Back the Flock Off: A Guide for Learners. A Survival Guide for Parents.

By Steve Richards

Do you remember learning to drive?
Are you planning on teaching someone who is?
Are you prepared for the journey ahead?
Are you currently learning to drive?
Are you ready for your driving test?
Discover the world of driving from an instructor's viewpoint: the other side of the car.
It all starts here.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tellwell Talent
• Release date: Feb 24, 2023
• ISBN: 9780228890638

Steve Richards

Steve Richards is a political columnist, journalist, author and presenter. He regularly presents The Week in Westminster on BBC Radio 4 and has presented BBC series on Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn. He is the author of The Prime Ministers and The Prime Ministers We Never Had, the latter of which was named a ‘Book of the Year’ in The Guardian and The Times. He writes for several national newspapers including The Guardian, the Independent and the Financial Times. He also presents a popular political one-man show each year at the Edinburgh Festival and across the UK.

Book preview

Car Controls

The first of these stages is controls. Before using the controls of the vehicle, it has always been advised to talk about each one, its function, and more importantly, its purpose. Some of these basic things are easily overlooked and taken for granted by the supervising driver. They may assume that either their child should just know—as most perceive this to be common knowledge—or they might entirely forget to mention it. Yet, it never ceases to amaze me at just how many learner drivers will forget about putting their seatbelt on for their maiden voyage due to the stress.

I remember from my own learning experience using the choke. Even though I spent the majority of my childhood being carted around behind the driver, I knew what this device was and how it was operated. In today’s modern world of fuel injection, there is no: pull out the choke, hit the accelerator three times, turn the key, hoping that the car will fire up. Now we come to a point where all you need to do is press a button. Learners often find it strange that pushing the button alone will not start the car, but that they need to have their foot on the brake pedal, and continue holding it there for the car to start.

Perhaps as we move more and more into the digital world, this will become an ever-increasing problem. Students now open their front doors using codes or their mobile phones, yet strangely don’t know how to use a doorbell. It is interesting to watch a learner try to start the car by persistently holding the start button down, and that’s providing they have continued to leave their foot on the brake.

The steering wheel’s purpose is easy enough to explain and understand, yet using it often takes the learner by surprise, as well as the other three commonly used features: the accelerator, the foot brake and the indicators. Explaining the wipers in the early stages is almost as pointless as explaining the mirrors unless it’s raining. While it’s important to know how to use and why, the learner driver is going to be focused on not killing anyone who dares be silly enough to walk into their path, that the earlier mention of the mirrors is essentially non-existent.

It is also interesting to note that most learner drivers do not know or understand what power steering is. They often get this confused with the steering wheel return mechanism. They also fail to understand why, where possible, we’re not supposed to use power steering. After learning to drive the correct way, the motorist soon finds themselves falling into a grove of this works for me. Then forgetting the golden rule of driving, move before you turn the wheels, they slowly start destroying their car’s CV joints by relying too heavily on power steering.

We have started to forget how to drive correctly—and more importantly, why.

Starting and Stopping

One of the safest things you can do with a learner before planning on driving anywhere is this: see how they handle the car in a straight line, at a slow speed, just getting accustomed with the accelerator and the brakes. The way some of them hit the accelerator the first few times can be so violent and so forceful, an experienced driver just can’t replicate the same action. Even if you were to hit the accelerator straight to the floor, due to the control that you have, it’s not as violent as a learner can be those first few times. Believing that bunny-hopping only happens in a manual becomes folly when the learner’s repeated attempt to get the car moving. Attempting to move the car forward even in the automatic can be an eye opener. However, over the years, as cars have become more advanced and teaching a more precise art, I found that this didn’t happen quite so much.

There is only one real solution to overcome this coordination issue. Keeping the car in park, with the handbrake up, explain what the Tachometer is. Once that has been done, get your learner to slowly—and make sure you emphasise the word slowly—push the accelerator until the RPMs have reached the one thousand mark, or the big one on the dial. It may take some of them a little effort, but eventually get there. When they can hold it at the one, get them to accelerate that little bit more and get to the one point five. Then repeat this to the two. If they can successfully hold those three points, they’ll be much safer, and more importantly, smoother. And you won’t be having your previous meal wanting to return.

