New career time

[BBROWN1664]

I might consider becoming a driving instructor if this comes in. Licence to print money?

[locksmith]

Saw a learner car on a news report this morning. On the back it said 10 lessons for £99.
How do you make a living out of that?

[BBROWN1664]

That's an interductory offer. Round this way its close to £20 an hour and with the new rules they are talking about meaning 120 hours per pupil that's a shed load of instructors needed vs the average of about 20 hours they do now. Supply and demand and all that means prices will only go up too.

[seangee]

Saw a learner car on a news report this morning. On the back it said 10 lessons for £99.
How do you make a living out of that?

I looked into it a few years ago when a colleague resigned to become an instructor. Decided at the time it wasn't really financially viable 


As for the proposals.
I had more accidents before I turned 30 than after. In my case the 3 biggest contributory factors to this reduction were (in order of importance)

• Growing up
• Real world experience
• Financial stability meant I could afford a better (safer not faster) car.

More training wouldn't have made a damn bit of difference.


Total ban on mobiles - I would support this and I'm sure very few bikers would disagree.


Zero alcohol? Could of course be a very lively, heated and emotional debate. However I think it speaks volumes that I (and most bikers I know) will drive home from a restaurant after a single pint or a glass of wine. BUT if I'm on the bike I always choose a soft drink

[BBROWN1664]

Sean, I agree with most of what you have put.
I took my first driving test 3 weeks after my 17th birthday but failed because the instructor had a problem with his eyes
By the time I was 18 1/2 I had passed my IAM advanced driving test, won various driving competitions (on the road) and also had a motorbike licence. The proposed rule changes are crap. Sure some drivers could do with more lessons before being allowed out unaccompanied and the 10pm ban would stop the chavs congregating at the local drive trough but would 120 hours of tuition really do anything other than line the pockets of the instructors.

For example. Apart from using approved instructors, how can you prove you have done the hours required?
When I was 17 I was driving every day with a friend sitting beside me who had a licence but no car. The result of this was that I got at least 3 hours driving every day going everywhere at all sorts of times so gained a lot of experience. Even today, a 17 year old cannot do this due to the 3 year rule they have.

Also, if this is what they have planned for car drivers, expect motorbikes to be outlawed completely soon!

As for mobiles, more police are needed to enfoce the rules. I use a handsfree kit and don't have any problems. Others seem to think that holding the phone in your hand and having it on loud speaker qualifies as "hands free". Don't ban them, they are useful but enforce the rules properly.
Zero Alcohol, like you I will drive on one but ride on none.

[Dead Eye]

With all this speculation and discussion of new rules it makes me glad that I have both my licences already... sod going back to square 1 again, that's for sure!

[Doddsie]

So....If your a new driver its no good getting a job working nights unless you happen to live on a bus route, and for the first year, if you are married and under 30 your wife isnt allowed in the car with you? This also means a parent who has just passed their test cant take the kids in the car??  Has anyone really thought this through???

[Jacko]

I instructed for ten years, if this comes off I'll be back in it like a shot.

£20 an hour is going rate after the usual introductory stuff.

[seangee]

[size=78%]As for mobiles, more police are needed to enfoce the rules. I use a handsfree kit and don't have any problems. Others seem to think that holding the phone in your hand and having it on loud speaker qualifies as "hands free". Don't ban them, they are useful but enforce the rules properly.[/size]
Zero Alcohol, like you I will drive on one but ride on none.

BB - I too have a hands free in my car and it is definitely a distraction, especially when you have to concentrate on the call. Honey I'll be late from work is very different to an hour long conference call.


My own anecdotal experience with SWMBO, who also has hands free,  is the number of time she says Damn I just missed my turnoff while on the phone. IMHO that proves lack of concentration on the job at hand (never managed to win that argument with her though  ).


Agree absolutely on the enforcement though. Especially for those who think texting is ok!!!

[stevierst]

Any use whatsoever of your phone in hand is classed as 'using'.

Texting, internet, voicemail, loudspeaker (handheld), it's all using your phone, and you will get reported if caught.
It doesn't matter how long your on it for either. If you answer to tell the missus that your driving, you'll get reported.
If you ask me, insurance companies should plainly add that if you have an accident and it's proved that you were 'using' your phone, then your uninsured!

I also believe that it should be 6 points, not 3. The fine is now £100 I believe.

[Buzz]

Coming past me next to Kings Cross yesterday, a guy had a knife in one hand, a fork in the other, knees on the wheel and a kebab in a polystyrene box in his lap...I shit you not.

[jon]

Satnavs are a killer.

stuck up there on the dash or windscreen, obstructing the view and causing the driver to focus off the road.

I honestly believe there is no difference whatsoever than having a bloody telly stuck to your dash. How the hell can they say that a phone is more distracting than a bloody video screen? With a phone it is held up to your ear, not in front of your face, you might only glance at it momentarily to answer it as opposed to squinting myopically at a satnav screen for ages trying to negotiate a series of roundabouts. As for actually holding a phone, well how many people do you know that honestly use both hands to hold the steering wheel?

