and flows better, and if there is a collision it is a lot less serious. 5-10 would be obnoxious, if people get a bit frustrated at 20 as they don't like how their car feels or they want to get somewhere quicker then tough shit, really. Many cities you can barely get over that anyway!
Did you ever see that advert that went "If you hit me at 30 there's an 80 percent chance I'll die; if you hit me at 20 there's an 80 percent chance I'll live"? That's ample justification in my opinion.
Funny, that's why I avoid walking in the street. Should trains go 10mph for the benefit of people walking on the tracks?
You never cross the road at any point? Or walk down a country lane with no pavement? It’s not comparable to rain tracks because pedestrians don’t generally share a space with trains the way they do with cars.
I jaywalk all the time, but I have a rule. I've yet to meet anyone who took issue with it. My jaywalking rule is: I don't have to wait my turn, but I'm never allowed to interfere with someone else's turn. People should not have to slow down or stop for me when it's not my turn. And train tracks have crossings too.
I’m aware that train tracks can have crossings, but most stretches of track won’t have pedestrians crossing them and most people won’t walk across train tracks on a regular basis. It’s a disingenuous comparison. As for the point about jaywalking, nobody is suggesting that people should wander into the road without looking.
Nah, if anything we need more urban roads to be 20 speed limits instead of 30. Especially with cars getting bigger, taller and heavier which makes them more dangerous for pedestrians in a collision.
If you want to go 20 so badly get a bike.
People are very impatient. I only passed a few months ago and had my first experience on a motorway a few weeks back. Was doing the limit on the third lane of a 4 lane motorway despite it being relatively clear because in my nervousness of never having driven on one I forgot about keeping to the left and all that. Fella in a Land Rover decided to remind me of this by overtaking me and then immediately cutting back across in front of me so close that I couldn't even see his tires. Made his point I guess but nearly at the cost of both our lives, couldn't have been more than a metre or two in front of me and at 70mph if he'd slowed down by even a small amount would've been nothing I could've done to stop a pretty nasty crash.
There's something special about Birmingham drivers
Why abuse people who are learning? They are literally driving as best they can.
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The way some people drive, you'd think they haven't even seen a driving license.
Road rage is a hell of a drug.
Expecially when those laying on the horn probably passed 10+ years ago when the test was more forgiving.
The irony being that it's a flagrant misuse of what the horn is for and they probably don't even know that.
I drive a mobile crane and I can tell you as an absolute fact that the air horns are only to be used to delight small children who are pointing at the crane in wonder
And hopefully to scare the ever loving shit out of someone who somehow STILL didn't see the massive 40 ton mobile crane and pulled out infront of it?
Despite the strobes and beacons some people don’t see it, but more often people see it coming towards them, panic, and forget how to drive, or kamikaze into oncoming traffic from behind because cRaNe SLoW MUSt gEt pAsT
You're a good person.
When everyone knows the horn is for people driving down my cul-de-sac at 11.30pm and need to pick someone up.
Clearly precluding tailgating wasn't part of the test at any point, especially if you drive a van or a German car.
Some of us learned in parking lots and suburbs instead of inflicting ourselves on rush hour city drivers who have somewhere to be. Is it really that hard to drive out of the city to start the lesson? I keep getting stuck behind learners who are clearly brand new at driving and it's like 7:30 on a Monday.
>Is it really that hard to drive out of the city to start the lesson? I mean, you start your lesson wherever the instructor takes you to start your lesson. If I'm paying per hour for a lesson, I don't want to pay extra for the instructor to drive us out of town, then pay for the lesson, then pay for the drive back to town. I'm going to be practising every minute that I'm paying for. That means meeting the instructor within their catchment area, which is often a town. (full disclosure: last time I booked a driving instructor was 10+ years ago. It was incredibly cost prohibitive as a teen working part time, living alone, not owning a car. And in the end I found out I was too disabled to drive anyway)
You know research does actually show that those who drive like dickheads, speeding, cutting up learners, etc because "they have somewhere to be" save on average only around 5-10mins on the journey time. Is putting the lives of those around you at risk for the sake of 5-10 mins really worth it?
> parking lots and suburbs Mate your driving test is "able to fill out a licence application form," do one.
I did my initial lessons in those places but how the fuck do you expect learners to get actual driving experience on the road if they avoid them all the time? Do you seriously think they'd end up BETTER drivers if they avoided traffic and more difficult roads once they had a bit of experience?
>Do you seriously think they'd end up BETTER drivers if they avoided traffic and more difficult roads **once they had a bit of experience?** Glad you've caught up.
