What Makes A Good Driver – Skill
June 25, 2011
What Makes a Good Driver?
Skill
Next in the series of “What makes a good driver?” is skill. At All Ways School of Motoring we will teach you the skills necessary to make you a skilful driver. We provide driving lessons in Aldershot, Ash, Normandy, Bentley, Heath End, Weybourne, Tongham, Frimley, Frimley Green, Church Crookham and Crondall.
You make for a better driver if you can change gears smoothly. Not only will this make for a more comfortable ride but you will also put less wear and tear on your car.
Similarly when accelerating, cornering and braking you will want to your passengers to enjoy the ride and not be thrown all over the place. Maybe when you first learn to drive that is how you did things. However by the time you are at test standard you will want everything to be nice and smooth.
Try and drive like a chauffeur. Imagine you are driving a VIP about and they want the best and smoothest ride possible. Try stopping at the side of the road and being able to pull up so that you can hardly feel the car stopping.
Take that on another step and try cornering so that the passengers aren’t thrown about in their seats or lurching forward. The position of your car when entering a corner, the correct speed on approach and being in the right gear are all important for a smooth drive. That doesn’t mean that every corner is taken at a snail’s pace, it means that you get the balance right for the bend. The general rule of thumb is slow in quick out. However that is only easy when you mastered the controls well. It is a fine line between getting it right or wrong. I’m sure that you have seen cars buried into the side of the road. Very rarely is it the cars fault, most times it’s the fault of the driver, who hasn’t the required skill or competence to drive correctly.
It is very hard to become a skilful driver overnight. It sometimes takes many years to master. Some people will never manage to achieve good skill even after a lifetime of driving.
All Ways School of Motoring will teach you to master the controls correctly. Don’t just simply look to pass your driving test. Try to impress the examiner that you have good control of your vehicle. We provide driving lessons in and around; Farnham, Farnborough, Ash Green, Dippenhall, Lower Bourne, Elstead, Badshot Lea, Mytchett, Fleet and Eweshot.
All Ways Driving School offer driving lessons in Aldershot at an affordable price.
What Makes a Good Driver – Anticipation
June 21, 2011
What Makes a Good Driver?
Anticipation – Defensive Driving
Next in our series of “What makes a good driver” is anticipation. When you start your driving lessons in and around Aldershot, your instructor will highlight the potential hazards and get you to think about what might happen next.
Anticipation is the ability to read and be aware of the things that are happening around you. This in turn will lead to defensive driving, which is another important quality in any driver. Imagine if you drove with your eyes closed, are you going to be able to anticipate anything? “No”, is the answer that comes back to you. This goes to show that if you only look as further as the end of your bonnet you, you will not be able to anticipate the potential dangers around you. To be able to read the road around you it is important to keep changing where you look and not to be fixated with the tarmac or the boot of the car ahead of you. By doing this you are more likely to be able to anticipate what may happen ahead or around you and therefore allow you to start to react a little bit sooner than the next driver.
Defensive driving is the ability to second guess what might happen and as a result drive more cautiously. You will also become a smoother driver by reacting to things much earlier sometimes 1 mile ahead and hence will not have the need for harsh breaking. Over many years of driving you will see thousands of clues as to what might happen; kids kicking a football on the pavement, what do you think is likely to happen next? A pair of feet behind a car or van. An ice cream van parked at the side of the road. A dog not on a lead. In fact there are so many potential clues that it will be impossible to list them all here. It has been said that experienced drivers react 2 seconds quicker than inexperienced drivers. That’s because with many years of experience you can often guess what may happen next, when you see these clues and as a result you may already start to slow down in anticipation of the potential hazard.
Consider an inexperienced driver who is approaching a zebra crossing. On the pavement is a teenage lad texting on his mobile, only a few steps away from the crossing. So what should be going through the drivers mind? Well the driver should anticipate that the lad will step onto the crossing without looking. As a result the driver should have started to slow down in good time so that if the lad does step on we are ready to stop safely without the need for an emergency stop. If the young lad walks past the crossing and doesn’t step on then no harm done. At least you have saved a potential accident by anticipating.
When you take driving lessons with All Ways Driving School, your instructor will work on these skills to ensure that you become a safe and competent driver for life.
All Ways Driving School offer driving lessons in Aldershot at an affordable price.
What Makes A Good Driver – Concentration
June 20, 2011
What Makes a Good Driver?
At All Ways School of Motoring we pride ourselves with our high standards and level of commitment. We offer driving lessons in Aldershot, Farnham, Farnborough, Ash, Ash Green, Normandy, Dippenhall, Bentley, Lower Bourne, Heath End, Elstead, Weybourne, Badshot Lea, Tongham, Mytchett, Frimley, Frimley Green, Fleet, Church Crookham, Crondall, Eweshot.
