Regulation of Speed Road Position in Normal Driving

This is an exercise which will only be given in phase two. The examiner will role play a pupil who has poor judgement of speed and positioning of the vehicle in normal driving. The faults which will be committed by the examiner will be a selection of the following:

Progress either too fast or too slow for the road and traffic conditions.

Showing undue hesitancy.

Normal driving position being either too close to the offside or too close too the nearside.

The examiner will introduce this exercise by ending the previous exercise and will say something on the following lines. "That is the end of that exercise, I would like to give you a couple of minutes to think about the next exercise. I would like you to imagine that I am now a totally different character. I have had a driving test and I have failed on (Here he will mention the faults he is going to commit from the above list). I have another driving test in two weeks. Will you correct me on these items and if I have any other faults in my driving, correct those as well?"

You are not required to give a briefing. All you need to do is to treat him as you would with any other pupil who came to you with a similar story. I would begin by asking him if the examiner had mentioned anything to him or if he could remember any incident which may have led the examiner to reach the decision to fail him.

The examiner will answer your question but you may not be much wiser, nor will you know the degree to which these faults remain or whether or not there are any others. The proof of the pudding will be in the eating, you will need to see him drive to find out exactly. You may feel a need to ask further question and give some general advice but do not waste time. The examiner wants to see you perform. You now have two objectives which are:

a) Correct the faults which he commits.

b) Find out how well he is reading the road and anticipating all the potential danger.

In dealing with a) above, you must not allow serious faults to be committed. As soon as the pupil begins to do something you wouldn't do, or he fails to do something you would do, then a fault is being committed and you must act. For example, ahead of you there are some parked vehicles and you have reached the point where you would check the mirrors and begin deviating and the pupil has done nothing, then you must act otherwise you will shave the vehicles or pull out late probably when it isn't safe. If you are unable to prevent a serious fault then the pupil must have it brought to his attention immediately, and as soon as it is possible to stop on the left, ask the pupil to pull up then deal with it. Some faults will be able to be corrected on the move but do not repeatedly try to correct the same fault on the move. If you have tried twice and he does it a third time, then it is obvious your efforts have been in vain and at the end of the session you will not have altered the pupil's behaviour. Therefore in order for learning to take place the pupil must be asked to pull up at a convenient place. When the vehicle is at rest tell the pupil that you have noticed (whatever it is you have noticed) and despite you having mentioned it to him he continues to do it, ask him to explain why he does it that way. Here you will receive an answer from the pupil so evaluate what he says. If you know your subject you will know who is correct and it is essential you know your subject. You now have to ensure the pupil understands why he is wrong, and the dangers in doing it the way he is doing it. Once this has been established you can then give the remedial action by prompting him with the practice. Then after a short period put him to the test. If he still needs prompts give them to him but at each stage give feed back and encouragement. It may be enough with the examiner to explain, then talk him through the next situation. But with a real pupil do not be afraid of giving a demonstration if you consider it necessary.

With b) above you will notice from his actions and the timing of his actions how far ahead he is looking. If you see ahead something of importance which he should have noticed but at the present time it doesn't require a change of speed or direction, such as a pelican crossing and nobody in the vicinity of it, then you could ask. Can you see anything that could affect our progress or what are you anticipating. See what his answer brings. If the salient point is not mentioned then you mention it. If he says, I hadn't seen it. You will know he is either not looking far enough ahead or he is not paying attention to the items of importance, so you will have discovered a serious fault. On the other hand if the salient point is mentioned you can ask what does he intend doing about it.

At the end of the session you should have corrected all the faults and the examiner or pupil should be feeling pleased. You may be asked, Do you think I will pass my test? Give a truthful answer without committing yourself. Say something like, you have corrected the faults which I brought to your attention. If you keep on top of them and drive for the examiner like you have driven for me, I can see no reason why you shouldn't be successful.

The examiner will now announce the end of the test and tell you the result.