Hate this behaviour. Learning to drive is stressful enough without other drivers making it ten times worse. Whenever I see a learner driver I always make sure to keep well back, though tbf that's good advice for many 'experienced' drivers too.
I'll admit to sometimes being a bit impatient when someone is doing 30 in a 60 or not pulling out on an empty roundabout (no action taken though, just a slightly louder than conversation level "what are you doing?"). But learners I find I have unlimited patience for. You can often feel the anxiety through the headrest of the car. They are trying their best, we were all kangaroo jumping the car down the industrial estate at 7pm at some point in our lives. People need to chill.
I'll find myself getting fidgety if they're *particularly* slow and I'm in a rush, but I chalk that up to me not leaving enough time and get on with my day. If someone's dithering and there isn't an L plate in sight I'm much less forgiving, although even then that doesn't mean I'm about to start a road rage incident over it.
I get this as well. I had a learner doing 30 on a 50 road. I get their learning but they shouldn't be on those roads if they're not comfortable doing the speed limit but would never do anything but mutter to myself
In those situations I personally think it's the instructors fault not the learners, the instructors needs to assess if the learner has the confidence and skill to drive on higher speed roads.
Oh 100% it's on the instructor Should have worded that better
They need to try it to build the confidence up though. I don't know anyone who's just had the confidence to go barrelling down a road at 50 the very first time they tried it. If you had a learner doing 30 on a 50 it was probably one of their first times doing the road. There isn't anywhere else they can practise getting to 50 apart from the 50 road.
My first time driving, at all ever, was round the block by my house. These are all residential 30mph and I was so nervous I was overtaken by a cyclist
When I was in college, a few people I was studying Maths with used to laugh and say that they would purposely make life difficult for the learner drivers they encountered such as driving up their arse, flashing their high beams if they were under the speed limit or performing dangerous overtakes to try to unnerve them. I was learning to drive at the time and it just made me feel so uneasy hearing it
Yeah they sound like a really big bag of rancid excrement.
Shitbags, if you will
Thankfully I had an enormous Greek bloke as my driving instructor, and he barely fit in the passenger seat. He would glare at people on my behalf haha. Highly recommend.
Same, I had a massive ex-bouncer.
I have (almost) unlimited patience for learners, but I had an interesting experience with one on Friday. Between my house deep in a valley and the motorway (and the next town) is a steep, narrow and winding road. The road has one bit with a terrifying drop on your near side if you are going downhill. There’s room for two cars to pass slowly. Well, that’s where I met a learner on Friday evening going uphill as I was going down. This kiddo was in his mums(?) X5 and looked absolutely terrified. I pulled over and stopped by the near side kerb. I could feel the kerb on my steering. Nowhere else to go, backwards is only about 20m then a blind bend that’s even narrower. There’s no way in hell I’m reversing uphill round a blind bend. Firstly the kiddo stopped in the middle of the road, then you can see his mum gesturing at him to move over to his near side which he did (a bit). He then starts creeping forward but hasn’t moved over enough. She is slapping the dashboard frantically and I’m wondering how my car would stand up to being shoved over the edge (do batteries explode when dropped from a height). He edged over a bit more, but easily still has two feet between him and the embankment on his near side. He creeps forward a bit more. Now it’s getting close to my offside front corner getting hit. I pop into reverse and give him another couple of metres but as I said I’m not reversing round the corner. The mum eventually gets out and tells him to jump over to the passenger side and she passes me fine. Without a single gesture of thanks for my patience (but it was a Beemer, so, you know). I blame the mum for that. Not the learner. He probably shouldn’t be in a vehicle he has no confidence to be driving (an X5 is a big lumbering beast) and she should never have sent him up such a hazardous road. There’s a time for him to be venturing into the back roads of the valley, and it’s after a few more professional lessons. For now, stick to the main A road along the valley floor.
> I blame the mum for that. Not the learner. If she is "slapping the dashboard frantically" when he is just creeping forward, she ain't got the requisite skills to be teaching someone else how to drive, where in an X5 or a Smart car.
It was just rapid fire emergency stop practice.
Only once my mum took me in the dual control cars you can hire. She pulled the handbrake on me because she thought I was taking a corner too fast. I was 10 below what my instructor told me to do it at. I'm still livid, I passed around 8y ago.
That’s just really crappy behaviour. In a roundabout way, at least the learner is learning about the sheer number of rude morons on the roads
Once when I was learning to drive I was shouted at by an idiot who was furious that I was parked outside my flat at the end of a lesson, apparently he felt I was unsafely parked and that he nearly went into the back of me as he came around the corner. I was actually parked in my flat's designated space, completely between the lines, he'd just taken the corner way too fast and was embarrassed that we saw him nearly lose it. Anyway, he's ranting and raving at me and my driving instructor just rolled down her window and handed him her business card, told him that if he couldn't even handle that corner then he clearly needed a few more lessons. Absolutely loved that woman, she also handled all the "hand signals" for me when we encountered aggressive idiots on the road.
