A while back I wrote about heavy traffic. Today I talk about why it’s very difficult to train someone in this kind of congestion and how it does not help your test day preparation.
Recently a client booked a rushed session the day prior to their driving test. This kind of request is very common as clients feel the stress build-up.
5:30 pm I arrive at their job and we journey over to the test area. It is the middle of rush hour and we need to travel 20 minutes thru heavy traffic. Cars are bumper-to-bumper with average speeds of 5 km/h to the occasional 40 km/h with constant stop-and-go.
Cars are so tight that it was near impossible to change lanes. In fact, I needed to take control to move us across a packed 3 lanes to get to our turn.
And yes this driver did pass their driving test the following day but today’s heavy traffic was way way beyond their abilities.
In truth, there are many unusual factors affecting this driver in this situation which interfered with their ability to manage this new situation.
- heavy bumper-to-bumper traffic
- dark no light daytime hours gone (End of November)
- fatigue
- test day stress
Multiple first times compounded the stress. First time in heavy bumper-to-bumper traffic. First time driving in the pitch-black dark. First time for a driving test. First-time driving after a full day’s work on a new job with a brain that’s fatigued!
Training in heavy traffic is difficult enough without all these additional internal and external factors.
The problem with heavy traffic is no movement and I feel like the client is burning money paying me when we are not moving. It is a great learning experience but not efficient with time and money.
Now back to the client stress and first-time issues. This lesson was more of a panic session that the client should not have taken. The biggest error was the fact that it was the end of a long day at work on a new job. The brain was totally dead. Not a good time to be driving. Certainly not a good time to be learning anything new.
The next morning 8 am bright early and rested this client passed their driving test.
I still struggle with finding a way to teach bumper-to-bumper driving.
Till next time. Be safe. Take care always.
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