Im not advocating phone use, far from it, but I believe satnavs are a far greater distraction. Using a phone is the equivalent of smoking a fag with one hand whilst talking to the passenger.

satnav screens should only work when the vehicle is stationary. When it is moving it should be audio ONLY!

[BBROWN1664]

jon, the way some people stick the things in the window I would agree with you but some people do install them properly so that no part of the windscreen is obscured. Perhaps the plod, when they finally come out of hiding and appear back on our roads, could pick these people off the roads too.

Then there's the Muppets with bike racks on the back of their cars obscuring the number plates and lights, prats who don't use their lights properly, drink/drug drivers etc etc etc.

So many people need to be taken off the road before they try to stop new ones getting their licences.

[stevierst]

Perhaps the plod, when they finally come out of hiding and appear back on our roads, could pick these people off the roads too.

If you want more cops out n about, you ain't going to get them, and they're far too busy to be hiding!!!

As for sat navs Jon, some people just have no common sense when it comes to cars and driving, they just plonk that screen anywhere. Sat navs are by no means as distracting as making a phonecall whilst driving, you generally don't have to think too much when looking at a screen, but you have to concentrate more than a normal conversation when making a call.
Apparently according to recent studies it can take away 50% of your concentration!! Now that for most crap drivers is frigging dangerous!!

[AdieR]

It isn't just young drivers that are a problem - those in their 30s / 40s can equally be headcases, sometimes more so, because they can have a "I've been driving 15 / 20 years and therefore I know it all" attitude. Or those in their 60's / 70's "I've done 50 years on the road and never had an accident", oblivious to the accidents they've caused...

Ultimately, it comes down to attitude, and there is no way of testing for that.

[Grahamm]

satnav screens should only work when the vehicle is stationary. When it is moving it should be audio ONLY!

I have to disagree.

I have my Sat Nav mounted on the bars so it's just to the left of the clocks meaning it doesn't get in my line of sight and, when it's safe, I'll take a quick glance down to see the layout of an upcoming junction or the name/ designation of the next road I'm going to be using.

This is a useful backup because sometimes the audio instructions lag behind my actual position on the road or give directions which can be confusing perhaps because the road layout has been changed and not yet updated or there are two possible left turns ahead and it's not clear which one it means.

Yes, people should use the Sat Nav sensibly (and not follow its instructions blindly) but blanket bans on having the screen working whilst moving won't help.

[stevierst]

I spoke to a driver the other day who was in his 40's, and asked him when the last time he read the highway code? He replied "when I passed my test over 25 years ago".
A lot has changed since then. Sadly he's a common example.......:-\

[esetest]

The cynic in me says it's just this Tory led government bashing the young again , restricting their movement to stop them travelling to the protests when they stop paying benefits to under 25's  . According to Doctors the human brain isn't fully developed until your 25 , which is why young people take risks , I can't see any amount of training or time changing that , I did plenty of stupid & dangerous  things when I was young and if they really wanted to save lives they would ban smoking .

[seangee]

if they really wanted to save lives they would ban smoking .

Foc no. It's only me and thee that would be left to blug the £12bn hole that would leave in the budget!!!

[jon]

I still maintain satnavs are far more dangerous than phones. Both are dangerous to use when you should be concentrating on the road, but satnavs not only distract your concentration from the traffic like a phone, but they also make you unfocus your vision from the road, as well as creating a blind spot!

I will put my hands up and admit to using a phone in the past, not since they made it illegal, but I was perfectly capable of talking and driving at the same time, after all I have been talking all my life, doing it while driving is perfectly natural so why is it different if you are holding a small plastic box in your hand? What makes that any more dangerous than holding a cigarrette in your hand while talking? Or picking your nose?

Yes, I do believe that using phones while driving causes accidents. But only by people that shouldnt be driving in the first place. Ifyou cannot concentrate on the road while talking then you should not be driving in the first place. If they banned phones and eating while driving then why the hell havent they banned smoking while driving, or opperating a satnav??? Total double standards.

[Andy FZS]

How far do you go? Does a sat nav district you sufficiently to be a hazard?  Is checking your speedo hazardous? If a hands free phone is a distraction should radios be banned in cars and should passengers sit in silence (wouldn't work with kids) road signs cause you to take your eyes of the road should they be banned? I'm all for some common sense.  I'll have a pint and drive I'll use my hands free phone (voice activated) and drive but driving is dangerous we can try and reduce the risks and if a change in legislation is a benefit then I'm all for it but most of what I hear adds no benefits is not thought out..ok rant over.

[Hedgetrimmer]

Eh? What happened to "new career"? Unless you can get paid for arguing the pros and cons of sat navs? 
 
I once looked through the Daily Telegraph A-Z of Careers, and didn't find anything that interested me 
 
So I work in the bike industry instead