As we all know there is a right way and a wrong way to approach anything in life. Sometimes it’s not quite so cut and dried. Sometimes it is not black and white at all but many shades of grey? The procedures undertaken by those Learning to Drive in Ireland are probably one of the least attractive aspects of Ireland’s new cultural Renaissance and economic resurgence.
Most Learner Drivers are completely unaware of what is facing them and what is facing them today in 2006 is very different to the situation of thirty or even twenty years ago. Most Irish Learner Drivers are going about it entirely the wrong way!
The dramatic difference today here in Ireland and throughout many countries experiencing new found prosperity, is that there has been an unstoppable rise in the numbers of people learning to Drive. This is fuelled by better employment opportunities, better education, and better disposable income. Whereas twenty years or so ago it was commonplace for people to only learn to Drive when they could afford a car, which was usually in their late Twenties, today the process starts as early as seventeen!
Today every driver of License Age has the ability to earn sufficient to own and Drive a car, even so called impoverished Students paying their way through College. Part time Jobs have made it an achievable goal for most students to be able to Drive even as young as 17 or 18.
So we have a situation with spiraling numbers of Learner Drivers of all Nationalities all vying for position on the Roads. Herein lies the need for Correct and detailed Driver Training for beginner Drivers from the outset since the very fact of owning a car and being able to pay for it does not magically endow the proud owner with any skills whatsoever.
Driving Skills which will improve over time, in the correct environment, need a foundation upon which to grow. If there is no firm foundation, which will be taught under controlled conditions by a skilled and experienced Instructor then it is highly likely that dangerous habits and attitudes will prevail, leading as it invariably does to serious accidents and many fatalities.
Our Fatal Accident statistics here in Ireland are amongst the worst in Europe and it is precisely because of the lack of training that this is so. Most countries in Europe have a very well defined structure for the training of Learner Drivers which includes mandatory theory and practical Lessons and a stipulation that a certain number of hours under Instruction have to be completed before the Driving Test is conducted. Unsupervised Driving for beginner Drivers is virtually unheard of throughout Europe and indeed the rest of the developed World. In Ireland it is commonplace despite being Illegal in certain circumstances.
Lessons need to be taken for a substantial number of hours initially to bring the Learner up to at least a safe standard of performance. In the UK, which has much stricter enforcement of everything to do with Driving and Learners in particular, it is regarded as normal for a Driver to undertake about forty hours of Tuition before a certain standard is reached and before a Driving Test can be contemplated. This is the norm. Some Drivers will take less some will take more.
It’s my experience here in Ireland that those drivers who take note of all the prevailing conditions and budget for a substantial course of Lessons invariably are much less likely to have an accident in the early years and much more likely to pass their Driving Test first time!
It is worth pointing out here that passing the Driving Test first time is not a badge of an experienced Driver or even a skilful one. It is a sign that the Driver has achieved a certain Elementary Standard and is safe to be driving unaccompanied.
Learning with Mums and Dads, Boyfriends and Girlfriends, initially, is not the way to achieve a satisfactory standard for Today’s’ Driving Environment.
Many Parents, who may have been driving for years, but under very different Road conditions than we experience today, exhibit just the bad and dangerous habits that Driving Schools are working hard to prevent with their young pupils.
Staying Safe and staying out of other Drivers accidents is what every Driver young and old should be striving to achieve…this can only come with proper and sufficient Training.
Robin Piggott is a Trainer of Learner Drivers in Ireland and provides a wealth of information throughout his
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