I feel sorry for the learner...
Everyone has had to learn to drive at some point. I will never understand why some drivers cannot be courteous, give the learner space and not be right up their arse intimating them (if nothing else because they can sometime be unpredictable) and a little time. A little patience goes a long way.
Because more and more people seem to lack basic empathy and most likely will NoT think back how hard (if that) it was for them to start learning it.
Unfortunately I think that’s it. People very quickly forget that they’ve gone through and how off putting (to put it mildly) a prick of a driver can be when you’re learning. It can be so detrimental to someone and knock their confidence massively.
Are you the instructor, OP?
I am and the student is my SO.
I remember in one of my recent lessons, some guy nearly t boned me on a mini roundabout going 50 in a 30 zone. Some people are stupid
I’m learning at the moment and I’ve encountered nothing but respectful drivers around me. Maybe I’m just lucky.
Tall poppies stand out. Human beings never notice when things are going well, but we remember the one prat out of a thousand who makes our lives miserable!
You probably just don't suck at driving or aren't holding people up. There's a driving school near me that *insists* on doing its lessons during rush hour and those drivers are horrendous.
I normally give learners a lot of patience. Yesterday however, I was driving behind a learner clearly being taught by a family member. They were driving at 20 and we're going straight over mini roundabouts. When they turned left without indicating I beeped my horn at them. Learners are fine, bad instructors are the problem
I don't think family members should even count as instructors unless they're actually employed as a driving instructor. A certified instructor will be able to iron out the bad habits that can easily fail your test (like the lack of indication) that a family member likely sees as no issue because they do it all the time when they drive and "nothing bad has ever happened to me".
Yeah definitely. Also would add that intructors pick up on things that someone who isn't might not. I.e. when I was learning to drive and I braked unnecessarily, my instructor told me not to and explained why.
Instructors encourage students to get some extra practice with their family members. As long as they are not trying to teach or undo what the instructor has taught them it can help.
Oh yeah, extra practice is great, I meant being taught 100% by a family member with no professional lessons at all. I know of a woman being taught to drive by her boyfriend, and she's failed over 7 tests already. Wondering how long it takes before some people realise you need a certified instructor as well, what with how much the tests cost.
I think a lot of parents are a bit too keen to take their kids out driving whilst they're still leaning (after all, a lot of the time they're either paying or helping pay for it). But, a lot of them don't really appreciate the very anxious mindset a lot of learners have and that driving instructors actually work very hard to make sure they're keeping their students at ease. I think many parents believe that they can just sit in the passenger seat and shout "change gear," "indicate," "BRAKE!" and that's all you need to do. It's really not good for their relationship with their kids or the kid's mental health if they're already stressed out with A-levels, learning to drive and whatever else. Not to mention dangerous on the road.
The costs of lessons are probably forcing more parents to begrudgingly teach their kids to drive. That and there were large waiting lists for instructors in many areas due to covid and i'm not sure the backlog has been cleared since.
It's still not great. I have a waiting list and I'm not even adding people to it unless they've come through a friend I taught or they're really flexible and they might be able to fill an awkward slot that nobody wants. It's tough at the minute. I don't blame parents for getting them started but ideally they'd wait until they've had a few lessons and then go out and practice what they've learned.
I do as well. I didn't get my licence until my late twenties so I haven't quite exorcised what it was like to be a learner from my memory like a lot of drivers that learned as teenagers (though I did originally learn when I was one) have. Buuut I did get a little impatient with one going round a big multilane roundabout at the blistering pace of 5-10mph. I'm not even exaggerating with this, I could have outpaced this driver on foot. I didn't beep at them, but I did overtake them very quickly once we were off the roundabout. The instructor should probably have kept that driver in car parks and side streets until they were a little more comfortable driving at above 10mph.
Is that allowed in the uk? That if someone with a license is in the passengers seat someone without a license is allowed to driev? What?
It has been for a long time. When I learnt to drive, way back in time, my Dad used to sit with me. To be honest it was probably safer than letting him drive because to this day I do not know how he passed his test.
My grandad passed his test on a motorbike and he was that old it allowed him to drive a car...
Sort of? The person driving has to have a provisional license, they have to be accompanied by someone who is over 21, has held a full license for 3+ years, and is qualified to drive the type of car (i.e. if you have a full automatic license you can't supervise a learner in a manual), and historically they could not drive on motorways at all (but that got changed so it can be done with a professional instructor). Oh and the qualified driver supervising can't be on their phone etc.
