Private practice is the term used when a pupil starts to go out with friends or family in their own, personal car. According to the DVSA research, pupils are 1.5 times more likely to pass a driving test if they incorporate the average of 22 hours private practice into their training programme. It really does make a difference to outcomes.
A common question is asking when to start these private lessons. The temptation is to make use of friends or family when they are willing to help with practice. However, the general guidance is not to start until you have already achieved good control of the vehicle. Private cars will not have dual controls fitted, so the accompanying driver has no means of efficiently controlling what happens to maintain safety. If you start this practice too soon and neither of you are able to maintain safety, it could be disastrous for the vehicle and possibly cause injuries – not to mention being traumatic and potentially put people off learning to drive.
Generally speaking, the point at which the average pupil does have control of the vehicle is at about the 10 hour mark – 10 hours of training with a qualified driving instructor.
Try to organise the private practice so that it is reinforcing the subjects/topics ALREADY covered with the driving instructor. You wouldn’t normally go on dual-carriageways for example, with a friend or family member accompanying you, if you have not covered them yet with your driving instructor. Private practice is supposed to provide an opportunity for consolidating previously taught skills.
It can be quite difficult to manage this if a member of the family is very keen to take you out to practice, but you need to be quite firm and ensure that actually YOU and your instructor feel it is the right time to start private practice.
One last piece of advice is to pay attention to the depth of the practice. It is an easy mistake to make, that when a new topic is started, it is perceived as then “covered”, when in fact it has only just been started. The idea is to try practising in lots of different situations and locations so that you truly are competent in a subject.
