• Driving is safer than walking. If you’d rather walk than to drive because you think driving is dangerous, please read on. The fact is, over 2,000 pedestrians are hit by a vehicle  every year in Australia. When this unfortunately happens, do the poor pedestrians have the steel frame and airbags to protect them like drivers? Think again, the protections you have as a driver, is far greater than what you have as a pedestrian.
• Driving is logical not emotional. Some learners’ driving depend on their confidence level. If they feel calm and collected as they drive, they drive better, otherwise they could drive terribly. This type of “driving” is certainly no good. Look, as a human being, I don’t feel 100% physically or emotionally everyday, but I will make sure I drive the at the same level and quality despite my emotions. If I face a red light, no matter how I feel, I simply stop. Driving based on emotional feelings is very very dangerous. Our driving should only be based on the driving data around us.
• Driving is about doing your job. Look at this scene: in the 3rd driving lesson, our car is approaching a queue of cars stopping at red light. From about 30 metres away I reminded the learner “you need to brake”, about 20 metres away I said “brake”, about 10 metres away I had to use my brake. What is missing? The learner is not doing his/her job. Do I need to remind him/her to brake? This shouldn’t be my job. If the learners are not doing the capable job they should be doing, it’s very hard for the coach to teach. This is only referring to the techniques they have learnt and practised (can do), not about doing the things they can’t do yet.
• Driving is achievable. Some learners think driving is highly difficult and dangerous, they are afraid of it and think that they might never make it. May I tell you that driving is achievable, I have taught people from 16 to 65 years old. Driving is only difficult and dangerous when you don’t do the jobs you should be doing like discussed above.
• Driving is driving friendly. This is in contrast to being “driving proof”. I have found a number of learners in our school who are unaware of the basic knowledge when it comes to driving. For example, some of our students don’t know their family or our school car’s brand, not sure of reversing light colour etc.  If you happen to belong to such group, I do encourage you to change your mindset and behaviour, start learning one thing a day about your car/driving. Become a friend of driving, and driving will be a friend to you!
• Driving is factual and current. The learners should have a wide scope of what’s happening around real time, they detect the dangers before it even happens; they can logically think about what they see, and after good calculations they choose the safest approach to handle all situations. Your mind should be full of driving data. But many new drivers their mind were full of worries, the past mistakes, little information about the driving environment NOW, of course this is dangerous and should not be called “driving”. True driving is sensitive and responding accurately to the fast-changing driving environment properly at all times.
• Driving is independent. Please form a habit of doing the things you can do, make the decisions you can make. Forming a habit of waiting to be told what to do and what decision to make is dangerous, because that person will not always be sitting next to you and directing your every move. Yes, legally speaking, you still needed to be supervised, but technically you should do more and more driving along the way, and rely on the supervising driver less and less.
• Driving is instinctive, never lose your instinct. Please look at this scene: in lesson 2, we were turning left on a T intersection, from the right hand side there was a car reaching us in 2 seconds. The learner pushed the car and tried to go ahead, of course I braked the car. What was missing? The instinct. I would not have expected the learner to know T intersection give way well in lesson 2, but looking at the car approaching in 2 seconds, if his/her instinct was working, he/she would not want to go ahead. So please never lose your instinct in driving no matter if you are new or experienced drivers.
• Driving is simple, don’t over-think.   While some students minds are frozen when driving, another group of students tend to over-think while driving. They worry about what if I make that mistake again, or they stress over the car behind trying to bully him/her, or a tree may fall onto the car. Over-thinking takes away the limited room for concentration a driver already has and makes the driver under-think the things he/she should think about as a good driver.

So you have a car, you think you are good enough to tackle the P test, and you can afford to hire the driving school car for test, but you are not sure if you should, let me share some of the reasons why previous clients still hire our car when they had a car:

• Their car was not suitable for the driving test, usually the car was a bit old, or the car is quite big and the learner did not feel comfortable
• They felt that they did more technically in the school’s car,  and more casually in their own car, easier to speed etc
• They felt the school car is safer as it has a dual control fitted, in case they messed up the test officer could do something
• They felt that the test officers would prefer the school’s car as it has the dual control fitted
• They felt that the instructor may do a better pre-test technical warm up than their family/friends
• The cost for the family/friends to take a day off is huge, or difficult to arrange a day off,  better to hire the school’s car

I have worked with dozens of students who went to another school and paid money to learn this, but they only remembered to count “1,2,3″, without even stopping (this will fail the whole P test)!

Here is the simple way to handle the “stop” sign — simply STOP (completely), right before the solid line. No more, no less.

More info from  the “Road Users Handbook” as per the pic attached, you may download the whole rule book for free from this link: https://www.rms.nsw.gov.au/documents/roads/licence/road_users_handbook-english.pdf

But common sense is often not common and I have found a good number of learners in our school who are oblivious and unaware of the basic knowledge when it comes to driving, rather than being actively aware.

For example, some of our students don’t know their family car’s brand so when I ask them whether their car runs on petrol or diesel, the answer is “I don’t know”. Would you call this group of people “driver friendly”? How difficult it is to guide their learning progress to achieve the required driving test level?

Yes, I know, although the driving test does not examine how to re-fuel, and yes, as a driving school we can teach everything about driving. But I truly feel sorry for them, for missing out on their opportunity of being a true driver.

So if you happen to belong to such group, I do encourage you to change your mindset and behaviour, start learning one thing a day about your car/driving. Become a friend of driving, and driving will be a friend to you!