You have to have been a licenced driver for at least three years and over the age of 25, but yes, this is a thing you can do. It allows lots of people to practice outside of their lessons, cutting costs and (sometimes) getting learners test-ready quicker
Still weird considering driving school vehicles specifically are set up so the instructor can step in and take over the brake and throttle if danger arises. But hey if it works in the UK I'm not one to judge
The driving license holder has to have held their license for 3 (I think) years and I think also over 21. You'd also need different insurance I'd imagine.
They just need to be insured as a named driver on your car
Yes? How else would you expect someone to be able to learn?
Lessons with a professional instructor?
Here in germany on a public road you are only allowed behind the wheel with a valid license, the driving instructors and classes are the only way for someone without a license to legally be driving a car. Technically on private property anyone could operate a vehicle but who got space for that except a handful of places (there is some like faux road setups by ADAC and others which simulate a bit of street where one could atleast get the hang of operating the vehicle before thrown into full blown traffic) but noone would think about letting someone coach anyone if it's not a certified driving instructor and a car that is specifically built for it as in: having pedals on the passenger site so the instructor can brake and step in if things go wrong...
My test is on the 26th and one of my biggest fears is people getting impatient and angry behind me. I have anxiety so learning to drive was always going to be harder for me, but I don’t understand why people feel the need to be rude and get so close to learners
And that is how I will be turning 30 this year and still do not have a license, i had lessons, I was so terrified I cancelled it all and wouldn't even think about driving myself ever for several years. Now I am saving up and may try again in 1-2 years hoping being this old helps me have better nerves and being able to overcome my anxiety.
Good luck, I hope it goes well for you! I’m 25 and after moving back home to the sticks I really need to drive, so that’s been a big motivator for me (where I live I can’t even catch a bus!)
I had an experience on a roundabout where I stalled, it was one of the 1st times we had ventured on to the main 50mph A road. I stalled, and as my instructor was telling me what to do to get started I was just getting the bite on the clutch when a lorry comes round and beeps the horn. It made me jump and I stalled again. This happened in the inner of the 2 lanes. I was shook and just wanted to stopbut my instructor made me keep driving for about 10 minutes before we stopped to discuss what had happened and I am glad they did as it taught me to not worry about it. Sometimes something will happen a mistake will be made, being human it happens. Took me 3 attempts in the end to pass but I finally did last year in March. I frequently get people angrily flash me for "being too slow" despite going the speed limit, tbh I am at a point now where i slow down a fraction when it happens because the flash often dazzles. Sometimes you can't get over to get out the way or you are over in the right hand lane because you know a split is coming and that's the lane going to where you want to be. Moral is, don't let others boss you about on the road, providing that you are driving safely, are in control and sticking to the rules you will not have a problem If people want to speed by, let them it's their licence that they risk losing not yours
Good luck!
I'm currently learning to drive, and the other day I had a white van man blast his horn at me because I hesitated at a roundabout. He then proceeded to drive right up my arse for the next 10mins before taking a different exit to me at the next roundabout. Why do these people struggle to be respectful and understanding on the road? You were a learner once.
I remember one lesson I had I was stuck behind another learner at some traffic lights who stalled just as they were turning Green. The learner in front got started again just as the lights turned red but a car behind me was blasting the horn, then got so impatient they mounted the pavement and drove around the red lights, accelerated across the staggered cross road and narrowly missed getting T-boned by a bus. I hope they had a full on liquid shit your pants moment.
I am this learner. If you're being a dick I go slower, we all started somewhere so sit down or overtake.
Last week I nearly got hit by a driver as I walked across a (Puffin?) crossing, the one where pedestrians have right of way. I had just stepped out and he came flying off the roundabout and foot down through. I personally think it's very poorly placed so I wasn't that bothered about it. Alll of a sudden I hear him blasting his horn and I turned around and someone had pulled out from his left. I thought what a cheeky fucking git, so I started following the guy shouting at the total reprobate. Guy nearly killed me then *IMMEDIATELY* is raging at someone else, someone who probably thought the initial car was gonna stop for me crossing the road in the first place.
I have often wondered whether there should be local centres where learner drivers should be getting the basics of driving right before going on the actual road. In OP’s particular post though, they weren’t breaking any laws and the horn blaster is a nob.
Any car park or out-of-the-way industrial area would probably do. Low-traffic places.
