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Just want to do a video which is giving some general advice for anybody who is considering
learning how to drive. You are right at the very start and you might
be thinking to yourself, there is a lot of stuff out there and I'm really not too sure
how to go about this. Have a look at this video, this is trying
to give you some independent, neutral advice about how to go about doing this.
The first thing to say, right at the start is that the Driving Standards Agency have
got a Drivers Standard that is on the internet, which is available for anybody to see. You
can print it off, make sure you've got lots of paper in the printer! You can use that
if you've got friends and family who are willing to assist you with learning to drive, you
don't have to use a driving instructor. The test will be aligned with that Drivers Standard.
If you are going to use a driving instructor then a couple of things for you to consider.
One is whether you are able to use a friend or family between the sessions with the driving
instructor. It has been recognised by the Driving Standards Agency, that people that
pass first time very often do have that opportunity. Obviously that is not something that you can
necessarily control, there is either a vehicle available with friends and family willing
to do that or there isn't and so I just mention it because it is statistically known, recognised
that it is a major contributor to you passing the test first time.
How you choose the actual driving instructor is something that should not be rushed.
There are a few things to think about. One is what is important to you. What might
be important to you is that you are going to spend time with that person and you want
to feel comfortable in that persons company. That's not a small point. The way they conduct
themselves, the way that they talk, the atmosphere, environment in the car. This is a learning
experience and it's important that you feel comfortable while you are learning. Why not
ask a driving instructor to come to you with your family there, and just spend 15 minutes
just seeing him or her, and seeing the car, why not do that?
This would be time well spent. You can ask that driving instructor questions
that are important to you. And if that driving instructor can't give you the answer, or maybe
is a bit vague, then that is telling you that that particular question that you are asking
is not important to that driving instructor. Well that is really worthwhile knowing before
you commit yourself to a driving instructor with a certain number of lessons.
Which brings me on to budget and prices. Generally speaking in the industry, if you
just ring someone up and say can I have a driving lesson whenever, you tend to pay a
little bit more for that, pay as you go. As opposed to committing yourself to x number
of lessons, over this period of time, the driving instructor will generally speaking,
will provide that at a lower price. You are saying that you want that amount of
driving lessons. There's loads of promotions out there, and
some of them are quite eye watering. You need to think yourself, it might seem a bargain
to you, but how is it that person can give me that number of driving lessons for that
price. How are they doing that? You got to be prepared to question how are they doing
it, and why are they having to do that? The other thing to give some thought about
is the timescales involved. What is your goal? What are you aiming to achieve, by when?
I want to pass the driving test, I want to get myself to a standard where I can pass
the test in a month. Very specific goal, and everything that you
do and ask a driving instructor is aligned to that goal. You will very quickly see whether
that person can assist you in that goal or not. Some people are just too busy to be able
to slot in x number of hours in y amount of time.
It's really very important. Otherwise you end up getting disappointed, and thinking
I wish I had known that you couldn't do this, because I would have gone somewhere else.
So actually give it some thought, as to when you want to pass the test, and how many sessions
are likely to be needed, what frequency, what duration. Do you want to be in a car for 1,2,3,4
hours? Does that fit in line with how you like to learn? How does this person go about
teaching people how to learn to drive? How do they do that? Everybody is different and
everyone has got different ways of doing things. Get to find out that before you commit to
anybody at all. I just wanted to raise a few things that are
important to try and establish before you commit yourself to a particular way of learning
to drive. It's a life skill, it's a very important thing
to learn well. You don't want to be finding yourself getting disappointed if you have
just scraped through the test and subsequently you find yourself having accidents, and insurance
premiums are so expensive. Give yourself some thought about how you want to do it well.
I hope this video has given you some things to think about.
Maybe you might want to jot down a few ideas, talk to your parents if that is your set up,
and get some clear ideas of what things are important to you, because only then can you
make sure that the person that you are going to use to learn to drive is aligned with those
as well. Any questions, add below please.