We have often been asked “What makes a good driver?” In this series we will endeavour to cover the necessary attributes needed to become a good driver and we will be looking at these over the next few weeks. We feel that there are 6 attributes needed are:
- Concentration
- Anticipation
- Skill
- Attitude
- Knowledge
- Self Discipline
Not necessarily in that order, however you do require all six. Let’s look at the first of these;
Concentration
Concentration is the ability to keep your mind on the job in question, in this case, driving a car. Many 17 and 18 year olds want to learn to drive and as such want to take driving lessons as soon as possible. However if you are thinking about your exams that may be coming up soon or whether your local football team will win next Saturday, that’s fine, but don’t think about that when you’re driving.
Maybe you’re are a mum going to pick up the kids from school and you’re wondering if you remembered to turn the oven off or will you have enough time to get to the local supermarket. Don’t think about these things whilst you’re driving. If you are a local builder and you are worried about where the next bit of work will come from or if your last customer will pay you on time. Don’t think about it whilst you are behind the wheel of your van.
Unless you concentrate on your driving, you may hit a pedestrian or another vehicle, ask yourself, who is to blame? Quite possibly you could argue that the small child you have just hit should not be out on the road on her own, however the accident may have been avoided by good concentration. It only takes a second in lapse in concentration for an accident to happen. A way to learn how to concentrate whilst you’re driving is to give yourself, out loud, a running commentary as you drive along. You can do this while driving on your own or with passengers. You may feel a little self conscious but you will be amazed at how much more you will see and not see by saying these things out loud. If you have a passenger they can highlight the things you may have missed and you will be able to learn from that.
If you concentrate on your driving then accidents are less likely to happen.
All Ways Driving School offer driving lessons in Aldershot at an affordable price.
Belt Up in The Back
June 17, 2011
Belt Up in The Back
Child seats have been compulsory for many years now. However one woman found to her horror that she wasn’t able to fit 3 child seats in the back of her family car. Luckily she’s discovered a devise that has solved her problem.
“On New Year’s Eve I opened my front door to find my husband emerging from a vehicle that was more sporty than workhorse. The kind of car that he had dreamed about every time he got into our trusted but unfashionable MPV. It was an Audi estate, beautiful even to my untrained eye. He assured me that it was ‘a good deal, buying it before the year end got us two free services’, my eyes glanced over the car. ‘It looks a bit narrow. Will all of us fit in?’
Unfortunately for my husband, we didn’t. He had banked on the fact that 3 booster seats would fit all three boys safely and legally into the back.
No amount of shopping around for booster seats and trying to squeeze them in as tight as possible would do it for us. We appeared to have a car that was perfect for a family of four.
A look online revealed that many parents had the same issue. Cars that happily seat five adults don’t seem to cope with two adults and three young children, which means families of 3 or more children are pushed towards people carriers and sport utility vehicles.
I didn’t like the idea of driving around in a Chelsea tractor. People carriers send the message that we were looking to expand our family or carrying a football team around.
Apparently French and Scandinavian families are more likely to have three or more children. Therefore cars from these countries are usually designed to allow for this.
Finally, after ages looking online, I discovered Multimac which is a bench-like system of either three or four child seats, that can be bolted into the car. They have five-point harnesses and all the required safety approval.
The invention was inspired by one man’s desire to get his own four children into a normal sized car. It took 13 years before he was finally able to sell the Multimac 2008. With one of these devises, it is possible to fit three children into the back of something as small as a Fiat 500. Incredibly four children into a Ford Fiesta. There is a rear facing attachment for babies, which may mean a big saving for families with a growing family.”
If you’re looking for a driving instructor in Aldershot please contact All Ways School of Motoring.
Breakdown Cover
June 11, 2011
Breakdown Cover
Everyday in the UK there are around 20,000 breakdown’s. The most common causes being, flat tyres, flat batteries and engine trouble the recovery services report. Some of the common causes of flat batteries include, using the car only for short journeys, leaving the headlights switched on overnight, electronic equipment e.g. sat nav or CD players, corroded, loose or damp connections on the battery. There are a number of checks that drivers can carry out on their cars to lessen the chances of a breakdown.
To help prevent breakdowns check the tyres and battery on a regular basis. However, not everyone can find the time or have the ability to carry out these checks. Good breakdown cover can provide that peace of mind if your vehicle breaks down on the roadside. With breakdown cover you can wait for good professional help to arrive without having to try to fix the problem yourself. There are many different breakdown cover packages to choose from. From the basic roadside package to comprehensive packages.
The basic roadside cover hope to repair the car at the side of the road, in most cases this is usually possible, or to tow your vehicle to the nearest garage or your home. This type of breakdown cover may limit the number of callouts that you are allowed to make in the year and the age of the car may be limited too. Some providers may cover available 365 days per year, 24 hours a day and not charge you for a call out. It might be possible to find Student Car Insurance which may well include breakdown cover.
More comprehensive breakdown cover include the benefits of roadside assistance as well as allowing the driver and passengers to continue their journey, if the repair can’t be made on the same day, through use of a hire car or relief driver. Some insurance companies may have no limits to the number of call outs per year and may also include overnight accommodation in the event of a breakdown.
If you’re looking for a driving instructor in Aldershot please contact All Ways School of Motoring.