We all know the age old saying that men are better drivers than woman, but is that actually the case? Men always assume that women are bad drivers, but that being the case why is it that insurance companies like Quinn direct offer low cost insurance geared at ladies. Quinn direct states that "women drivers are statistically safer drivers"
In a recent survey it was found that male drivers are more likely than women to break the law, male drivers appear to be risk takers.
MEN WOMEN
55% 30% Found to drink drive.
47% 38% Found to rudely gesture at other drivers
84% 77% Crash their vehicle
51% 40% Distracted by billboards
46% 36% Verbally abusive while driving
22% 15% Use their mobile phones while driving
Male drivers are more than twice likely to die in a car crash as women. Statistics show that as many as 73% of all people killed in a car crash are male, but yes women have a greater number of minor crashes than men,
So with those statistics why is it that women get such a hard time about their driving skills and abilities? Why are there so many bad driving jokes relating to females? Is it because men think they still own the roads and that they and they alone should be allowed to use them? Could it possibly be that women put themselves in the position of the vulnerable lady driver by not knowing how to change a tyre or check their oil levels. Is it females reluctance to get their hands dirty or their reluctance to be more in command behind the drivers wheel that lends men to think that we are totally incapable of driving?
Wife: "There's trouble with the car. It has water in the carburetor"
Husband: " Water in the carburetor? that's ridiculous"
Wife: "I tell you the car has water in the carburetor"
Husband: "You don't even know where the carburetor is. Where's the car?"
Wife: "In the swimming pool"
Monday, May 31, 2010
Friday, May 28, 2010
An apology.
The day started off much the same as any other. My first lesson was for an hour and a half with a pupil who was very nervous about reversing her car out of the drive way of her mother-in-laws house.
The lessons was a disaster from start to finish, the pupil had never driven a car without dual controls, never mind drive in or reverse out of a tight spot next to a brand new car and on a gravel drive with a very steep decline. To say the pupil struggled would be an understatement.After much backward and forward manoeuvring, We eventually removed the car out on to the road, then the nerves hit and we stalled more than a handful of times on the high street causing a riot with the parents of late school children.
I left the pupil with the promise of "it will get easier" and went to my next lesson. This time the pupil was a complete beginner who thought she could drive. If driving involves keeping you foot on the clutch and driving on the white line in the centre of the road then the pupil was a complete pro, I lost count of the number of times I gently steered us into our own lane and with great patience explained the use of the clutch but I was informed that "the clutch needs my foot" and no amount of persuasion would convince her otherwise.
My third lesson of the morning was yet again a complete beginner this time the customer was using her own automatic car. This pupil had never sat in her own car before so it was "lets take this from the very beginning" with the complete cockpit drill and the routine for moving off and stopping. I lost count of the number of times I heard "this is too difficult" and that was before we ever started the engine.
Four hours had passed, my head was spinning as I sat back into my own car and headed towards the coast planning on treating myself to something in the bakery.
I hadn't gone far down the road when I approached a lady standing beside her car. She was inching out into the middle of the road the closer I got. I was concentrating so much on her that I omitted to see the importance of the piece of what looked to be rubbish on the road. As I passed the lady the wheels of my car came in contact with a lilac Frisbee inches from its owner. I winced as I heard the crunch beneath my car. Looking out my rear view window, I watched the lady pick up the broken Frisbee in her hands and she stared at me in bewilderment. She remained standing in the middle of the road glaring at the learner vehicle until she was nothing but a speck in the horizon.
So to the lady with the lilac Frisbee, I am truly sorry for your loss.
The lessons was a disaster from start to finish, the pupil had never driven a car without dual controls, never mind drive in or reverse out of a tight spot next to a brand new car and on a gravel drive with a very steep decline. To say the pupil struggled would be an understatement.After much backward and forward manoeuvring, We eventually removed the car out on to the road, then the nerves hit and we stalled more than a handful of times on the high street causing a riot with the parents of late school children.
I left the pupil with the promise of "it will get easier" and went to my next lesson. This time the pupil was a complete beginner who thought she could drive. If driving involves keeping you foot on the clutch and driving on the white line in the centre of the road then the pupil was a complete pro, I lost count of the number of times I gently steered us into our own lane and with great patience explained the use of the clutch but I was informed that "the clutch needs my foot" and no amount of persuasion would convince her otherwise.
My third lesson of the morning was yet again a complete beginner this time the customer was using her own automatic car. This pupil had never sat in her own car before so it was "lets take this from the very beginning" with the complete cockpit drill and the routine for moving off and stopping. I lost count of the number of times I heard "this is too difficult" and that was before we ever started the engine.
Four hours had passed, my head was spinning as I sat back into my own car and headed towards the coast planning on treating myself to something in the bakery.
