Journey of a Nottingham Driving Instructor

  Coaching People to Drive Here I continue my development from an instructor who instructs with some coaching skills to a coach who also uses instruction. It's taking time and practice to incorporate it in my lessons but things are going well. I am trying to make this all natural before I have another Standards Check so I just breeze through it on the day. Coaching has been used in other industries and particularly in sports for quite some time now and has crossed over into the driving instruction industry. The European HERMES (High Impact Approach for Enhancing Road Safety Through More Effective Communication Skills) Project established how coaching can be used when teaching people to drive. The findings of this project were then incorporated in to the driver training industry. The GDE (Goals for Driver Education) matrix was used to look at driver education and see what the shortcomings were. Teaching someone how to control a car and recognise road signs didn't do enough to

  More Root Causes of Why People Crash Here I am studying more reasons on why crashes occur out there on the road. The more I understand, the better an instructor I'll be. I have developed a taste for client centred methods of driving instruction. It's leading to ever more rewarding lessons for me and my pupils. I never considered the brain itself as a cause of crashes. Of course all driving is really done in the mind. Constantly assessing a moving traffic situation and updating calculations without really thinking about it is some feat. The brain undergoes significant changes between the ages of 17 and 24. It's the age where we are seeking attention from others and are more willing to take risks. I see it in my pupils sometimes, they just don't seem to be aware of risk let alone be able to manage it. Peer pressure is at it's highest during this period. Pupils who drive well on lessons can be very different in a car with mates as passengers encouraging them to drive

  Root causes of why drivers crash It's time for me to study the root causes of why people crash as understanding them is key to being a good client centred driving instructor. It's this understanding that will allow me to develop my coaching skills. Let's have a look. Attitudes play an important part in deciding how well you drive. I find a lot of my pupils have attitudes based on often poor examples set by parents. Some pupils feel that other drivers get annoyed at them because they see their parents driving angrily and berating other drivers so they think this is the norm. Some pupils drive too fast from the very first lesson and look for excitement in driving. All these attitudes can cloud a driver's judgement and lead to poor decision making. One factor that affects attitudes is called optimism bias. Most people tend to be optimistic rather than realistic about certain things and this can apply to driving. You may think you have super quick reactions so you follow

  There are many reasons why drivers crash. Anything can happen if you are not paying attention to the road or you are feeling unwell so your reactions are impaired. As I continue on to become a better client centred driving instructor I find myself discussing these issues more and more often with my pupils so let's have a look at the top ten reasons why drivers crash. At number one we have driver failed to look properly. This can happen if you are distracted or simply driving along daydreaming. It's important you are alert and scanning the road ahead for potential hazards as well as checking the mirrors regularly. If you feel like you are drifting off into dreamworld then simply say out loud what you see. It could be cars, signs or anything at all as long as it keeps you in the here and now. The second reason is Driver failed to judge other person's path or speed. This one ties in with not looking properly. It can happen easily with cyclists and motorcyclists as they are

  Pitfalls of the GROW Model. It's a simple mantra. Goals, Reality. Options, Way Forward.  As I work to become more comfortable with Clent Centred Learning as opposed to the old ways of simply teaching people to drive I find this is the first challenge of any driving lesson. Setting the goals using the GROW model.  Client Centred Learning (CCL) relies on the fact that the pupil is highly intelligent and self-aware, has a great deal of enthusiasm for their driving lessons and takes time to consider their learning in between their weekly sessions. Unfortunately, I find this to rarely be the case. I find that goal setting is very instructor-led in my lessons. The CCL textbooks are full of highly fictitious conversations between instructor and pupil where the pupil has a lot of input and can recall exactly what the areas in need of improvement. what to aim for and how to get there. I find only a small percentage of pupils are able to engage with the instructor at this level. How can I