Everyone’s got a story. From slipping and sliding around an abandoned field to stalling innumerable times in a whisper-quiet side street, it seems nobody’s first time driving a car goes all that well.
Yet, on most occasions, it’s a tale told through a smile. What should be a deeply overwhelming experience ends up being joyful, and I reckon it’s all thanks to that most unsung of automotive heroes, the driving instructor.
They teach us about everything from biting points to brake distances with a seemingly universal dry wit, maintained despite a background of long hours, months-long waits for test slots and what must be among the most treacherous working conditions in civilian life.
These brave souls wake up every morning and willingly strap themselves into the passenger seat of a tonne or more of fast-moving metal, with a total novice at the controls.
Surely, I wonder, they must stir their coffee mulling what close shaves they’ll have today. Will it be errant acceleration into a pack of parked cars, an attempt to circumnavigate a roundabout anti-clockwise, or the failure to register a group of schoolchildren entering a zebra crossing?
They carry a great deal of responsibility, not just in protecting the learner in their guardianship but also the wider community exposed to the rookie at the wheel.
Given the sheer complexity of the modern car, that’s no mean feat. I learned in a Ford Focus with a standard throttle, brake and clutch, but also a button-operated handbrake, drive mode selector, reversing camera, speed limit detection and an overly paranoid emergency braking system.
That was daunting, but throw in the bings and bongs mandated by new legislation, or the awkward powertrain blending that can be introduced by electrification, and I can see it being downright overwhelming for a newbie.
Yet the sage in the passenger seat just powers them through it. Whether it’s a nurturing, guiding hand as they gradually paddle their way through side streets, or the hairdryer treatment after grating the nearside wheels on a high kerb, the driving instructor just has a way of making it work on most occasions.
Indeed, the UK’s driving test pass rate tends to hover at just shy of 50%, indicating instructors are largely keeping the overall system in balance.
I also have some appreciation for the emerging community of video instructors. With just a quick search online, you can find a professional describing your local test route just about wherever you live, in pretty much every kind of car you would learn in.
They’re fantastic for highlighting pain points and those silly (or worryingly dangerous) mistakes that learners tend to make on failed test attempts.
But it’s also rather good entertainment. I’m a particularly big fan of Conquer Driving, an instructor on YouTube who explains concepts in a way the budding enthusiast really understands. It’s his videos that taught me how to get a manual car moving quickly under pressure, and then how to rev match.
Even if you’ve been driving for yonks, I bet you’ll learn something from one of these instructors that you hadn’t previously considered.
I might even go so far as to suggest they’re the true petrolheads among us, laying their wellbeing (or at the very least their wealth) on the line so that we can all take to the roads ourselves.
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and tracked vehicles, then civilian PSV and for for the last 20 odd years a driving instructor for car learner drivers.
His biggest problem is what car to use. He has always used diesel Fiestas and usually trades time in at 100, 000 miles around 3 years old.
His current Fiesta has nearly 200, 000 miles on the clock and he deceive to have a new engine and gearbox fitted at 150,000 miles as the Fiesta is no longer made.
His pupils want to learn in a ‘conventional, car with ‘conventional’ manual controls and no stupid beeps and bongs. It’s bad enough they now have to learn to use sat nav.
He retires in a year and cannot envisage teaching learners in a new modern car.
Needs a new job then, the generation coming are going to be driving EV vehicles with all the bongs and beeps they've grown up with, what's the hassle for instructors is the long lead dates on tests and the apps selling tests for three four hundred quid! and quite frankly the stupidity of. Some of there students whom assume instr can work miracles.
He is retiring soon.
plenty of instructors do teach on modern cars, ev's etc.
My brother is actively sought out and has a huge waiting list of learners who want to learn to drive a conventional manual car. Probably because that is what they will own once they have passed their test. I think petrol head learners want the full set of manual skills too.
If I remember correctly if you take your test in a manual you can drive an automatic also,but, if you learn auto only it's a separate test,am I right?
You are correct.