Hitting the brakes the first time also meets with some interesting results. It ranges from between the most delicate mousey touch, where you wonder if they are ever going to physically stop the car, to the firm planting of the foot to the floor, bringing the car to an abrupt stop.

For this reason, many parents will attempt to first teach their children in car parks. While there is space available, there is room for mistakes to be made safely. The only issue here is that the student then sees starting on a road as being the same major hurdle that they did initially in the car park.

There is, of course, one more thing you can do until your learner becomes comfortable with the thought of going faster. Embrace idling speed. Many learners do not know what it means for the car to be at idle. Idling speed is a great way for your learner to become accustomed to the car moving.

Back when I was a relatively new instructor, I had a student who was terrified of the thought of driving. She had conducted one hour of driving with another driving instructor. I don’t know what happened in that lesson. Most likely, the instructor had tried teaching her more than she was capable of. Whatever the reason was, it ended badly.

Seeing that she had only completed the one hour, I started from the very beginning to ensure there were no learning gaps. After it was established that she understood the controls of the car, we started the drive section of the lesson. This drive would open my eyes up to there being a whole range of different learners. For the remainder of that lesson, my student did not even consider touching the accelerator as we moseyed on down the road.

This fear would continue well into the second lesson. It was only then, after the majority of the lesson was over, I could coax her into giving it a little touch.

As it would turn out, there would be many students to follow. Some were just afraid of speed, and thus, accelerating wasn’t possible for a good five hours. I ask you to take on board this: when you have a new learner, don’t be afraid to let them go slow. Don’t be afraid to let them do nothing. When they are ready, you will know. And if you’re a learner, be sure to take it at your own pace. Don’t force yourself.

A final point of interest: when starting the car correctly, either an automatic or a manual, always place the car into gear first, then release the handbrake. Many people do this in the reverse order, but that is not the correct way to start the car. This little learning block is the first step in helping the beginner to become a structured learner.

Steering

After coming to terms with the fact that they have indeed moved the car forward, the next step is to start steering. My parents wouldn’t teach me to drive until I had my own car, as my brother gave them quite a scare as he was unable to turn corners. This is where I take my hat off to all of you who were game enough to let your son, daughter, friend, or so on, attempt to take your vehicle around the corner for the first time. There is a huge amount of unpredictability. Add to that the inability to stop the car if a student panics, and you have a recipe for disaster. You are far braver than I. Dual controls are not just recommended for driving instructors. They are a lifeline.

I was always told that teaching someone to steer was the hardest thing to do, and even harder to correct after forming bad habits. Unfortunately, this is where a lot of driving instructors get it all wrong. There are two approved forms of steering, with both ‘hand-over-hand’ and ‘pull-push.’ Yet, many driver trainers focus purely on the pull-push method. This may be because they were brought up in a generation where someone claimed that they must, and it was the only way.

This has been seen as the ‘if you can’t pull-push then you can’t really steer’ method. I don’t agree with this. Before I became a driver trainer, I hadn’t even heard of pull-push. An understanding of one form of steering is good, however, understanding both is better.

What is pull-push steering? For those of us who steer like we’re swimming, that is hand-over-hand steering. A continual action where the hands cross over, but never get crossed. Pull-push steering is where both hands stay on the wheel, at all times. They never, ever leave the wheel. Pull-push steering was designed so that you couldn’t get your hands tangled or out of position.

With pull-push steering, both hands need to stay high up on the wheel. When it is time to turn, they need to make large wheel turns where one hand pulls the wheel all the way down with the other hand staying level, almost floating. Then, when that action is completed, the other hand is to push the wheel all the way back up, with the initial hand mirroring its action.

