Driving Instructors!

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buggi

Bird Saviour
Location
Solihull
What hope have we got when driving instructors teach their pupils to do this.

commuting home last night, approaching island, want to get into primary position in the 2nd lane.

indicate, wait for gap, still indicating, get eye contact with learner driver, she slows down, so i take the gap and thank her with a thumbs up.

driving instructor obviously tells her to do this... she changes lane, undertakes me in the left lane and pulls back in front of me causing me to brake sooner than i thought i had to.

completely lost it, pulled up the side of the driving instructor, luckily he had his window down... asked him if that is the way he teaches all his pupils, and i shouts over to her that she needs a new driving instructor if that's how he teaches his pupils to behave around cyclists on the road.

he tells her to ignore me and carry on.

dammit, should have thought to get his reg number and complain to BSM.
 

Freewheeler

Well-Known Member
Location
Warrington
Hah, BSM. My driving instructor reckoned they hired newly qualified instructors who couldn't afford to set up on their own. He had a very low opinion of their skills.
 

Cab

New Member
Location
Cambridge
I had a BSM instructor run me off the road; came on to my side to go around a parked car, so head on straight at me, accelerating. I stormed into their office and complained, they insisted that the road was wide enough for me not to be endangered, oblivious to the fact that their driver had gone on to the wrong side of the road and accelerated straight at me.

And I'm afraid thats part of the problem; when driving instructors think its okay to treat cyclists like that, we've got no hope of improving standards on the roads.
 

Pete

Guest
Yeah, well I'm guessing that your speech was just a wee bit more - er - 'colloquial', than how you've set it down on this thread! Am I right, or am I right? Well, 'losing it' may feel good but it won't turn either that instructor or his pupil into 'reformed characters' on the spot. I've learnt that lesson myself.

And I've long since come to realise that cyclists are 'they-who-must-be-overtaken' wherever they're met. I'm just used to it. Being overtaken by a vehicle that then turns left on me - being undertaken by one that turns right: happens all the time.

And remember also that a driving instructor's objective is to get as many pupils as he can through the test, and pocket the dosh thereby. Nothing about making them into 'good, considerate drivers'. I just wish there were a section in the Driving Test marked "Interact Safely with a Cyclist", with automatic failure if you screw up.

I would say, in mitigation, that I've had some decent behaviour from instructors, too. Like when passing someone practising the three-point-turn, happens often enough and I'm often in a dilemma as to how to pass safely. I always signal my intentions, and often get an acknowledgement from the instructor. I just have to assume that he's got his foot hovering over the dual-control, 'just in case' ...
 

purpleR

Guru
Location
Glasgow
Freewheeler said:
Hah, BSM. My driving instructor reckoned they hired newly qualified instructors who couldn't afford to set up on their own. He had a very low opinion of their skills.


and some of them aren't even actually qualified - they have PDI status (provisional) rather than ADI (approved). They'll have passed theory and practical exams but not the instruction exam yet (the one that proves you are a competent teacher). I think you can tell by the colour of the badge in their windscreen.
 
OP
OP
buggi

buggi

Bird Saviour
Location
Solihull
Pete said:
Yeah, well I'm guessing that your speech was just a wee bit more - er - 'colloquial', than how you've set it down on this thread! Am I right, or am I right? Well, 'losing it' may feel good but it won't turn either that instructor or his pupil into 'reformed characters' on the spot. I've learnt that lesson myself.

...

honestly Pete, i didn't "lose it", i spoke quite calmly but with a slight tinge of sarcasm to my voice". my intention was to get her to think about what she'd done and what a crap driving instructor she must have. i didn't want to "lose it" because i remember how i felt when i was learning to drive and i didn't know how experienced she was, so i didn't want to come across as some psycho loony.
 
OP
OP
buggi

buggi

Bird Saviour
Location
Solihull
well, i thought about it but what will they do if they don't have the reg number? i was hoping to see him again sometime.
 
Well, it's like all complaining/campaigning, isn't it? It's only going to change when the costs of change are lower than the costs of staying the same.

That means giving them a good description of instructor and pupil, and then calling them every week to see whether they've identified who it is and what action has been taken.

Is there an overseeing agency? I'd cc them too. And the DVLA, and your local MP.
 

Carwash

Señor Member
Location
Visby
I'm ashamed to confess that I failed my first driving test for passing too close to a cyclist. I thought I gave plenty of room, but the examiner disagreed. Lesson learned.
 

BentMikey

Rider of Seolferwulf
Location
South London
ALWAYS get the registration number. Then you could do like Cunobelin did, and write a letter to all the driving schools in his area, having "forgotten" which school it was and not the registration no., complaining about the conduct of the instructor. Apparently the culprit was rather miffed that all his peers got to find out about it too.
 
BentMikey said:
ALWAYS get the registration number. Then you could do like Cunobelin did, and write a letter to all the driving schools in his area, having "forgotten" which school it was and not the registration no., complaining about the conduct of the instructor. Apparently the culprit was rather miffed that all his peers got to find out about it too.

Nice. I like that.
 
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