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Here is a list a questions to test if you are a freind of driving. If you are unsure about more than 3 of them, you might not be a friend of driving, and you could feel driving is against you:

1. Do I know the brand/model of the car I am driving? (this car can be the driving school’s car if you don’t have one yet)

2. Does this car run on petrol or dissel?

3. When you turn the steering wheel, how many wheels of the car are actually turning (1, 2, 3 or 4)?

4. What colour are the lights for brake, turning signal and reversing?

5. Is your car a hatch back, sedan, station wagon, or SUV?

6. Do I know how to turn on/off the air-conditioning?

7. Do I know how to turn on/off the hazards light (when all the turning signal lights are flashing)?

8. Do I need to always wait for green arrows when I am turning at traffic light intersections?

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1~3 unsure: pretty good

4~8 unsure: Not a friend of driving, yet

You need to know that if you book today, any good slots are about 3 weeks away for the DKT, HPT, and P driving Tests. There will never be any good slots available next week, so don’t even think booking your test tomorrow :=).

For example, if you are ready to attempt your P test as a local 18 year old who just finished your 120 hours for the log book (phew!) or above the age of 25 without the need for a logbook, you must book and pass the HPT (Hazards Perception Test), before you can even book your P test. So make sure you book the HPT and attempt it 3 weeks later. If  you are smart and prepared enough to nail it in one go, then you can finally book the P test here you will be able to find a good time slot (non school zone time) in about 3~4 weeks away. So very easily, 2 months are gone, and that assumes you nail everything one go. In case you messed up anywhere, please be prepared to add another 3 weeks at least. So planing up to 2 months ahead is essential for you to achieve your goal.

For those who have overseas licenses, you may skip the HPT, however you must pass the DKT (Drivers Knowledge Test) before you can book the P driving test. The bad news is, a good number of our students with overseas licenses are not recognised by the RMS and must present a confirmation letter from the overseas authorities, typically by their embassy. Or for some Indian licenses, their surnames on the licenses are different from their passports, requiring them to spend much of their time and money rectifying and fixing the issue. Because of this, some students simply give up, and do it the local way: DKT, HPT, P test before getting their red P’s. No matter which way you choose, you need TIME and lots of it. So once again, plan ahead.

And don’t forget, test booking is one thing,  the test readiness (your driving skill) is the real key to pass the test. So letting professionals who know the process inside out to guide you along the way will be paramount to your success.  We look forward to another fruitful year together.

Her story gets stuck in my mind for long periods of time, that I feel compelled to write it down in hopes that it can benefit all those similar to Sara. The reason that I keep thinking about her, is that her story seems to repeat again and again but through different people battling their own anxieties, similar to Sara’s.

Sara started her first driving lesson with us in mid December 2014, while she was living around Carlingford back then. Soon she felt satsified with our teching methods and proceeded to refer her friend to our school.  The funny thing is, her friend quickly and happily passed her driving test while she was still in the middle of a dark tunnel.

Many of her struggles came from her overbearing and significantly higher levels of anxieties when it came to driving. She seemed to have many worries, but was unable to scan successfully (awareness and analysis of surrounding environment), therefore her driving felt unnatural, crooked and forced somehow. For example even if there was another car on left side of the road, she would not hesitate to move left. We tried our best to correct her way of “driving”, and though she made progress, the whole learning process felt slow and difficult. After 12 hours of training, we managed to “finish” the skills content and started one or two mock tests in which she did not score well. Ignoring our advice not to attempt the P test, she went ahead and failed to no one’s surprise.

She took a break after the fail, and contacted us after two months. We suggested that she should do the test at Blacktown, which should generally be easier for her. She did two more lessons, without much improvement, and she stopped training again.

Three months later, I almost forgot about her until she suddenly contacted us saying that she already book the test at Blacktown next week, and just wanted a lesson before the test. I really doubted that she could pass after one lesson but I arranged the lesson anyway. In the lesson she turned out to be very logical and rational in her decisions regarding the driving environment and drove just as she was trained to. I felt confident in her driving, and she looked like a complete stranger to me. She passed with no question the week after.

Sara told me, she just suddenly clicked about the true driving I had been talking about since lesson one. So I guess the credits should go to her for overcoming her own anxieties of driving.

If you have similar situation of Sara, I want you to believe that you can do it, at the right timing and with the right help.

A.  Under 25, no overseaes license

Logbook, L license, extra ID (medicare card, bank cards etc)

B. Over 25, no overseas license

L license, extra ID (medicare card, bank cards etc)

C. Over 25, overseas License

This is the most complicated group.

You would need your overseas license, NSW learner licnese if you have; if no L licnese, you must bring NSW Photo ID, or Passport as your ID. Overseas license is not a valid ID in NSW, without valid photo ID can cause the test to be terminated early (basically the test not going ahead).  Extra ID (medicare card, bank cards etc) is always recommended.

Furthermore, from time to time, they ask you for a confirmation letter for your overseas license from the embassy, so please contact RMS well ahead to see if you need one. And submit it only the same centre you doing test. This will save you the potential trouble on test day.

D. Under 25, overseas license

This is not a popular group, please clarify with RMS before coming. You may still need the logbook hours. Or they may allow you to do the test, but if you fail, you go to the same 120 hour logbook system. We are not sure at this stage.

Many new drivers, even some experienced drivers, make their driving dangerous by trying to be safe. Their driving is only full of good intentions, without the most valuable element for safe driving: sensing/measuring the surrounding driving environment, thinking real time logically  and respond to the environment timely, the technical name is called “scanning”.

So if any driver’s driving is only full of good intentions but lacking live driving data and its analysis, this  driver is very close to danger.

Be aware, Trying to be safe, without good scanning, can be very dangerous!