Learner drivers on busy roads during rush hour
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I know this is going to sound a bit nasty, because I guess we all had to learn to drive at some time or other, but why do driving instructors take their students out on the road at stupid times and on very busy stretches of road? |
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Here is a classic example. I drive to work every morning on the A421 and not being one who enjoys queuing in traffic, I usually head off a bit later and join the tail end of the rush hour. This morning however, I head out a little bit earlier and I’m on the road at bang on 9 O’clock and almost immediately end up joining a long line of slow moving traffic. What’s the cause of the delay? It’s a somewhat nervous learner driver negotiating roundabouts very carefully. Now driving so precisely with such care and attention is very commendable, by why on earth did the driving instructor decide to take the student out at the same time as a large number of motorists want to get to work and why on such a busy A-road? |
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So there we are on a major road with very few opportunities to overtake, crawling along at around 40mph. This road is bad enough at the best of times, as farm traffic and lorries quite often use it. They really don’t have a choice of route, but a driving lesson could easily be taken somewhere else. I would have thought it would make sense to take new drivers, or those with less experience out on the quieter suburban roads first, at least until they were up to speed. Then if they must go on major ‘A’ class roads, perhaps at a less busy time and not around the rush hour might be a good idea. |
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I’m not trying to say "get all learner drivers off the road". I’m just pleading for some common sense from driving instructors. Have a think about where you take your students and the impact that your driving lesson may have on others. |
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Comments from visitors
I'm sorry new drivers hold you up! But in the majority of new driver's minds you'll find that exact thought, "oh god I'm holding everyone up" or "everyone behind me hates my guts!", you may have forgotten what it was like to be a learner thrown into the deep end of driving on the busy roads you describe, but I'm sure you're not as put off as they are when they find articles like this on the internet confirming their fears.
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To all those complaining about learners holding them up...allow more time for your journey, then you'll arrive at your destination in good shape and happy, instead of being up-tight fire breathing monsters. I pity your passengers, they must be thoroughtly miserable. Take some happy pills and chill out, we all learn somewhere and sometime.
+3
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QED the ads here aren't anything to do with the griper, they are from the weekly gripe. The gripes on here have been written by lots of different people, some are anonymous and some are not.
-5
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Brilliant! You winge about driving instructors and then carry an advert for driving lessons at £17 per hour. Small wonder you don't get professionalism from driving instructors. Could you make a decent living paying a franchise fee, and fuel, income tax, national insurance etc on £17 per hour? The instructor is on less than mimimum wage and you want him to turn down a driving lesson where he can earn money. Stop winging leave home in time so that you dont have to rush down roads that are "bad enough at the best of times, as farm traffic and lorries quite often use it".
+7
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driving instructors take people on busy roads because it is good practise for a learner driver, no driving instructor would take their students out on a busy road if they were not ready. believe me the driving test is becomming harder and harder and instructors today have to be fully comprehensive in what they teach people.
+6
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mardi gras the candyman can - 6-Oct-10 16:29
'Harsh But Fair'..You sound like a complete muppet. If you were a good driver you would anticipate an error by another driver, be they a learner or not. But especially if they are a learner!
There is always a first time for each driving situation for a novice. Wake up you fool!
There is always a first time for each driving situation for a novice. Wake up you fool!
-4
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Totally concur with the points made.
I had to brake urgently just the other day on the northerly Moortown roundabout on the Leeds ring road at 5.45 pm because a petrified looking learner made a bad call when joining the roundabout.
What the heck were they doing on a busy roundabout at peak evening rush hour time?
Being the only available time to take the lesson and paying for the service does not excuse the instructor's blatant stupidity.
I had to brake urgently just the other day on the northerly Moortown roundabout on the Leeds ring road at 5.45 pm because a petrified looking learner made a bad call when joining the roundabout.
What the heck were they doing on a busy roundabout at peak evening rush hour time?
Being the only available time to take the lesson and paying for the service does not excuse the instructor's blatant stupidity.
+5
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Harsh But Fair - 29-Aug-10 09:29
You are forgetting one little thing. Maybe the learner can only learn at these times. They are paying for a service and regardless of what you think are entitled to experience rush hour, impatient nit wits, people who have been driving for years and yet FORGET to indicate on roundabouts adding to the delay.... but hey thats another gripe altogether
+5
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By rules of the road and sticking to lane 2, I mean not undertaking.
-6
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I have noticed more and more recently, more Learner drivers out on the road. Usually, I don't notice them enough to remember them days later. The reason I do remember them though is that they have taken to driving down the overtaking lane of duel carrageways at 40 in a 60 zone and do not move over into lane 1, despite no traffic for 100 - 200 meters of clear road. It is clear because the lorry that the learner thinks they will overtake at 40 is infact driving at 56 and this means he is pulling away.
Lane 1 is usefull too, especially when everyone is obeying the rules of the road and sticking to lane 2. Creating a tailback as far behind as the eye can see.
