Welcome to Section Two

Many people fail advanced driving tests, or worse, have accidents because they take the 'obvious' aspects of driving for granted.

Because you are an experienced driver, you probably never give a second thought to things like moving off and stopping. But these basics are all important – you'd perhaps be amazed at how many crashes happen during these simple manoeuvres.

It's easy to ignore the basics, but if the foundation is shaky, the building will fall down!

To become an expert driver and driving teacher you need to know the nitty-gritty details inside out, back to front and upside down! (As well as the right way around) By the end of this section, you will become a 'thinking driver'.

Some of the content in this section may seem very basic, for example, completing a 'Cockpit Drill'; however, in order to advance your driving skills, and develop your subject knowledge for teaching, it's important to consider all aspects of your driving in some detail. As you do your Cockpit Drill and drive your car, you need to start thinking about why each action is important and why it's good to get into the habit of doing things in a specific way.

Car care

This week starts with your regular vehicle checks plus changing a wheel. If you have never changed a wheel on your current car, this project is essential. Consider how you would teach various aspects of basic car care – essential for the 'Show me - Tell me' aspect of the L test.

Many instructors miss valuable profit opportunities by not doing at least one dedicated 'car care' lesson with their customers - when I ask about this I'm often told the 'pupils don't want it'. The crazy thing is that when I talk to learner drivers they think it's a great idea! Learning about car-car and following it up with a little market research will give you one of the marketing edges that will help you succeed in your new career.

Eyesight

The eyesight project will ensure that your eyesight meets the legal minimum requirement .

In addition, for student instructors this project will teach you how to complete the simple eyesight check necessary for new drivers at the start of their training.

Start at the start!

'Blind spot basics' and 'Moving off and Stopping' will heighten your awareness of how much detail is involved in even the most basic driving activities. Although these exercises are fairly basic, it's important to remember that the foundations must be firmly in place in order to achieve excellence behind the wheel.

The ability to move off and stop smoothly is essential for all drivers (novice or advanced). You are learning to drive at an advanced standard. This means that you must be able to move off and stop at an advanced standard - the only way to achieve this is to pay attention to detail!

Throughout this section you will be encouraged to think in terms of: "What?", "When?", "Where?", "How?" and "Why?".

Considering each aspect of your driving in this way will help accelerate your progress towards an advanced driving test or driving instructor's test pass.

Commentary driving

The introduction to Commentary Driving will help with your hazard recognition, perception and prioritising. Learning to give a commentary will also start to develop your 'talk-through' skills – essential later on in your training.