I hadn't gone far down the road when I approached a lady standing beside her car. She was inching out into the middle of the road the closer I got. I was concentrating so much on her that I omitted to see the importance of the piece of what looked to be rubbish on the road. As I passed the lady the wheels of my car came in contact with a lilac Frisbee inches from its owner. I winced as I heard the crunch beneath my car. Looking out my rear view window, I watched the lady pick up the broken Frisbee in her hands and she stared at me in bewilderment. She remained standing in the middle of the road glaring at the learner vehicle until she was nothing but a speck in the horizon.
So to the lady with the lilac Frisbee, I am truly sorry for your loss.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Minimum Driving Lessons Needed
Late last week I received a call for a lady requesting lessons prior to her test. Her test date was for today the 13Th May. I offered the pupil a date for last week but the offer was declined and a booking was made for Monday this week.
At 10.30 pm on Sunday evening the pupil called and cancelled the lesson due to car trouble, she re booked for Tuesday11Th May, using my car.I arrived for the lesson in good time, the pupil was late. She arrived with no learner permit and had never taken a lesson before in her life. Leaving the test centre in 1st gear and revving the engine to full capacity, I realised I had a difficult task ahead of me.
By the time we had gone 2 miles down the road the pupil had accumulated so many mistakes that it would have been a definite fail on any test sheet.
We pulled in at the side of the road with no indication or mirror checks, to talk about the faults and how to rectify them. After talking through the need for mirror checks, correct positioning on roundabouts and the used and function of the clutch, we moved off, this time with no blind spot check.The one hour lesson continued with strained smiles, crunching of the hand break and constant coasting.
We never managed to practice a turnabout or the reverse around the corner as all attention was on the physical drive itself.
A further booking was made for Wednesday and Thursday(the day of the test) this week.
On Wednesday the pupil arrived at the test centre in her own car with a light on the dash board, one bald tyre and a torn tax disc. I explained the car was not suitable for test purpose and that an alternative vehicle would have to be used. We again proceeded out of the test centre and onto the roads were there was little or no improvement with the mirror checks or coasting. This time we did manage to complete a manoeuvre or two but we hit the kerb with such force that I could actually feel my back pull out of place.
I did not think things could have got worse until this morning when my pupil arrived in a friends car that she had never driven before and we spent the entire lesson stalling the vehicle. To top that she was uncertain if the insurance on the car allowed her to drive it as she had not contacted her insurance company in advance.
To cut a long story short I wished the pupil well as I escorted her into her test. We shook hands but I did not wait to see her downfall. I was far too embarrassed to know I had sent in a pupil at such a poor standard.
We (ADI'S) have been promised by the RSA that "minimum driving lessons" would be brought in last year. If this legislation was already in place my pupil would not have been allowed apply for her test until her lessons were signed off by an instructor, never mind be apply to sit the test.
And to cap it all regardless of the result today, the pupil will get back into the friends car unaccompanied and drive home and no one will say a thing!
At 10.30 pm on Sunday evening the pupil called and cancelled the lesson due to car trouble, she re booked for Tuesday11Th May, using my car.I arrived for the lesson in good time, the pupil was late. She arrived with no learner permit and had never taken a lesson before in her life. Leaving the test centre in 1st gear and revving the engine to full capacity, I realised I had a difficult task ahead of me.
By the time we had gone 2 miles down the road the pupil had accumulated so many mistakes that it would have been a definite fail on any test sheet.
We pulled in at the side of the road with no indication or mirror checks, to talk about the faults and how to rectify them. After talking through the need for mirror checks, correct positioning on roundabouts and the used and function of the clutch, we moved off, this time with no blind spot check.The one hour lesson continued with strained smiles, crunching of the hand break and constant coasting.
We never managed to practice a turnabout or the reverse around the corner as all attention was on the physical drive itself.
A further booking was made for Wednesday and Thursday(the day of the test) this week.
On Wednesday the pupil arrived at the test centre in her own car with a light on the dash board, one bald tyre and a torn tax disc. I explained the car was not suitable for test purpose and that an alternative vehicle would have to be used. We again proceeded out of the test centre and onto the roads were there was little or no improvement with the mirror checks or coasting. This time we did manage to complete a manoeuvre or two but we hit the kerb with such force that I could actually feel my back pull out of place.
I did not think things could have got worse until this morning when my pupil arrived in a friends car that she had never driven before and we spent the entire lesson stalling the vehicle. To top that she was uncertain if the insurance on the car allowed her to drive it as she had not contacted her insurance company in advance.
To cut a long story short I wished the pupil well as I escorted her into her test. We shook hands but I did not wait to see her downfall. I was far too embarrassed to know I had sent in a pupil at such a poor standard.