However, I have found that while the best students rely on this method, up to ninety percent don’t do it correctly. They commonly use little hand movements, and end up having to do much more work to achieve the same result. On occasion, the student will use some form of side stroking action as though they were a lifesaver. They will hold the wheel with one hand and let the other hand bear the rest of the workload.

The training manuals actually state to teach both, but this is usually not the case. Once a driver trainer has effectively brain-washed the student into using the steering method they prefer—which may have not been appropriate or even desired for them—they are very reluctant to add a new skill. If they learn something new, say, hand-over-hand steering, perhaps all their hard work will now be undone!

Forcing a learner to do something which is not natural to them makes the whole process seem painful, and takes much longer for them to grasp. Then, there is the fear-mongering that takes place. Many times I have heard the statement: I was told that if I use hand-over-hand steering, I will be failed. Much to the surprise of the student, I will tell them otherwise, and that it is stated in their logbook on page sixteen: hand-over-hand is an approved form of steering. Of course, the student does not always refer to it as hand-over-hand steering. Most of the time, they just say, But I’m not allowed to cross my arms.

Yes, this is true. You are not allowed to cross your arms. However, in the action of hand over hand steering, the arms are not crossed. In fact, as it is a continuous action, the hands are crossing, not crossed. Getting the hands crossed primarily takes place when the wheel is turned all the way to lock, unless the learner has poor technique.

As stated by many of the manuals and texts that we refer to, it clearly states that hand-over-hand comes into its element when you get to roundabouts, tight turns and manoeuvres. There is nothing more awkward than watching a learner driver that has never used hand-over-hand steering enter a roundabout. Especially for a right hand turn. They enter the roundabout ever-so-slowly as they need to focus on the steering, so it ends up being a lot of steering.

My first eye opener in the field of steering occurred when I was a newbie in the driver trainer world. I had a young student who had never driven before. I went through the checklist and followed the programme to the letter. The advice was to ensure that you show the student how to do everything before allowing them to attempt it. Even though it was his first time, my young male student was a little overconfident.

The student seemed to think this was taking too long and wanted to have a crack at it. I swapped around with him and we proceeded to the end of the street. At the end of the street, the road curved around to the left. The perfect first turn location. The student wouldn’t have to add indicators into this whole accelerating, braking and steering process just yet.

Though not moving very fast, the student did not attempt any braking as he made it to the corner. Once there, his hands moved the wheel for one half of a spin, and then committed to the turn, not realising, at this point, that he had to continue turning the wheel. He panicked. Now that the student was going deer-in-headlights, I slowed the car down to a crawl using my dual controls. I allowed the student to run right over to the other side of the road, bringing the car to a stop up someone’s driveway.

I hadn’t had a chance to get to hand-over-hand steering at this point, but it was evident that this was going to be his preferred method, therefore allowing me to skip pull-push steering for the initial part of his tuition. With the car sitting angled up the driveway, I asked him, quite plainly, So, are you going to listen now? The student agreed that perhaps he didn’t know what he was doing yet.

Driving instructors beware, this is where you may lose students and not even realise it. I know I picked up a considerable amount of work because I allowed the students to use the method they prefer to, provided they are in control of the car while using the favoured technique. I may have also lost clients because I have shown them how to do hand-over-hand, while their parent’s ideologies are still stuck in the 1960s.

That very first turn, seeing if the learner will have some idea or not, it must be quite an experience for someone who does not have dual controls. Many times I’ve had to deal with a student understeering or oversteering, wanting to hit the first tree. This process can be intensified by the student’s panic in the situation. Instead of slowing down and allowing time for the instructor to fix up the driving line of the car, the student hits the accelerator, propelling the car forward. I can tell you that this is where the dual controls have saved my car and my skin many times, and not just with green learners.

Turn like a tiger! Have you ever crawled on the floor, pretending to be a tiger to chase a niece, nephew, or little sibling or cousin? When steering hand-over-hand, this action may look the same. Big, slow, graceful but purposeful arm strokes. Many learners give off the appearance that the steering wheel weighs a ton. Taking a corner looks like a fight between man and machine! They will go to great lengths to achieve a simple task. Then, interestingly enough, when they finally get comfortable with going left, going right confuses them completely.

