Private practice with an appropriate full licence holder is now considered an essential part of the Learning to Driver Process, although there are still many who have to solely rely on their driving lessons alone.
Anyone to supervise a learner driver must be 21 years or older, have held a full driving licence for at least three years, and not be banned. Estimates are that friends and family gave around 5 million hours of their time to facilitate private practice for learners in 2024. According to a poll by the AA Driving School, 1-in-20 drivers (6%) said they'd supervised a learner, on average giving 25 hours each. Half of these (52%) were parents with their own child; a tenth (11%) were supervising a partner; a fifth (20%) were people supervising another relative; 1-in-10 (12%) were supervising a friend; and 4% were helping a friend’s child. For most it was a positive experience with nearly a quarter (23%) saying they would consider becoming an instructor. Overall, half (53%) said they enjoyed the experience and two-fifths (44%) said they thought being an instructor would be rewarding. Only a fifth (21%) said they would not do it again. The average number of hours of private practice given per driver varied greatly by region. In Wales it was 35 hours; in Northern Ireland a whopping 47 hours. This fell to just 19 hours in London and 20 hours in the North West. However, higher numbers may not mean positivity, as drivers in Wales and Northern Ireland giving private practice were the most likely to say "No more"! (31% Wales; 33% Northern Ireland). With thanks to the Graham Feest Consultancy.
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Since I initially wrote about this, it's perhaps not surprising that there are more secondhand automatics about. (There are certainly far more new cars with auto gearboxes, or electric motors).
For cars up to 5 years old and costing less than £10k, there are 668 autos listed on Autotrader compared to 3772 manuals (so, 2-in-13). Up to 10 years old gives 1-in-6. If you're prepared to drive a car up to 15 years of age, it's 1-in-3 that are auto. Even cheaper secondhand models (up to £5000) show 233 autos and 4703 manual (so, admittedly, only 1-in-21 or 5% ... but you're only looking for one car, aren't you?) I’ve written a separate page about My mistakes, as that handful of misjudgments serves well as teaching material. But now I find I’m collecting a handful of PCNs and bus gate infringements, and passing more traffic signals at amber. What’s changed?
I think 3 main factors: I’m on the road 2-3x what I was, I’m sometimes teaching in unfamiliar towns, and there’s fewer car parks to practice in (plus more enforcement on private land). You could add that I’m older (so eyes/brain poorer) and the visual environment is busier (more movement, illumination, distracting advert screens), all making signs and discreet carpark cameras harder to spot. But why was I becoming an “amber gambler”? I’m certainly aware of the colours changing and what they mean. Dashing to next lesson? Absence of public toilets? Less able to stomach hunger? Creeping intolerance of authority over individual human choice? An attitude test I took in 2016 showed I had only an average disposition behind the wheel. I was a little disappointed. (For years my wife hasn’t felt safe when I drive but I put that down to not voicing my active observations and continuous decision-making which are nowadays second nature: my eyes and mouth hence roam freely, and she doesn’t spot my left-hand dexterity or my right foot pivoting frequently between power and brake). Bad habits, of resting my left hand on thigh and connecting my phone after moving off (to get the voice-activated benefits of CarPlay) are thus not helping my passenger feel most safe. So, as we start another academic term: “In summary: Tim could try harder”. :) |
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