Practical Driving

Motorway Driving at Night Pic foto.com

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Our aim here is to give you a guide as to what to expect on your driving lessons, whether that is with an ADI or with family or friends. Remember that you must have a valid provisional driving licence covering the catagory of vehicle being used, meet the eyesight requirements and have no medical conditions that may effect you driving, prior to undertaking any driving lessons or practice.

FIRST DRIVE AND COCKPIT DRILL

Your first driving lesson should be to get you used to the cockpit drill (seating and mirror positioning), the vehicle's controls and how to use them correctly. The instructor will explain both clutch and brake contol and how to position the vehicle and use the steering wheel correctly. When this has been covered the next stage is to explain how you will move the car away safely and under control, including further areas such as how to change gears etc. Then the exciting moment of actually moving the car away and driving along the road. Normally you will keep practising parking beside the road and then moving away again to give you the oppertunity to keep practising the use of the mirrors, signals, steering and pedals.

Dual Carriageway

When you first start driving it can seem that there is just to much to remember and everything is a bit of a blur. But with careful practice it will become much clearer.

How to?..(clutch control)

A driver will use clutch control to enable them to move their vehicle from a parked/stationery position, under full control and at the speed that the driver wants.

First a brief explanation as to how a clutch works. The clutch has two plates; the first is linked to the engine and is rotating all the time the engine is running. The second plate is linked to the vehicle's wheels and will only rotate when the two plates are held against each other (when the clutch pedal is up). When the driver depresses the clutch pedal the plates will be forced apart. When the clutch pedal is depressed (down) because of the gap between the plates no power is being transferred between the engine and the wheels.

Next we need to look at the Biting Point (Bite Point) which is the point when the two clutch plates begin to make contact/come together. By controlling the amount of contact, by either slightly raising or depressing the clutch pedal, the driver will be able to control the amount of power being transferred through to the wheels. Whilst the driver can depress the clutch pedal as quickly as they want/need, if the clutch is raised too quickly it will cause the clutch plates to come together too suddenly, which is likely to cause the engine to stall, or the vehicle to jump forward out of control.

Finally, practising clutch control will help the learner to be able to move the vehicle under full control, which is essential for safe driving and passing the driving test. The learner should practice this control by selecting 1st gear then raising the clutch pedal to the biting point, holding the pedal at this point then depressing the pedal again. This is best practised somewhere quiet and level. The learner can then, without the handbrake engaged/on, slowly raise the clutch pedal until they feel/hear the bite point. As they are on a level section of road, if they cannot feel/hear the bite point the learner will be able to judge this point by the fact that the vehicle starts to move forward.

For more information on Moving Away and Clutch Control, plus much more see our excellent e-books and downloads section.

Good practising.

Roundabout at Night

JUNCTIONS

During your driving lessons you will deal with a number of different types of junctions. Normally you will start with turning into and emerging out side roads (T-junctions) Then roundabouts and crossroads, together with a variety of other traffic light controlled junctions. Whilst each of these junctions will have their own rules as to how they work, there are also certain areas that will remain very much the same regardless of the junction being practised. The way we approach a junction is a good example of this. This will normally be Mirrors, Positioning, Signals, Speed and Gears. This is often refered to as the MSM routine (Mirrors, Signal, Manoeuvre), and is basically the same regardless of the type of junction being approached.

MANOEUVRES

On the driving test you will be asked to complete 2 of the manoeuvres. They are the turn in the road, left or right reverse (around a corner) and the reverse park either in a carpark or beside the road. The examiner will be looking at the control of the vehicle (clutch or brake control), the accuracy and good effective observation throughout the manoeuvre. One of the skills that needs to be mastered is the ability to combine all of the above, and not to simply concentrate on the accuracy and control, completly forgetting about the observation.

TIPS FOR DRIVING TEST

The first thing is try not to worry. I know that is easy to say, and harder to do, however if you have prepared properly for the test there really is no need to worry. You are only going to be asked to do what you have been practising during your lessons and if your instructor feels you are ready for your driving test, then have confidence that you are. If I could only give a learner two pieces of advice before their test they would be; Firstly plan well ahead, If you can anticipate potential hazards rather than react to them then the hazard will be much easier to deal with. Planning will not leave you making sudden, possibly dangerous decisions, instead it will give you time to think and make a well thought through considered decision. An example would be when approaching a traffic light controlled junction. Do you plan when you will stop, or keep going if the lights change as you approach, or will you be suprised when the lights change and react poorly. My second piece of advice would to be to keep checking. This is checking what you are doing, such as has your indicator cancelled? or are you in the correct gear. Also checking/thinking about what other people are doing such as pedestrians and other road users. Good luck!

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PRACTISING WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS

There are three main ways family or friends can help. One is to take the learner out for private driving practise in their own car (subject to the legal requirements for the vehicle and accompanying driver) The Driving Practice E-Book will guide you through the key areas when undertaking private driving practice. The next is talking through a lesson or topic with the learner either before or after a driving lesson to make sure the learner fully understands/understood the lesson. And finally a rarely used way of helping is for the parent or friend to talk through their own drive showing/explaining how the learner should deal with a certain type of junction or situation. All three ways either on there own or combined can be a great help to the person learning to drive.

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