Being programmed to go in one direction can have a very strange outcome the first time you ask them to try a right-hand turn. Oddly, and possibly because they have been turning from the far left, at that moment they feel that they must turn from the far right. Yes, prior to the corner, they move the car in the direction of the wrong side of the road. A problem easily dealt with. Just pay attention.

This problem doesn’t always exist just in newbie learners. One afternoon, I was doing laps of a nursery area to correct a student’s steering. A nursery area, for those who are unaware, is a safe place for learners to practice. It’s located away from the main flow of traffic; typically a quiet block, which is what I used at the moment. As this student was approaching the end of the street, I gave him the instruction to turn right. Only this time, I was on autopilot. I gave him instructions in another language. Did he ask me what I had said? No. Instead, he went down to the end of the street and turned right. The only problem was, he turned completely onto the wrong side of the road. Perfect, if we had been in Europe.

Another interesting issue that can often arise in these early stages is passive steering. This may or may not be so evident at this point. Without having much of an idea about steering, some students commit by turning the wheel a little and then hoping it is enough to make the turn. Sometimes, this is fine. However, they are not, at this point, making allowances for having to make corrections. Whether these corrections are minor driving line changes, or major hey, I hope I don’t hit that traffic island or parked vehicle corrections. Yet, while looking at the object they are hoping not to hit, they forget to keep turning. Strangely, they keep getting closer to the object.

My advice for anyone attempting to teach a learner driver who has never driven before is to breathe, and then prepare to act. Don’t wait until the last second. Good, calm voice commands usually work the best with a little micro-management. If the student is relaxed, they are much less likely to run you off the road. But if they are stressed and are unable to control the vehicle in the quiet back streets or car park, what will they be like when you hit traffic? It makes me think about those learners who are so excited to get their Ls that the first thing they want to do is drive home from the motor registry.

In saying that, perhaps one of my most scary students was a young girl that I taught when I was about two-and-a-half years into the job. Feeling that I had a good grasp of how to solve everyone’s different issues, I didn’t realise how wrong I could be. Teaching this girl was as painful as it was scary, and I came out of it feeling beyond grateful for the dual controls.

The problem was that even after ten hours of regular driving with me, this girl was still struggling with turns. There was a complete absence of checking for traffic, an unpredictable amount of steering wheel turn, and then a lack of braking. In hindsight, I probably should’ve reinforced the word stop more often. I also should’ve stressed that when you stopped, you had to keep the foot on the brake. Ultimately, it was an interesting learning curve for me.

Then, there was the day she brought coffee.

This happened while attempting to go around our usual block. After a major braking moment from my side of the car, I heard this sloshing noise. It sounded like waves washing up to the shore. I couldn’t figure it out. That was, until I looked into the cup holders. My student had brought a coffee. However, she had failed to push the button to open up the holder compartment. In the violent braking process, the cup had fallen sideways. This caused it to empty its entire contents into the area.

I don’t know if she ever got her licence. It is more than likely that she did. After all, driving in a straight line down the main road was much easier for her than it was to turn a corner. But for the general public’s safety, I hope that this didn’t happen too soon.

The last issue that a learner driver may experience when learning to steer correctly is hand positioning. While it may not be understood by the current generation, ten and two have always been the preferred position for your hands. However, there’s a movement that is trying to convince everyone that nine and three are better places to hold the wheel. Why? Because steering capability on modern cars are far superior to old vehicles and require less effort to turn. They also claim that it’s in the driver’s best interest as it’ll help the airbag deploy in a crash. In this event, your wrists won’t get burned by the bag’s explosion.

Yes, this is true. If you drive with your hands in ten and two, your wrists can receive a burn in the event of an airbag deployment. This doesn’t increase my desire to change it. If this is your only worry, my question is this: how badly must you be driving that you need to help the airbag deploy?

