DRIVING SCHOOL

Defensive Driving

Posted on 20/04/2013 by admin

What is defensive driving? Many people think it is something you learn after getting your licence. Sometimes it gets confused with advanced driving. So what is the difference? And when does my teenager need to learn defensive driving?

Advanced driving is about car control, especially learnt using a skid-pan. One of the problems with the advanced approach for young people, is they are more likely want to try out there skid control techniques, which can be of more danger than if they had learnt how not to get into skid and hazard situations in the first place.

Now defensive driving is all about learning to drive in such a way that lessens the chances of getting into skid and hazard situations. It is not rocket science and is best learnt from the start of learning to drive. It can basically be summed up in the following tips:
Mind on the job, Hands on the Wheel, Eyes on the Road, Feet under Control and Taking Responsibility. If your teens’ driver trainer can get these basic concepts into your teen, they have gone a long way to laying down some good habits to keep them safe for the rest of their driving life.

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Why do we have P-plates?

Posted on 18/03/2013 by admin

P-plates serve two purposes: one is to give to other drivers a hands up that the driver in the other car is still gaining experience and the second reason is for law enforcement to know who is who on the road, but of course this isn’t a problem if you are doing the right thing.

Provisional drivers in each Australian State have different responsibilities, so you will need to check with your State Licensing Authority what they are.

The main thing to remember is that it is a time to get that extra experience to make you a better driver for life. It is often not realised that it takes up to seven years to get up to optimum reflexes when having deal with hazards. So, the time it takes to see a danger and react becomes quicker in those first few years. Later on in life those reactions times slow, which means good driving habits are essential to be learnt early in your driving life.

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Distractions

Posted on 25/01/2013 by admin

These come in many forms, some are self-imposed, and some are outside our control. As a learner increases their skills some distractions need to be introduced. Surely, not you might say? Yes, it is no good there being complete silence in the car up to the driving test and then, turning the radio on full blast once your on your own the first time

Mobile phones, are of course an exception to allowable distractions, GPS’s should be set before taking off not while travelling. Ipods in your ear are another no, no.

So, what are allowable distractions? The radio and/or music playing, and of course, talking. Remember though, that too much noise and you might not hear the emergency services sirens.

At all times your responsibility is to be always aware of what is going on around you, for your life, your passengers lives and for all other road users including people.

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THE OLDER DRIVER

Posted on 09/01/2013 by admin

I read with interest recently two articles on the senior driver ‘Age does not translate to risk’ and ‘Driving assessment: be tough on yourself’.
I was surprised at the lack of mention of the deterioration of reflexes. It’s not so much about skill accrued over the years but about the slowing of reflexes and the slowing of awareness  which has the potential to increase the likelihood of an accident. There is often held the belief that there are less accidents involving the older driver but this needs qualification. An article recently in the ‘Herald Sun’ (Melbourne) spoke of the increase in the figures of accidents in 2012 for older drivers. Older drivers most probably on the whole drive less kilometres, but even that would need clarifying. It’s not a matter of discrimination, but of road safety that all drivers could do with periodic testing, especially concerning their reflex ability and hazard perception skills. Young drivers are now expected to do much more training than in the past with 120 logbook hours to be done. Health checks should also be done for all ages, as is done for all public vehicle drivers etc. So it is that we all need to take a more responsible view, not just use the discrimination line.

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What does attitude have to do with driving?

Posted on 22/12/2012 by admin

In fact it is probably one of the most important aspects of driving. All of us are guilty of bad attitudes from time to time, but unfortunately these often cloud our judgement.

The thing is every time we get into a car we not only drive for ourselves but for everyone else o the road. If we get into the car grumpy, hungry, tired or having just had an argument that can affect our driving. And it’s not anyone else’s problem on the road. Often people in the hurry on the road take it out on everyone else on the road and get annoyed if someone gets in their way. Aggressive driving leads to potential accidents.

The one thing that needs to be instilled into a learner is the notion that it is better to be late than dead on time. Our mental attitude on the road is an important key to safety and therefore should not be underestimated. And how we act as supervising drivers has a greater impression on the learner than our words.

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From supervised to self supervising

Posted on 15/12/2012 by admin

This is where professional training can help make this transition easier for the parent. A good driver trainer will give the learner confidence and the essential skills to help them make judgement calls. Decision-making is a big part of driving and the licensed driver makes hundreds of decisions every day. For the parent with no controls on their side of the car they can feel very vulnerable and are tempting to make all judgement calls for their kids.

The trouble with making judgement calls on behalf of the learner driver, especially towards the end of their logbook phase, is the fact that on getting their licence they are totally unprepared. It’s like training wheels on a child’s bike, there is a time when they need to be taken off. The secret is, that early on in their training, you need to start asking questions of the learner, how could you have done that better? Making them think through their actions and how they could do it better in the future will help them problem solve on the road when they are licensed.