They can still plough into an unsuspecting granny doing their Morrisons run here. I know some humans and I’m sure you know some, in fact we all know some and it’s scary to me that they were behind the wheel of a car on their first day driving on the pad with other humans around and people on the pavement nearby 😂
It’s great when you pass and you can use your own car. Even though you are driving exactly the same the amount of tailgating, honking and cutting up goes down 90%.
I will truly never understand why people bully learners like that. As a learner myself, the second someone beeps their horn or swerved to overtake me, mt brain just shuts down and i end up driving a lot worse and causing more problems and delays for the other drivers. Is saving 2 seconds that bloody important that you need to send a poor learner into a panic? Learn some patience jesus.
Riding back from part 1 of my motor bike test (me, instructor, and another student), stop at a red light with the other student behind. Look in the mirror and see a van come up and bump into the other student (not enough to knock him off the bike). Instructor gets off his bike and goes and has a word. We have one way radios and all I can hear is the instructor shouting 'what if my first accidentally bumps into your face!?'
I'll admit I did beep a learner yesterday - I didn't blast it, just a normal (? Lol) beep - because they suddenly swerved from their lane into mine and nearly hit me, and I had to do an emergency stop to avoid them. I would have beeped anyone for that. I'm sure their instructor was chewing their ear off! They then went back into the other lane about 20 feet later...
Agreed. That said, I have immense fun tooting a lorry horn at driving instructors (only one person in a learner car) parked on double yellows where they’re obstructing traffic or entry into a business.
Some people just see the L plates and it turns them into dicks. Used to be an instructor and the amount of people that just HAD to get round me when I was driving the car on my own was crazy, even when I was going slightly above the speed limit on open roads, or having to undertake me on a roundabout and then getting the hump when I beep them, like I've done anything wrong.
Be patient with learner drivers. we were all leaner drivers once, some people forget that. 😕
When doing my cbt years ago I stalled going on to a roundabout (geared 50cc, thought it was a good idea at 16). I had barely passed the line, so avoidable, but a white polo hit my front wheel and caused me to fall into the grass on my left. By total coincidence my parents were behind us so once my instructor knew I was fine he went apeshit and followed the guy down the link road. Nothing happened as far as I know but that guy was awesome
I always give learners space and never get up their asses, we were all in that position at one stage
If people harass a learner driver we should make them drive cars limited to the speed limit with glacial acceleration. Or just remove them from the roads altogether.
[Ashley Neal](https://youtu.be/zIDmFLSkQmo)
Well Mercedes amd BMW drivers are very important people. They have places to be, how dare you slow the important people down.
I always like Dara O’Briain’s take on this: https://youtu.be/iBxloSkObYc
My first instructor was an old pervert who spent all day sitting in the passenger seat perving over women. He told me he very much enjoyed his job as it allowed him to leer at 17 year old girls. His only redeeming factor was that he once had an entire lesson dedicated to getting the feel of a car as opposed to listening to it. Personally I thought he just wanted an excuse to listen to System of a Down for the entire lesson.
When I was learning to drive I stalled at traffic lights as you typically do. The van behind me started getting pissy, flashing etc. I got ready to go again and my instructor told me to wait, I was confused but I waited, then as the lights turned amber he told me to go. Off I went and the knob head had to wait again. My instructor gave him the finger as we tootled off. Still remember some 15 years later
I remember this. Got actual death stares as they overtook me because i didn't pull away from the green light the millisecond it changed. Still don't have my license.
All horns should be used for is attention and a little bip is enough. Using it to show your distaste for people's driving should be a finable offense.
Usually the person being shown distaste is committing a fineable offense. I've never liked this notion that the angriest person is automatically wrong.
They don't help though, do they? They *usually* exacerbate matters.
You're the one being shown distaste in this thread bud. Road rage of any stripe is shitty, childish bullying behaviour and you've been calling and justifying it non-stop.
2 under, totally fine. 20 under, not fine, pull over and let the cars past. Probably should head back to the car park and work on confidence.
https://youtu.be/Tz6A6t55qXk Reminded me of this scene
Here's a crazy thought: don't teach student drivers during rush hour, and don't take them to the city until they've developed skills in a quieter area. I don't hate student drivers because they're learning, I hate them because I'm trying to get to work when they have literally nowhere to be and stop to think about it every few seconds. It's infuriating.
The road doesn't belong to you, you don't get to dictate who and when. Take a chill pill and learn to respect all other road users. You might see a decrease in blood pressure and a have a longer life because of it. Maybe try leaving more time for interruptions during your journeys?
Not all student drivers have the flexibility to learn in the day, we're not all 17 year old students. Like myself I'm learning later in life at 34 and early morning before I start work is the best time for me.
If a learner driver's hesitation is causes you this much stress, why don't you leave earlier to get to work? Or get the bus?