As for nine and three, think about how weird that would look. Would you ever consider letting your learner, one that hasn’t learnt how to control the car properly, hold the steering wheel at nine and three? It’ll be hard enough for them to keep their hands above the horizontal, given that they’re already likely struggling with LTS (Lazy Teenager Syndrome).

In the early stages, it’ll be important for your learner to keep their hands level. This will be harder if your steering wheel is off centre. Question: why is it important for a learner to learn to keep their hands level, especially when the wheel is off-centre? Because if they don’t learn this early on, they may struggle to keep the car in a straight line.

This will become more of a problem when they make it out into traffic. If hands aren’t level, this creates an effect called ‘steering wheel drag.’ This is when the car continually pulls to either the right or left. You can ask your learner to correct their position, but if their hands aren’t level and even, the problem will occur repeatedly.

There is of course a third type of steering.

Now, This is not the way to drive in any way shape or form. Unfortunately, the current generation, along with their new and improved use of language, have also given me this third type of steering - The bus driver.

Back in the old days, buses used to have really big wheels. Because of this, bus drivers would feed the wheel from the southern hemisphere of the wheel. This is how many of my students started wanting to drive -perhaps because they have seen their parents or partners driving very casually. The monkey is now trying to replicate the action of someone more advanced than themselves.

This becomes especially prevalent upon preparation for a right-hand turn. Their left hand drops all the way down to seven o’clock. Then that left hand will attempt to conduct the turn all on its own as though the action needed to be done with one steering movement.

Why is this a problem?

One, because it forces the hand to put more energy into the turn. Oversteering is a very common outcome from this poor driving. The second issue is far greater. In the unlikely event of an accident, one where they are rammed from behind, it is possible that the learner’s elbow will connect painfully with their ribcage.

So, please be mindful of this. Once this becomes a habit, it will be very hard to eliminate. Reinforce hands up above the horizontal of the steering wheel.

As for steering, my preferred method is hand-over-hand. When analysing students using pull-push, I noticed two main issues. The first one, as I have stated before, was that ninety percent of students don’t use the method correctly. This method requires big hand movements to get from the top of the wheel to the bottom. Most learners try doing little shuffles and fail to turn the vehicle effectively.

This may lead to the second issue. As the method is less effective for tighter turns, learners taking right hand turns generally turn early in order to get the wheel moving, but subsequently cut the corner into the new road.

When it comes to steering, good driver trainers not only know how to use both types of steering, but also know how to teach it. Learning pull-push was definitely an interesting experience for me. However, it proved to be much more interesting for one of my students. Only, this time, the student was in training to become a driver trainer.

At that point, he was a delivery driver. He drove small to medium sized trucks. Like the younger version of myself, he also didn’t know what this other method was. I explained it to him. I demonstrated how it was meant to be done. Then, I got him to practice. While he found it a little awkward, he said that it seemed to have less strain on his back. He planned to come back to the same nursery area to practice in his downtime.

Later that week, on his day off, he returned to practice. He practiced left hand turns. He practiced right hand turns. He practiced hand-over-hand steering. He practiced pull-push.

Then, he was pulled over by the police.

What he hadn’t noticed while he travelled around the block was a patrol car. The officer, on the other hand, had noticed him. The officer thought it was more than a little suspicious that the same car was driving around the block for over thirty minutes. At least the officer found some humour in my student’s explanation of needing to practice.

Keep in mind, at this stage, learners will have many questions. The more commonly asked are: how much do I need to steer around the corner? Do I accelerate or brake around the corner?

This may seem like an innocent question. A simple question. However, there is no black and white answer you can give your learner at this point. Without realising it, they have actually asked a complex question. This, of course, takes on board many factors: how sharp is the turn? How much room is there on the new road? How wide are you from the corner when you start the turn? How fast are you moving when this all takes place?

Your learner may have many questions, so be ready. And be ready for when your learner doesn’t ask questions. I guarantee you: they secretly want to.

The Ice-skating effect

Driving is a lot like ice-skating. When learning to ice-skate, whether people like