Emerging right - Emerging right issues

Mistakes

The following headings relate to basic errors and their correction and assume that the errors are caused directly by the actions of the pupil. However, you must always be certain that you are not contributing to the error; follow the guidelines on the teaching page.

Failure to make proper observation before emerging

Firstly, the only way if you will know whether or not your driver is making proper observation is by watching closely - make sure you follow our 'watching the learner' guidelines.

When turning right your learner will need to pay particular attention to traffic from the left otherwise they can end up stuck in the centre of the road or holding up traffic behind on the main road after they have emerged. If either of these things present an issue try one or all of the following:

Swap places. Demonstrate right emerging with the learner making the decision about when to go - effectively they are teaching you how to observe. Continue until the learner feels comfortable with the decision making.

Practise on a quieter road. This is especially important if the learner has had an 'uncomfortable' experience in previous attempts.

Offer assistance. Ideally this will be simple encouragement or prompts/closed questions. Be careful that you do not take full responsibility as this will not help in the long run, if you feel the need for lots of input compensate by choosing a quieter road and then build the learner's judgement and confidence by moving to incrementally busier roads.

Incorrect positioning when emerging right from a narrow road

Learners will often take information literally. This means that if you explain that the car should be positioned near the centre of the road when turning right the learner might take up a 'centre position' in either a narrow road or places where parked vehicles on the right reduce the available road width. This action is likely to block access for traffic that is trying to turn into the road that you are emerging from.

If this happens, pull up for a moment and explain (using your SmartDriving Visual Teaching System) the relationship between available road width and road positioning when turning right.

Incorrect positioning when emerging right from a one-way street

It's not unusual for learners (or even Part-Two ADI Students) to fail driving tests because they take up a normal 'centre line' right turn position at the end of a one-way road rather than positioning in the right-hand lane.

If there are no one-way street emerging situation in your immediate vicinity explore nearby towns/cities and consider including this situation in extended lessons or team lessons. (Team lessons are 'specials' where you would have two, or ideally three, customers in the car for a two or three hour session focussing in depth on specific aspects of driving).

Failing to look in the mirrors and/or make progress after emerging

If your learner has emerged safely this should be an easy one to fix by simply explaining the dangers of not making progress and reinforcing the need for waiting until there is an appropriate gap in traffic approaching from the left before starting to emerge.

Next: Questions & Reflection...