[crisis]

Just because it’s a hobby horse of mine-

I attended an advanced driver training course where you took your own car and were taught how to avoid hitting things. It was extremely valuable to me who has been driving nearly 30 years (no way!!!!) . How valuable would it be to a new driver?
I can tell you how valuable it was to a couple of old drivers. One practical exercise was to have you drive at 60kmh at a series of witches hats and execute an emergency stop at a line where the instructor would blow a whistle. Point A. You then had to steer the car such as to avoid B and come to rest before hitting the witches hats at C.



Now the distance between A B and C were intimidatingly short, such that I thought no way, especially as the track had been wetted down. The trick is (as explained to all of us prior) to look at where you want to go as opposed to what you don’t want to hit. The instructor (who also investigates actual accidents) explained that the normal human reaction is to focus on the threat and as a result many people hit it. Putting the theory of lifting your eyes and looking for a way out meant that a few of us completed the exercise without hitting anything and ending up where we wanted. Now I was in a 2003 VY Commodore (a large family sedan for those who don’t know it) which had factory sports suspension and wide tyres (although half worn). I was asked to do it at 80kmh ( (-: ) and still managed to pull it off. Probably the hardest part was holding your nerve until the instructor (standing at point A) blew the whistle.
Did I say probably? There were two women aged around 50 who were driving brand new cars similar to mine. Each time they did their run (and I doubt they reached 60ks) they ground to a halt right next to the instructor (A) before he blew the whistle. The whole thing was just too intimidating for them even though all they would have hit was a couple of plastic cones.
I think there were 10 of us so 20% of the people there displayed 0 confidence in themselves, their car or the training. A couple of others couldn’t manage to complete the exercise effectively either.

A few points-
These people were a reasonable representation of drivers, me a sales person who drives around for my job, government workers (the ladies) who also drive around, a couple of young drivers (male and female) and others. Also there was a 100 series Landcruiser, cars like mine and a couple of old bangers with no ABS (the real clincher in this exercise) and others.
The young drivers listened and at least attempted to do what they were told and they had the worst cars out of all of them. The men also tried and succeed to varying degrees (the Cruiser owned plenty of withes hats but) and the middle aged women, well, I think they represent the “numpties (who) have little or no other option regarding transport” that Clivey refers to and drive because we are all allowed to and most of us have to get around . They were told and would not/ could not/ learn or execute a simple instruction in a safe environment. What happens when they are presented with a real emergency and will it really matter if they are doing 90 kmh or 140kmh on a country road or 50 or 60 on a suburban road? These people were presented with a certificate that stated they had completed the course though which kind of misrepresents their actual ability.

This course should be a part of the process of obtaining ones licence and if you cannot pass it you should not be given one.