Re: Teach me to be a safe driver.
Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2013 1:28 am
I base my thoughts on my experience of my own driving development and that of others I know, and on my experience as an IAM Observer.
I was a bad driver in my early driving years, passionately enthusiastic but equating good driving with fast driving. Then I was introduced to 'advanced driving' by John Lyon, almost universally regarded as a brilliant driver and an expert, but also quite famous for a dogmatic and techniques oriented teaching style. Thereafter, I started to get my satisfaction from driving accurately and well, rather than fast.
Many of the best drivers I know were also first taught by him, or by others with a traditional police driving school background. We all now have a passion for appropriate entry speeds, and for going slowly where we cannot see positively that it is safe to go fast.
In teaching my Associates (oh, sorry, that is not allowed, is it) I see people over several months, and if they did not practice the things which I encourage them to try when I am not with them their driving would not change as it does. By the time they take their test I expect that much of what they have been practising has become habitual.
I was a bad driver in my early driving years, passionately enthusiastic but equating good driving with fast driving. Then I was introduced to 'advanced driving' by John Lyon, almost universally regarded as a brilliant driver and an expert, but also quite famous for a dogmatic and techniques oriented teaching style. Thereafter, I started to get my satisfaction from driving accurately and well, rather than fast.
Many of the best drivers I know were also first taught by him, or by others with a traditional police driving school background. We all now have a passion for appropriate entry speeds, and for going slowly where we cannot see positively that it is safe to go fast.
In teaching my Associates (oh, sorry, that is not allowed, is it) I see people over several months, and if they did not practice the things which I encourage them to try when I am not with them their driving would not change as it does. By the time they take their test I expect that much of what they have been practising has become habitual.