Unit 44: Covering the syllabus – using a track record

Resources:
The official guide to learning to drive (Driving Skills) – DSA
The DL25 (test sheet)
The DT1 Examiner’s guidelines for marking the driving test

“The official guide to learning to drive (Driving Skills)” from the DSA is the official syllabus. You will need to cover the whole syllabus with your customers before they are ready for their test.

However, this book does not cover how to do everything. For this I think that anyone would advise that you work mainly from The Essential Skills. Working through this book should mean that the syllabus has been covered, but using a comprehensive track record will ensure that your customer has completed the course.

You can design your own track record, you could use the one the DSA offer to all driving instructors, or you could simply use a copy of the DL25 as a check list.

Whichever way you decide to work, do not let anyone go to test until you are sure that they are capable of driving on all roads (excluding motorways – though this should be covered in theory), and are safe in their execution of all manoeuvres.

Easily missed details include:

Eyesight and Licence checks (you’d be surprised)
Moving off into traffic streams
Overtaking (bicycles on narrow roads often cause problems)
Road works
Stop Junctions
Dealing with the unexpected (bin trucks, driving at different times of day etc)

Deciding when to put a candidate in for their test is simple – only put them in when you feel that they drive safely. Small technical mistakes are not a problem but safety issues must be sorted out before a test is taken. There must be an emphasis on safety throughout their training and explanations given for all major problems. For example, many customers do not realise how dangerous hitting a kerb on a manoeuvre can be.

When approaching test, many candidates will try to change their style of driving, which causes problems. Remember that your core competencies are ideally suited to problem solving – Identify the problem (for example driving too fast towards hazards), Analyse it (“because my mate failed for going too slow”), and offer Remedial Action (remind them that they should not drive too slowly when the road is clear but when there are hazards they need to be in full control, and this usually means approaching them more slowly in order to assess them).

Discussion Points:
The track record, and how to use it