Kingsdriving School of Motoring

Test Nerves

admin — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 21:34:59 +0000

One significant obstacle to passing your driving test can be the state of your nerves on the day of the test. There are herbal remedies (no not that kind!) that can help keep those nerves at bay. You will find those at a health food store, or in bad cases it is possible to get something from your doctor. Obviously, if you are looking for something you need to be sure that you are safe to drive when taking such medicines.

Another approach is to “manually” keep your nerves calm. I recently attended a driving instructors conference where suggestions were made as to how to do this. The method is call Neuro Linguistic programming (or NLP for short). There were three ways suggested of applying this technique.

Firstly breathing. If you breath in a slow regular pattern, where you breath out for twice the time you breath in for, this will help start to slow you down in a positive way (as long as you don’t over do it and fall asleep!). You will then feel much more in control and be a lot less likely to make mistakes and miss important observations.

Secondly, Use Peripheral Vision.
Peripheral vision is where you are aware of what is happening out to the sides of your “line of site” vision. In a frightened state you will be looking at the danger and all your concentration will be taken by that potential danger and you won’t be so aware of what else is happening around you, which is not a state you want to be in as a driver. But if, while looking ahead you can take in what is happening to your left and right side with out taking your eyes off the road ahead, then you will naturally have to be in a more relaxed state. So as well as being good for safe driving – being aware of what is happening all around – you will also feel more relaxed and able to cope with the test.

The third way to relax, humming is not so easy to accomplish sitting in a car, and may feel rather uncomfortable to do if anyone else is around in hearing range! But by making a loud humming noise, a bit like a mantra, you will be using a natural relaxation technique that can be very effective.

If you can use all three of these methods, then that will yield the best result, but if the last one is too uncomfortable then just go with the other two. If you can practise these techniques in the weeks leading up to your test, then they will be that much more effective on the day.

Good Luck on the day of your test!

If you are looking for high quality driving lessons in St Albans or Harpenden area’s, then please visit my driving school website at www.kingsdriving.co.uk

Mini Roundabout – Traffic Light Confusion

admin — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 06:38:43 +0000

One of the things that surprises me most when teaching people to drive is how many of them seem to get confused when handling junctions at mini roundabouts and traffic lights! The confusion is associated with priorities. Now, while your sitting there looking at your computer screen the chances are you’ll have no problem recognising who has priorities at these junctions, but it is good to be sure that it is well ingrained in your mind as you might not have so much “thinking time” when your behind the steering wheel.
So when it comes to mini roundabouts (or any roundabout for that matter) you are giving way to people on the roundabout approaching from the right (yes, I know obvious) and when you are on the roundabout you will expect people approaching the roundabout to give way to you (but watch it!). When your turning right at traffic lights you are crossing the path of oncoming traffic and those turning into the same road as you. In this instance you need to stop in the middle of the junction to let them pass. And that is where the confusion comes in. Some people don’t seem to recognise the difference in priority and pull across in front of oncoming cars when turning right at traffic lights. This seems to happen more when there are white markings in the middle of the junction as well, so I think that pupils get confused and are applying the priorities of roundabouts to traffic lights – not good!
If you are unsure yourself about this, ask your instructor to go through this in detail, it is very important!
If you are looking for high quality driving lessons in St Albans or Harpenden area’s, then please visit my driving school website at www.kingsdriving.co.uk

Test Nerves

admin — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 17:23:16 +0000

It is very common for test candidates to become very nervous as test day approach’s. For some it concentrates the mind and they work harder at getting things right, but more often I notice a deterioration in the level of driving skill that seems to be displayed.

If you have had a goodly number of lessons, then the effect is usually not so marked as it is for those who have progressed very well through their lessons and are at a good test standard, but have got there quickly. It seems that those who have had to take more lessons tend, once they have reached test standard, to be able to do what is necessary more “automatically” because they have done it so many times!

This being the case, I would advise anyone approaching their driving test, to have as much experience on the road as possible. If you can get a family member to take you out on the road for extra practice, then this is to be encouraged. Having said that, you should be careful that the person taking you out will be of help to you and not put you off your drive. Your concentration does need to stay on the road!

If you are looking for high quality driving lessons in St Albans or Harpenden area’s, then please visit my driving school website at www.kingsdriving.co.uk

Consideration at test…

admin — Sun, 02 May 2010 11:28:21 +0000

When you arrive for your driving test, the test centre does not like you getting there earlier than 10 minutes before your test time. The reasoning for this is obvious if you think about it. If you arrive any earlier than that time you are in danger of making it difficult for candidates who are getting back from the previous test to get in to the car park easily, and in some cases blocking up the very few car park spaces that are available in the test centre car park.
Your instructor will know this and should take this into consideration, but if you are taking your own vehicle to test without a Driving Instructor, then you need to be aware of this fact.
If you are looking for high quality driving lessons in St Albans or Harpenden area’s, then please visit my driving school website at www.kingsdriving.co.uk

The new driving test

admin — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 22:05:51 +0000

In October the DSA are making changes to the driving test. You will be asked to do just one maneuver (as opposed to the two that are done presently). This will give the examiner more time to take you on faster roads, and if available, dual carriageways and slip roads. They will also increase the number of right turns, especially across busy traffic as these take more judgment to do safely.

You will also be asked to follow a route over a few junctions without any input from the examiner. For this he may produce a small map to explain the route he wishes you to take.