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Drink Driving in Victoria

Posted on 26/11/2012 by admin

Drink driving is a major contributor to all road deaths in Victoria. Each year around a quarter of all road deaths are a result of drivers who had a blood alcohol concentration of .05 or higher
This article will detail some of the offences and penalties for driving under the influence of alcohol in Victoria. Please not that these penalties may vary in other states and territories of Australia.
Penalties for driving under the influence of alcohol are dependent on a number of factors including the type of licence the driver holds, the blood alcohol content reading a police offer registers at the time of the incident and the number of prior offences and demerit points the driver has. Below is a brief summary of these offences and the penalties they carry.
Zero BAC Licence (professional drivers, P licence, L Permit)
If you are a professional driver (e.g. taxi or bus driver) or hold a provisional licence such as a P or L permit there is a full restriction on drinking and driving. If you are caught with a BAC of less than .05 the penalty carries a fine of $352 and 10 demerit points. As learner and probationary drivers have only a 5 demerit point threshold within the first 12 months this means an automatic 4 month licence suspension.
Full licence (26 years or older)
Full licence holders do not have the same blood alcohol reading restrictions as provisional licence holders and professional drivers and can carry a BAC of up to .05 with no alcohol related offence. A BAC reading of .05 to < .07 will incur 10 demerit points as well as a $422.52 fine.
All drivers
Regardless of licence type there are a number of offences and penalties that are applied according to the BAC reading. If the BAC of a driver is .07 to <.15 a fine of $422.52 to $598.57 and a cancellation of licence in addition to disqualification for 6-14 months depending on the blood alcohol content.
For serious BAC readings of .15 or for subsequent offences the penalties are more severe. Criminal charges are laid and the offender must attend Magistrates court for the specific penalty.
It is important to be aware of these offences and penalties when planning your journey. If at all possible the best recommendation is to not drink at all before getting behind the wheel of your vehicle. It is just not worth the risk.
Summary
You can’t predict what will happen to your vehicle or your person when driving on the road, so it is critical to always have current insurance. In order to drive in Australia it is compulsory to have car insurance and if you’re looking for a well-established insurer, Allianz were recently named ‘Large General Insurance Company of the Year’ at the 2012 Australian Insurance Industry Awards. Comprehensive car insurance – is the best way to protect yourself and others in the event of serious injury.
Although the penalties for drink driving may appear severe they are in place to protect you from more serious consequences such as injury or death.
http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/Home/SafetyAndRules/RoadRules/Penalties/DrinkDrivingPenalties.htm

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Learning needs to be long, wide and deep

Posted on 10/11/2012 by admin

As we mentioned about in the last tip, the learning process needs to be varied. It is all about long, wide and deep learning.

‘Long’ is all about repetition, practicing over and over again driving skills. It might be gear changing, mirror checks, lane-changing, stopping and starting, turning the car around in a confined area
(3-point turns), 90 parking, reverse parking and the list goes on.

‘Wide’ is all about as many different situational driving experiences as possible. Experiences should be country driving with unmade roads, hill climbs, suburban streets, city driving, freeways and highways including local, state and inter-state journeys. Also driving in rain, fog and at night are of a great advantage.

‘Deep’ is all about the learner, learning to make their own decisions, which means the parent gradually encouraging their kids to think through judgement calls in traffic and evaluating if they could have made a better decision when moving into, out of, or around traffic. Self-supervision and self-evaluating, helps them as they prepare for life after the driving test.

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120 hours is not just about accumulating a total

Posted on 10/10/2012 by admin

With the advent of logbooks around Australia accumulating driving hours have become quite a chore for many parents. Even though the outcome has positive spinoffs for road safety, it still has to be done properly to have the desired result of a better driver. The temptation is to do it the easy way, doing lots of short trips to school and shopping or many long trips, but what is needed is as much variation as possible.

The other dilemma especially when the budget is tight is to skimp on professional driving lessons. Unfortunately most States don’t reward for professional driving lessons with a reduction of log hours required, which is a pity. Driving lessons by an instructor are valuable in passing on good driving tips which often parents are not up with.

Fudging the numbers in the logbook may also be a temptation by some parents and/or learners, but in the end it is short-changing the learning process and is potentially putting the new driver at risk through inadequate training. Remember provisional drivers are at the highest risk in the first six-months by themselves. The better the training the better prepared they are as they enter this high-risk period.

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Why do we have road rules?

Posted on 19/09/2012 by admin

As we start learning to drive we soon find that not only do we have to master the controls of the car, but we also need to learn to obey a new set of rules. Often we hear complaints about this road rule or other not realising we have road rules for very good reason. The basic reason for road rules is so that we have order on the road. Just imagine if everyone did what he or she wanted to do it would be anarchy, which is the same for life in general.

The basic road law we have to learn is the give way to the right law, this law comes into effect when there is no sign at any junction we come to in our vehicles. Other signs like give way and stop plus traffic lights over-ride this basic law. Where we can stop, where we can park, where we overtake, and many other laws, we can find out about by purchasing a Road Law book at a State Road Licensing Office.

Finally, speed limits are set down by the following certain criteria: built up area roads in Australia have a basic 50km limit, school are generally 40km often time specific, 60km roads are usually arterial routes with a line separating opposing traffic, 70km roads usually have a median strip separating traffic, and finally 80km roads usually have median strip separation plus residential housing is on a service road. There are of course other varying speed limits including work areas and main highways have 100km, 110km and in the Northern Territory 130km speed limits.

So, as you can see driving is more than controlling a vehicle, it is also about inter-relating with other vehicles on the road so as to arrive safely at your destination.

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