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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?

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?  Its 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?

driving lessons, driving instructor 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.

get all learner drivers off the road?

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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Happy

Happy

The vast majority of drivers on the road today are idiots. Rushing to get to do a job they most probably hate, rush to get the kids (that could have been avoid with sensible contraception) to school so they too can grow up to be the next bunch of morons.
Me, I work from home at my pace. I waste no money on fuel, I do not pollute the planet.
If I drive at all (in an electric vehicle) I get there when I get there. What is the rush?
All of you in the rat race, remember that is what you are doing, racing, towards your own grave like a bunch of lemmings. And, as you draw your terminal breath will your last thoughts be on what you achieved or, with the large majority, be "I wish I had done .....".
so what if your held up, so what if your late. You are not important. Get a bucket of water, put your hands in and swirl them about. Then go away and come back in ten minutes. The hole left in the water is a measure of how much the world will miss you when your dead.
Go and get a real life,
06/11/21 Happy
0
ADI for 9 years

ADI for 9 years

I'm a driving instructor and I do agree.
New pupils should learn from
10am to 12am Mon-Fri
After 7pm summer time
Saturday before 11am and after 4pm
All day Sunday
And please avoid parallel parking by schools at 3pm
26/07/20 ADI for 9 years
2
Thehomoweezy

Thehomoweezy

Seriously they are learning to drive, they will have to drive during busy times sometime in there life. Your day was delay by 10 minutes tops. You still got to your destination. There is no need to get all worked up, because you were in the exact same place when you were learning to drive. It is actually better for the teacher to take them out during busy time, so maybe in 30 years when this happens to them they won't complain to a bunch of strangers and actually think about how it is helpful to someone else, for once.
19/09/13 Thehomoweezy
1
Learner from hull

Learner from hull

I am a learner driver at the moment taking lessons and you sound like a bunch of old whining farts to be honest ok so us learners will pass our test never going near roundabouts at rush hour or other major roads at busy times then we get our licence and wahay where off inexperienced at busy roads at busy times causing accidents killing people because we never experienced it before but its ok atleast you'll do your journey faster what a bunch of plonkers you are also id like to see about 75% of all current road drivers resit there lessons and test you wouldn't be crying like a baby then, well yeah actually you would you would probably fail. As a leaner the amount of idiot people driving with a full licence iv seen is unbelievable, bring a 10yr driving licence duration limit before retest for all i say lets see how smug and arrogant drivers are then.
31/01/13 Learner from hull
14
mikw

mikw

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.
04/01/12 mikw
21
Alf Red

Alf Red

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.
18/06/11 Alf Red
14
Freddy

Freddy

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.
18/11/10 Freddy
-5
qed

qed

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".
18/11/10 qed
4
mardi gras the candyman can

mardi gras the candyman can

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.
06/10/10 mardi gras the candyman can
7
ADI 6

ADI 6

'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!
17/09/10 ADI 6
1
Harsh But Fair

Harsh But Fair

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.
29/08/10 Harsh But Fair
-1
driver

driver

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
13/07/10 driver
19
Chris.

Chris.

By rules of the road and sticking to lane 2, I mean not undertaking.
31/05/10 Chris.
-19
Chris.

Chris.

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.
31/05/10 Chris.
-27
joe bloggs school of motoring

joe bloggs school of motoring

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!)
18/05/10 joe bloggs school of motoring
-23

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