If you are looking for high quality driving lessons in St Albans or Harpenden area’s, then please visit my driving school website at www.kingsdriving.co.uk

Driving in Britain as a visitor or foreign resident

admin — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 21:27:00 +0000

All foreigners with driving licences issued outside of the UK are allowed to drive in the UK for 12 months without obtaining a British driving licence.

If you have a driving licence issued within the European Economic Area (all EU countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway), you can drive within the UK for as long as your licence remains valid.

If you have a driving licence issued in one of the so-called ‘designated’ countries (listed below), you need to exchange your licence for a British license to be able to drive in the UK for more than 12 months.

The designated countries are:
Australia,
Barbados,
British Virgin Islands,
Canada,
Falkland Islands,
Gibraltar,
Hong Kong,
Japan,
Monaco,
New Zealand,
Singapore,
South Africa,
South Korea,
Switzerland
and Zimbabwe.

If you hold a driving licence issued by any country not listed above, then you will need to pass a British driving test in order to continue driving in the UK beyond the initial 12-month period.

Converting your licence

Foreigners who are permanently resident in the UK and are not required to pass a British driving test (as explained above) may exchange their licence for a British licence. To do so you need to collect an application form (known as a D1 form) from any British post office and send it to the Driving and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA):

DVLA,

Swansea

SA99 1BT

________________________________________

If you are looking for high quality driving lessons in St Albans or Harpenden area’s, then please visit my driving school website at www.kingsdriving.co.uk

Dealing with old cars

admin — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 19:52:48 +0000

Now that the summer weather is returning (Ha Ha!) and the days are getting warmer, there will be an increased “risk” of meeting old and vintage cars on the road. These older cars are a lot less efficient than the modern vehicle at building up speed, and some can not reach the kinds of speeds that we’re used to driving these days.

You will be able to recognise these older vehicles because their number plates will usually be black with either white or silver numbers and letters.

So when you see these types of cars give them the time to move off, and be aware that they will not be able to take the same gaps in traffic when pulling out of a junction that you would expect from a car normally.

The other important consideration is the fact that many vintage cars are not fitted with the normal flashing indicators that were all used to. So keep an eye open for hand signals (check the highway code to be sure you know what those hands signals are). Some old cars are fitted with and indicating arm, which is a small orange “pointer” that pops out from the side of the vehicle to indicate direction. If you are not looking out for these indications, then they are easily missed and could be a problem if you decide to over take that slow moving car just when he has started to make his right turn!

If you are looking for high quality driving lessons in St Albans or Harpenden area’s, then please visit my driving school website at www.kingsdriving.co.uk

My previous instructor makes me cry!

admin — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 09:15:58 +0000

That is a fairly familiar statement that I come across as a driving instructor. It is something that I find un-exceptable, and I really can’t understand why some pupils would stick with an instructor like that. I can understand that it is not easy to change instructors – rather the devil you know, but if your instructor is upsetting you to that degree you can not possibly be learning to your fullest extent, and hence are wasting time and money.

Your instructor must be patient in the extreme and not scare or threaten you in any way. IT IS NOT YOU FAULT if you find the whole business of learning to drive a difficult process. A good instructor will help and nurture you through the process however long it takes!

Don’t be afraid to change your instructor if you are at all un happy with the way you are treated, or at the very least explain how you are feeling about it all. If your instructor is worth his salt he will adapt his teaching to suit you, so if nothing changes then I would recommend changing instructors.

If you are looking for high quality driving lessons in St Albans or Harpenden area’s, then please visit my driving school website at www.kingsdriving.co.uk

Changes to the driving test in October

admin — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 23:00:36 +0000

The driving test is set to change this coming October (2010). At the present time a candidate on test is asked to do one of three manoeuvres, being either a turn in the road, a corner reverse or a reverse parking manoeuvre (being either a parallel park or a bay park). The good news it that it is proposed that you will only be asked to do one manoeuvre, but the bad news is that you will be asked to do some independent driving.

Independent driving will mean that you are stopped on the side of the road and shown a small map. You will be given three directions to follow (eg down to the end of the road, turn left, at the second roundabout turn right, turn in second on the right). You will then be asked to drive on, and you will be expected to follow those instructions with out any input from the examiner.

The reason for doing this is to make sure that you are checking your mirrors and indicating at the appropriate times and places and are able to proceed without being given directional instruction from anyone. Your mark sheet will be marked in exactly the same way as it is done presently, so there will be no additional boxes for the examiner to fill in in response to this new method of conducting the test.

As in instructor I will be bringing this independent fashion of driving into my driving lessons to be sure that my pupils are ready for this new element when it comes in in October. If you are looking for high quality driving lessons in St Albans or Harpenden area’s, then please visit my driving school website at www.kingsdriving.co.uk

Show Me, Tell

admin — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 23:18:43 +0000

At the beginning of your driving test, after the examiner has checked you can see the prescribed distance and before you drive the car out of the carpark, the examiner will ask you two questions about the car. These are very simple basic questions which you should know the answers to anyway. Some of the questions are extremely basic as in “Show me how you would check the horn works” (by pressing it!) to some questions that are easy, but you’ll have to have been told the answers first to know what they are asking for. As in “Tell me how you know that the power steering is working properly”.
Don’t worry about these questions too much as even if you get them both wrong you’ll only get a minor fault against you and you can not fail the test as a result of that.

If you would like to see a full list of the questions that you maybe asked, then visit my website at www.kingsdriving.co.uk and visit the Practical section of the site where you will find the link to the Show Me Tell Me page.

If you are looking for high quality driving lessons in St Albans or Harpenden area’s, then please visit my driving school website at www.kingsdriving.co.uk