Lane 1 is usefull too, especially when everyone is obeying the rules of the road and sticking to lane 2. Creating a tailback as far behind as the eye can see.
-8
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People soon forget we all were learners,also people have got zero patience,Where I live if you don t drive away at green light in a nano second,somebody will tooting,shaking fists etc,but learn how to use the clutch & acc before going out on a main road(sorry to all learners!)
-7
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joe bloggs school of motoring - 18-May-10 20:37
I think your being slightly inconsiderate! I have been passed for a while now, I only had lessons mid-mornings because I was extremely nervous when I started especially about people being inconsiderate towards me and I regret it!! The first time I got stuck in rush hour traffic after I passed I just didn't know what to do, I stalled lots of times and caused trouble for cars around me. I only made all these mistakes because it was a new situation that I hadn't expierienced and facing the traffic on my own was daunting. Surely it would be better for learners to have lessons during rush hour, I know for a fact I would have caused less hassle if I had experienced more lessons during rush hour with my instructors help.
+6
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Having just recently passed, I know how daunting driving as a learner can be, and I am positive that having lessons during busy periods is an absolute must. Yes, it may inconvenience those of you who have been driving for years and are on your way to work, but I would much rather I had an instructor next to me, and I was in a dual controlled car, than I get left to my own devices in busy traffic without a clue what to do!
-6
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I am a learner and have been for about 2 months and I personally feel confident about roundabouts/junctions/driving in traffic etc. but I can understand if a learner has trouble getting their confidence up in a difficult situation, especially if it's on a gradient or in the rain. I was behind one who stalled twice at some traffic lights but it's nothing to get wound up about. We've all got to learn sometimes and some people should think back to how they felt when they were in a difficult situation
+1
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As the original poster says, learners need to have some experience before being taken on busy roads; and then maybe a short stretch where they can get on & off again fairly quickly to see how they get on would be in order. But they certainly do need the experience of a busy road sometime.
+8
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grumpyoldwoman - 17-Jun-09 16:06
Maybe, just maybe, it's better for the learner to go out on a busy road with their instructor, rather than never doing it, getting a license then causing obstruction/danger once they're out on their own?
-2
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You need to calm down and have some patience. The world doesn't revolve around you.
-1
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Totally agree with the comments of ADI6/ Dave and Shea.
In addition the Instructor in question that held this poor motorist up, may have been a trainee instructor him/herself and new to the area/job!!
Maybe the student suddenly became nervous at the amount of traffic around them, there are various reasons why the situation ocurred. An experienced ADI would have structured the lesson, in the way Dave the Instructor has stated. But sometimes, humour nature can be unpredictable!
ADI Grade 6 /Instructor trainer/Dip Di/M.I.A.M/ Lgv C+E/Motorcycle.
In addition the Instructor in question that held this poor motorist up, may have been a trainee instructor him/herself and new to the area/job!!
Maybe the student suddenly became nervous at the amount of traffic around them, there are various reasons why the situation ocurred. An experienced ADI would have structured the lesson, in the way Dave the Instructor has stated. But sometimes, humour nature can be unpredictable!
ADI Grade 6 /Instructor trainer/Dip Di/M.I.A.M/ Lgv C+E/Motorcycle.
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If it's a 'busy A-road', presumably single carriageway, and you say that farm tractors and lorries frequently use it, then I think it very unlikely that the Learner car is the cause of your woes.
I feel SO sorry for you 'crawling along at 40'.
40 mph is actually around 60 feet, or nearly 5 car lengths, per second....
The cause is more likely to be those lorries: on a single carriageway road, they are legally limited to - yes, you guessed it - 40mph!
If this is such a regular problem, the answer is inevitably better journey planning, perhaps a different route or time? Every day I pass a long queue in the opposite direction, and I see the same cars, the same bored faces, drivers without the wit to change their route or time.
I feel SO sorry for you 'crawling along at 40'.
40 mph is actually around 60 feet, or nearly 5 car lengths, per second....
The cause is more likely to be those lorries: on a single carriageway road, they are legally limited to - yes, you guessed it - 40mph!
If this is such a regular problem, the answer is inevitably better journey planning, perhaps a different route or time? Every day I pass a long queue in the opposite direction, and I see the same cars, the same bored faces, drivers without the wit to change their route or time.
-4
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DriverTrainer - 28-Jan-09 17:22
About the learner drivers in the rush hour. Some learners take very quickly to driving and can naturally progress to having the confidence to negotiate busy junctions, roundabouts etc... Others who make up a large percentage, will find any new scenario like this quite daunting and the only way to get over this is to practise and just do it. The driving instructor is not just teaching the pupil to work the controls in the car, they are getting the pupil ready for real life driving on real life roads including the rush hour. The instructor also needs to make a living and wouldn't do very well if he had to ban all his newer learners from peak time traffic!
+7
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