Instructor ripping off my niece?

mruncleman

born_again said:

mruncleman said:

I just can't see why it is not standardized to make sure a student has a variety of situations before passing. Some people are very good at being put in a new situation in there own, going it alone and figuring it out.  Some are really bad at it and it's clearly visible when you see the P on the car but they clearly have no idea what they are doing.

I think as a parent knowing your child will be going out into the dangerous world of driving without really having a decent knowledge of what they are doing is a scary thought.

Can you imagine never seeing a big fast paced round about in rush hour with few chances to get on and encountering it after you have passed your test only ever driving mini roundabouts.  It's then down to the experienced drivers to avoid colliding with the newbee.

So how does someone living in central london practise on country lanes?
Same with area's of scotland that do not have dual carriageways?

The whole point of the Highway code is to provide background information on how to treat these situations. Lets face it we go through life without training on many things, but still cope.

How does anyone know that someone is a newbee? Some new drivers may actually be better than many experienced drivers are, given the way they treat other road users..

You've responded without reading the whole thread. I have referenced this

mruncleman

By the way to those who are actually interested in this thread my niece has spoken to her driving instructor today and expressed her concerns to which he has agreed to take her on those roads stated above. I will continue to give her lessons on the side but for now she will continue with her instructor providing he no longer sticks to just test routes

Grumpy_chap

mruncleman said:

This is my first time on a forum. Is it a common thing for people to just comment without reading the full information, 

I think that probably is the case in any forum.  Probably not just in forums, either, but a factor of life that everyone is busy and rushed and comments on the last few parts that were said, especially once a thread gets towards 70-posts.

It does not seem that different to commenting on the headline in the newspaper without reading the full article. 
Or returning from the bar in the pub and leaping on the last comment but doing so out-of-context.

We'd accept those "real life" instances as just how it is.  In fact, the newspaper specifically wants to draw reaction from the headline.  I guess it is not surprising that forums see similar rapid-fire responses.

I hope you Niece passes her test soon - it seems to be that nothing has changed since my day or your day that learning to drive only starts after the test is passed and driving experience before test is often a combination of instructor-led and family-member-led (except fewer people seem to have the opportunity for family-member-led for various reasons).

Hope that helps.

tommyedinburgh

mruncleman said:

By the way to those who are actually interested in this thread my niece has spoken to her driving instructor today and expressed her concerns to which he has agreed to take her on those roads stated above. I will continue to give her lessons on the side but for now she will continue with her instructor providing he no longer sticks to just test routes

Glad she’s sticking with the professional. 

[Deleted User]

mruncleman said:

Deleted_User said:

I've seen plenty of, presumably experienced, drivers on country roads driving at 40 in a 60 and then going into a 30 and continuing at 40, are such overly confident drivers much less of a risk than a more cautious new driver?

No. There are so many people who are bad drivers. But atleast they have experience. Sending a newbee out without the chance to gain this experience is wrong I think. If it's not taught because it's not possible then fine. Not much you can do about that. But if it's not taught because it's not on your test even though those types of roads are local does not make sense.

So someone who breaks the law and drives under the limit (and let's be honest, your niece or anyone else is not doing 20mph on a 60 limit) is better because "they have experience" than someone learning to driver and (hopefully) hasn't picked up bad habits? OK.

seatbeltnoob

I was taught exactly the same as OP. If instructor was doing all the extra stuff that student isn't tested on, motorway driving, night driving, unnecessary complex roundabouts not in the testing area etc. then you would be posting here that instructor is taking your neice for a ride and charging for lessons she doesn't need.

Truth is it takes many many hours of driving after passing your test before you become a profecient driver. I had to get P plates on my car, because I had to drive very cautiously and couldn't get moving quick enough on traffic and would always get beeped at by the car behind.

30-40 lessons is what it takes to get you well enough to pass, and in just 30 hours driivng you're not going to have nowhere near enough experience on the road.

Probably need hundreds if not thousands of hours to be profecient, do you propose spending hundreds of hours under tuiton?

jimjames

mruncleman said:

jimjames said:

mruncleman said:

I just can't see why it is not standardized to make sure a student has a variety of situations before passing. 

On the other hand you could have other people complaining that their child has been for 100 lessons to cover all eventualities but the bit to pass the test could have been done in 50. Who would feel ripped off then?

Would it be acceptable for an instructor to not do a lesson because it's raining, because it's traffic time, because it's dark. Hell the test won't be taken in the dark so what's the point having lessons in the dark 🤷

Of course a test will be done in the dark. Do you think they stop doing tests at 3pm in winter?

Martin_t_2

jimjames said:

Of course a test will be done in the dark. Do you think they stop doing tests at 3pm in winter?

Oh really? What is your source for that?

Yours sincerely

A recently retired driving instructor

sheramber

I never drove out with the town on my driving lessons. fortunately, I drove the family car with my husband accompanying me, so I did have experience on other roads. My driving instructor encouraged this. 

I only learned how to switch on the windscreen wipers in the instructor's in the lesson before my test.  Any time it was raining during a lesson it was already raining when the instructor picked me up so the wipers were already on.

After passing my test I could have legally driven  on the motorway having never gone above 30 mph.

Until recently I lived 100 miles away from the nearest roundabout. Those who passed their test locally had never driven round one. They used to ask on the local social media  how they used them, as to get into the main town 100 miles away they had to negotiate two large and very busy ones.

The mini roundabout that they installed locally causes no end of confusion- cars sit at each exit until someone has the courage to move. They stop and wait to give way to a vehicle that is approaching 1/4 mile away.