MATT had the first workshop in his DriveTech Advantage driving course. Well, let me correct that. So did I. When you sign up to the course, you agree to be a mentor to your son or daughter to provide additional support to the driving coach.
It’s all part of DriveTech Advantage’s approach to providing a skill for life rather than instructing you to pass a test. I’m a big believer in this. When I learned to drive, it was a case of passing the test; then learning to drive.
But given the horrifying stats behind today’s driving conditions that’s not good enough: as our Advantage coach, Craig McCall, pointed out: 1 in 8 licence holders is a young driver; yet 1 in 3 young drivers will be involved in a road fatality.
Craig is one of DriveTech Advantage’s driving coaches, and one of the more senior and most qualified ones, so he can carry out the tuition at home, rather than the TRL safety research centre.
But all Advantage coaches are highly qualified. They all hold a grade 6 driving instructor licence (where 1 is the lowest; 6 is the highest); they all hold a RoSPA gold standard instructor certificate; and are also qualified to be a fleet trainer for companies wishing to reduce the risks for their on-road drivers.
So you are in pretty good hands.
Among the areas Craig covered today were the primary causes for young driver crashes. These are, in order:
- Inexperience
- Speed
- Multiple occupancy
- Drink
- Drugs
- Showing off
- Peer pressure
- Distractions (passenger mobile; iPods; night driving).
And there were also some tests. How many danger areas could Matt spot in the picture Craig showed us; how many could I spot. The picture had been taken where a young driver had caused a fatality by not reading and reacting to the situation properly.
It was good stuff. “I enjoyed that today. There was a lot to take in,” Matt told me later in the evening, “but as the day has gone on, I’ve thought more about the things Craig mentioned as they’ve gone through my head.”
That’s good. And has to be a step on the rung of a skill for life.
Tutorial part of driving lesson package