We (ADI'S) have been promised by the RSA that "minimum driving lessons" would be brought in last year. If this legislation was already in place my pupil would not have been allowed apply for her test until her lessons were signed off by an instructor, never mind be apply to sit the test.
And to cap it all regardless of the result today, the pupil will get back into the friends car unaccompanied and drive home and no one will say a thing!
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Driving Test Routes
Driving testers report hearing comments from test candidates that say "My instructor doesn't do it here, ie the reverse round the corner, I'm used to the one around the corner, can we go there?"
The answer to that question is a simple "no".
Other silly things test candidates say:
When asked what the blue sigh with the "H" in it is, the replies are anything from Hotel, Helicopter pad, Hurley Pitch.
Last time I looked it was very definitely a Hospital
The answer to that question is a simple "no".
Other silly things test candidates say:
When asked what the blue sigh with the "H" in it is, the replies are anything from Hotel, Helicopter pad, Hurley Pitch.
Last time I looked it was very definitely a Hospital
"BURKA Driver"
Today on BBC news it was reported that a French Muslim Woman was fined for wearing a full-face veil while driving a car. Police in Nantes said the veil-which showed only the women's eyes-restricted her vision and could have caused an accident.
On Saturday I had the pleasure of taking a pupil out on her driving lesson wearing her niqab. During the hour long lesson the pupil needed to adjust her veil a number of times, just like any of us might adjust our glasses on our nose.
When it came to the reverse around the corner the niqab posed no problem and the manoeuvre was completed satisfactorily. The only reason I had for any concerns came from the children on the opposite side of the corner who could not take their eyes off my Muslim Lady and nearly fell of the pavement wanting to see more..
As for driving down the street and turning into junctions it was the cause of the Burka clad pupil causing heads to turn and near accidents to form in front of our eyes but not because of her eyes.
I must admit that as per new concerns from the RSA that we must always verify identity to check that the pupil is holding a learner permit prior to a lesson, I still have not had the courage to ask my veil clad lady to reveal what is under hers.
On Saturday I had the pleasure of taking a pupil out on her driving lesson wearing her niqab. During the hour long lesson the pupil needed to adjust her veil a number of times, just like any of us might adjust our glasses on our nose.
When it came to the reverse around the corner the niqab posed no problem and the manoeuvre was completed satisfactorily. The only reason I had for any concerns came from the children on the opposite side of the corner who could not take their eyes off my Muslim Lady and nearly fell of the pavement wanting to see more..
As for driving down the street and turning into junctions it was the cause of the Burka clad pupil causing heads to turn and near accidents to form in front of our eyes but not because of her eyes.
I must admit that as per new concerns from the RSA that we must always verify identity to check that the pupil is holding a learner permit prior to a lesson, I still have not had the courage to ask my veil clad lady to reveal what is under hers.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
You were a learner once too!
A question: What to drivers expect to happen when they beep their horn at learner drivers? Do the owners of the horn really think that the driver of the car in front has (a) fallen asleep at the wheel (b) is colour blind and does know the difference between red and green lights, or (c) needs to be told when to move off.
What actually happens is the learner gets upset at holding up the traffic, forgets all that has been thought to them about moving off from busy junctions/lights etc. There foot usually either freezes to the clutch pedal or leaps off the clutch pedal causing the car to stall. They then proceed to handbrake, neutral, put car back into first and try again to move off with great difficulty and embarrassment.
In fact all that the owner of the horn has achieved is to delay traffic even further.
Now god forbid that poor learner is sitting on a hill (example: Hill Street Bridge, Dundalk) The chances of the pupil ever moving off once beeped at is slim or none. they are so terrified of rolling back onto the horn owner that they refuse to take their foot off the clutch resulting in the instructor in having to use the dual controls and reassuring the pupil that it was not their fault.
So to all horn users out there, look at the car in front, and if it has "L" plates on it or a giant cone on the roof then the changes are that there is a learner driver in tow. Give them a change and we will all get there in the end.
What actually happens is the learner gets upset at holding up the traffic, forgets all that has been thought to them about moving off from busy junctions/lights etc. There foot usually either freezes to the clutch pedal or leaps off the clutch pedal causing the car to stall. They then proceed to handbrake, neutral, put car back into first and try again to move off with great difficulty and embarrassment.
In fact all that the owner of the horn has achieved is to delay traffic even further.
Now god forbid that poor learner is sitting on a hill (example: Hill Street Bridge, Dundalk) The chances of the pupil ever moving off once beeped at is slim or none. they are so terrified of rolling back onto the horn owner that they refuse to take their foot off the clutch resulting in the instructor in having to use the dual controls and reassuring the pupil that it was not their fault.
So to all horn users out there, look at the car in front, and if it has "L" plates on it or a giant cone on the roof then the changes are that there is a learner driver in tow. Give them a change and we will all get there in the end.
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