Okay, you have successfully obtained your provisional driver’s license from the DVLA and are ready to find a driving school and learn to drive. Whats Next? Do you take regular lessons with a successful driving school or attend an intensive driving course provided by an Approved Driving Instructor (ADI) by the Driving Standards Agency (DSA)? Before I get started, can I just say that as an ADI, I’m not really interested in the term “crash driving course”? I much prefer the term “crash driving course”. If someone says “crash course” to me, I have visions of them wanting to drive my car around Northwich on 2 wheels at breakneck speeds! Not the measure of a successful driving school at all!
In this article we are going to deal with intensive driver training in its various forms. If you do a successful Google search for “crash driving school courses”, “fast pass driving courses” or “crash driving lessons”, you will be presented with a plethora of options ranging from crash courses in your local area to residential courses, from courses where you can go from having no experience to passing an exam, or having had a lot of prior experience.
First, let’s break it down into residential and non-residential crash courses.
Residential fast pass courses are provided by driving schools, usually in an area with many hotels, a good example of this is Blackpool. Blackpool has become something of a mecca for intensive driving courses and has a number of schools offering driving lessons and accommodation at very reasonable prices. Many people in London and the South East choose this option as it is a very cost effective way of obtaining a driving license (driving lessons in London are much more expensive than those in the North). Another advantage is that traffic volumes, particularly in the off-season, are considerably lower in the Northwest.
You do not need to have had any prior driving training to take an intensive driving course, in fact you do not need to have passed your theory test to start learning to drive, however a little experience and knowledge goes a long way. It is really a big request to pass the driving test in a 5-day intensive driving course because you have no driving experience.
Courses can operate in different ways but usually the first day of the one week intensive driving course is spent studying theory and the second day of the course the theory test is taken, if successful the driving school can book an exam driving practice with the DSA. .
This is sometimes a problem with this type of driving course, the driving test is booked where a driving test is available. This means that although you will be taking your driving lessons in one area, say Blackpool, you can take your test in a completely different area, say Northwich. The downside here is that you won’t be able to gain any local knowledge of an area and identify ‘hot spots’ where it’s easy to miss out on the driving test.
The next option is to attend a successful local driving school and take the intensive driving lessons and test in your own area (as long as the DSA hasn’t shut down their driving test center yet!). The way I run crash courses (and have had a lot of success this way) is to meet the learner driver after they have passed their knowledge test, then we go online to the Driving Standards Agency website and book a driving test for the near future. . The intensive driving course is booked backwards from the date of the test, for example:
1. The driving test is reserved for Friday, March 13 at 2:30 p.m.
2. The last driving lesson is reserved to begin the morning of Friday the 13th and end with the test.
3. The fourth day of the intensive driving lesson is reserved for Thursday 12
4. The third day of the intensive driving lesson is reserved for Wednesday 11
5 etc etc
I encourage the student to practice as much as possible until the beginning of the first driving lesson, this practice may only consist of driving around a parking lot or a small area of private land. This is to try to develop control skills as much as possible before the first driving lesson. However, it is easy to teach someone with control skills but little road experience, for some control skills can be a major roadblock and delay all learning. to drive the process.
The right intensive driving course for the right person can lead to excellent driving test success. I have had results of over 90% of intensive driving courses passing within their first two driving tests and over 70% passing the first time, this far exceeds the national average.
As with all intensive driving courses there can be no guarantee that you will pass and the intensive nature of intensive driving courses are not for everyone, remember you are training your mind and body by driving, combining many skills into one and to some people. this may take longer than others. If you lack coordination or find it difficult to assess hazards or speed and distance, then it may be in your best interest to take regular lessons and accept that it may take longer to be successful on your driving test. For most, however, success on your driving test can be helped by choosing a good driving school. In my experience, I have found that the right candidate with a bit of prior training can definitely meet the driving test standard and succeed on their driving test with a one week intensive driving course.
(If you have found this article useful, please visit the author’s website: http://www.successfuldrivingschool.co.uk)
(c) Andrew Davis 2010