Having decided I wanted to start the learner driver process, I did a search on the internet and chose my driving instructor based on the information on his website and the fact that he was an EX AA instructor and his price wasn't too expensive. We agreed on today and I booked 1hrs even though he said I should book 2hrs (I think he just wanted my money), had my full driving license with me (including the counterpart) as he said I won't be able to drive without it.
Controls Lesson
I got picked up at the appointed time, and after a brief eye test and examination of my provisional licence photo ID, I got into the passenger seat, as my driving instructor said he was going to drive me to a quiet area before we swapped seats as obviously I lived on a busy road in Hampstead and there was no way I would be able to drive the car from home on my first lesson.
It took us over 15 minutes to get to this long wide road somewhere near Wilesden, where my ADI pulled up, got out and I got into the driver's seat of a car for the very first time. I was very nervous, as I wasn't sure I'd be able to drive without crashing the car. I was not looking forward to this part of the driving lesson.
Cockpit Drill DSSSM
My driving instructor told me to relax, as it wasn't time to drive yet as he need to teach me a few things about getting ready to drive and the car controls. The first thing he said I had to learn as a complete beginner driver was the cockpit drill, and he explained that I should use the acronym DSSSM to remember it.
D triple S M
Doors. I as the driver in control of the car had the full responsibility of making sure all the doors of my vehicle are fully secured and closed.
Seat. Adjust your seat so your feet can operate the foot controls comfortably.
Steering. Adjust your seat reach and steering wheel column so can reach all hand controls easily.
Seatbelt. I was taught how to safely put on and take off the seatbelt and learnt about tensioner?
M I was taught how to adjust my mirrors, how to check them when driving and told the meaning of blind spots and why I needed to check them before moving off.
After he finished this, I thought this was now the time in the driving lesson when I finally was going to drive, but my ADI said it was now time to learn the car controls.
Car Controls
It looked like I would not be actually moving the car during my first driving lesson, as time was going and I was not being taught the ABC pedals.
Accelerator or Gas pedal as my instructor said he would be calling it. He told me I need to apply gentle pressur on this control with my right foot as it control how fast the engine went. I started the car, and tried setting the gas, the car made a loud noise and I quickly too my feet off! I tried again, this time I was able to do it properly.
Brake. The foot brake is also operated with the right foot, and therefore I can't use both the gas and brake pedals together. I was told how the car was slowed down using this pedal, and what instructions my driving instructor would use when refering to this foot control.
Clutch. The third foot control was the clutch and I was told what it did to the engine, and how it aws used to select gears. I breathed a sigh of relief when he finished, hoping that all this boring theory was over, I wanted to drive a car, not be a mechanic!
'I'm now going to talk about the gears, handbrake and indicators which you will need for moving off and stopping' m driving instructor said!
So some more theory on where the gears where, how each one worked, using the handbrake and the direction indicators.
Before I knew it, he said my first driving lesson was over, as we needed 15 minutes to drive home through the North London traffic, and that I should consider booking 2hrs for the next session so that we could have more time for learning moving off and stopping.
As I got out of the car and walked to my door, I was exicted that I was finally learning to drive a car, even though today I hadn't actually moved the vehicle during the lesson, the process had begun, and hopefully I will continue on the long path that will eventually lead me to passing the driving test.
If you search the internet, you should be able to find full driving lessons videos of an approved DSA instructor doing the full cockpit drill. Watching any of these learner videos before my lesson would have saved me some money, since I could have driven the car on my first driving lesson.
4 comments:
Hi I am a adi who know what you have written it is in your interest to have a two lesson as we are not out there to just make money. You guys don't pay us enough money for the the job we do.
"Hi I am a adi who know what you have written it is in your interest to have a two lesson as we are not out there to just make money. You guys don't pay us enough money for the the job we do."
WOW I would love a job where i get paid £20 an hour!!! What do u mean we are not paying you enoughh!! It's stupidly expensive!
I wasnt with any 'well known company' like adi - I just went with a small local instructor and I drove on my first lesson - sometimes I think its worth going with the small lesser known instructors....:+) thanks for the blog its really interesting !!
It wasn't my driving instructors fault that I didn't drive, I live in Hamsptead, NW3 London, and there are no road suitable for absolute beginners to learn on, even the residents who have parking permits can't get parking spaces, also my lesson was booked around the evening rush hour so it took about 20 minutes to get to the training area.
All this was explained to me when I called and was adviced to book a 2hr session, but I didn't because I wanted to try the instructor first to see if we would get on together.
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