Are you finding that learning to drive is a very expensive process? When you ask yourself about driving lessons “How well am I learning to drive?”, you are oiling a very important cog in the machinery of ‘learning to drive’. This blog will give some details how this important process of raising self-awareness can literally save you lots of money.
The old style of sitting in the driving seat and waiting for your Driving Instructor to tell you what you are going to do on your driving lesson, where it will happen and then how you will do it, is just that…. old. The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency monitor all Driving Instructors and they would frown upon this approach to teaching driving lessons. The reason why is because it is globally recognised that a person learns best when they are given the opportunity to learn in an environment that suits them. If one person is learning more effectively than another, then this has enormous benefits. The depth of learning is deeper; people will be more inclined to remember why and how they need to do a certain driving action – ultimately because they had a say in how they learnt it, it actually meant something to them. And the other major benefit that the DVSA are particularly keen to see on driving lessons is that the learning will be much more long-lasting. Their research suggests that far too many people who have passed driving tests are either having accidents soon after passing, or don’t actually feel too confident with driving on their own.
Wipe away any visions of teachers standing at the front of the class and you having to write down word for word what the teacher is saying. A driving lesson is a 1:1 learning environment, it can be, and should be, a much more personalised learning experience. Typical questions that might be asked of you in a driving lesson will include:
- Did you get anything out of your last driving lesson? What do you remember went well?
- What are you wanting to cover today in your driving lesson?
- Where was the car positioned in the road, as you approached that last roundabout?
- Do you have a preference of 3rd or 4th gear at 30 mph?
- How does that noise the engine makes when you move off make you feel?
It is perfectly ok to answer those questions with the following responses:
- Can’t remember actually, oh I’m so tired, I was up until 2am last night – I can’t even remember my last driving lesson.
- No idea, whatever you want.
- Search me, to the left I think, may have been to the right.
- *Yawn* No, I’ll just put it in the gear you tell me to.
- *Glazed eye stare* No response
As you can see, there is a certain degree of self-responsibility that comes with maximising your learning experience. This is unlikely to appeal to everyone. Some people literally do like to just do what a Driving Instructor says, not have to think very much about answering questions, or learning why they are being encouraged to do something, their attitude is….. what will be, will be. The degree of self-involvement is a personal thing.
Grace is a pupil of BIG TOM Driving School and recently started driving lessons in Bourne having not had any previous driving experience at all. After having done 4 driving lessons she asked if her friend could accompany us in the car, this is what Grace had to say after that driving lesson:
“When I got in the car with Tom and my friend I was anxious at first because I thought I might mess up but when in the car, myself and my friend came up with an idea to have her direct me around Bourne. At the end of the driving lesson I felt so much more at ease and comforted by the fact my friend was with me. She gave me the confidence I needed, I didn’t feel like I needed to impress her at all. She made me feel so proud of myself after. After the lesson my friend said how safe she felt with me and how proud she was of me, it really made me feel as if I’d accomplished something”.
What price would anyone put on receiving those benefits Grace speaks of? You can choose to have no involvement at all on how you learn to drive, or you can choose to take some responsibility for what happens and as Grace shows here, the benefits to you will be clear to see.
BIG TOM Driving School Bookings: 0800 689 4174
