CCL - Reality or Fantasy?

Taking driver training into the future we must have CCL - bold statement, but one that seems to appear a lot.

So must we?

Well that depends on the driver training industry. For years we have been sending safe drivers out to fight the battlefield alone and shockingly they survived. However we do know there are small group who were either blagging it - seriously? Or they just happened to have enough knowledge and car control to carry them through - most likely.  Do they end up being the unlucky drivers though, well not necessarily, its long been known that educational background, financial background and criminal background plays a part too.

Are we led by the crowd, does our behaviour reflect our peer group, certainly it does but not necessarily when out of that environment. So playing with the crowd does not reflect a solo performance. How can the driver who is going to be a statistic be identified, well if we knew the answer to that we could intervene surely, actually it's not that easy. Teaching by rote can be a useful tool but there is no responsibility attached to that, so along came client centered learning which in fact is a dual tool. Client centered reflects value for money, the aim of the DVSA. Client centered also reflects client dominated learning.  Transfer of responsibility from trainer to learner does in fact increase the tools for managing driving when alone.  So by creating environment, time and real world driving scenarios during training the novice has an image of how they would deal with a situation post test, this involves more q & a than many previously used and it also involves more time parked at the side of the road.  Unfortunately many see being parked discussing a situation with a pupil as 'not driving', so a negative, when in reality a visual image to aid learning and then developed is more effective in terms of appreciating responsibility and effect, a positive.

However when the driver cub plays with the driver lions they can get into deep trouble, one that inexperience cannot tackle, because the events happen so fast. Experienced drivers have more tools available to them, but their response to a potentially life threatening situation is based on two things, testosterone and oestrogen.

It is a fact that hormone surges do affect out behaviour, response time and understanding, when travelling at speed, using a 60 mph rural lane as an example, distance covered can be too great for reaction. Hormone surges do not affect everyone and age is a relevant factor.

So is CCL a reality?

Well yes an additional aid to keep someone safe has to be a reality, if one life was saved through the process that would make it worthwhile

Is CCL a fantasy?

The predominant age of those taking part in developing CCL for use in driver training were male over the age of 45 so not in the group affected by natural factors (hormones). So how much real life that is not nurture but nature was factored in to the decision to change driver training approaches?

The higher levels of the GDE are dealing with post test responsibility, however behaviour is also affected by consequence, if there has been no consequence then complacency will become part of driving and that involves autopilot driving, so the driver who feels that they are less competent than their friends or family will be more attentive to their driving, they may be less able to tackle risk so choose situations where their risk is reduced, so busy times rather than quiet ones.

A natural personal responsibility is noted to change with experience, when moving from teens into 20's and 30's after this point moving into 50's and later years drivers tend to have less daily pressure, their driving becomes more relaxed and so does their ability to deal with pressure from other drivers, hence the 40 mph in a 60 mph brigade. The risk in this group is potential health problems that affect mood and behaviour.  Road rage can easily be borne from an un-diagnosed medical condition that affects the natural chemical make up of the body.


How can client centered learning help instructors move away from traditional methods of rote?
By taking control and not misunderstanding the watered down coaching methods that have come to the fore.

Coaching the Instructor

There have been a lot of articles regarding coaching the learner, the mis-interpretation of coaching and it's meaning and worth is incredible, the most interesting one that caught my eye was the question to a learner, what would you like to do today, that's like asking a teenager which chore they want to do. Coaching has to have boundaries to promote success, it still needs structure otherwise there can be no specific target, each learner is an individual and will have very different goals, however the driving test has a syllabus to be achieved and to do that some subjects that a learner would choose to reject have to be adhered to.

Instructor: What would you like to do today?
Learner: Not emergency stop

or

Instructor: Today we will be covering the emergency stop exercise what do you think this will involve?
Learner: Braking really quickly

The second question encourages engagement and it is from this point that the learning process can take place and be structured with the aid of the learner to achieve the target set from the learning to drive syllabus.

Positive encouragement empowers the learner, it is also the first step towards pride in achievement, learning to drive has for some become an uphill climb, with peers putting their pressure on the novice and family reminiscing about how quickly they learned to drive, the novice driver then feels pressured to run before they can walk.  Although this is not the same in all cases it is in some and that is too many.

So who encourages the ADI, fills them with enthusiasm and helps them, well in the life coaching fraternity we would have a mentor, spend time discussing with them basic client details while remaining in the confines of confidentiality. So why have the bigger organisations embraced a mentor system for employees and franchisees, because it is known to work, the mentor doesn't need to be another coach.

The mentor scheme for learner drivers has been very successful in other countries, but would it work in the UK, the majority group of learner drivers, based on research shows that learning to drive isn't taken as seriously as passing the test, the school system carries some responsibility for this as they use the test as the carrot for study, are we guilty of the same?

In one country in particularly the learner has to accrue 120 hours mandatory learner practice, the supervising driver would have taken part in a training programme themselves at their own cost, for those who do not have this aid within the family network there are volunteer programmes where someone would sit with a learner driver. For those with no opportunity to take part in either option they would be expected to have those 120 hours with a qualified instructor.  All of this supports the mentor system.

So if we are moving into client centered scenarios why are we not enforcing this type of support for the trainer and the trainee, the growth of chat rooms and forums for professional trainers, suggests a need for this face to face a question, genuinely asked would receive a better more helpful response than a query posed on a social networking site, where some would ridicule lack of knowledge.

Choosing a mentor is more difficult, it is better to be someone you are not close to, or even know well so a respectful relationship can be formed. Mentor groups for novice drivers who are looking for support outside their own personal network tend to have a more serious view when talking about driving and responsibility.

Other EU countries use a mentor system, one which I have written about before, and still fail to see how it could benefit a learner with horror stories and scare tactics. They haven't embraced the mentor for the tutor, which works well in other walks of life and in some non European countries. Of course a mentor is a chosen path but the results in areas where mentors are accepted shows greater strength in the tutor.

Mentoring systems in a classroom environment drew in level 4 of the GDE matrix, however in the UK because we have moved away from the traditional school which companies such as BSM were known for this becomes harder, the EU wish is for driving schools as opposed to individuals to become the norm is likely to be a long way off as the parliamentary process in the UK is a very slow process, with road safety figures falling to a statistically attractive figure it seems this is not so high on the agenda.

It's all about the money?

Now that bought a few tuneful lines to mind, thanks Meja, but it seems that is the motivation behind everything, finance, chasing the dollar, pound, euro, of course we do not want to fall backwards into dependency and financial crutches drifting into depression and austerity measures determined by others, but for some reason the human side is missing from the research and reports that follow any investigation into road safety.  Are you practicing your career as a driver educator to save lives, or to save public money, or just because it's what you do for a living?

Graduated driving licences, have a solid background in road safety, yet that isn't strictly speaking true, in Australia the system is under review and when you take into account that in Australia there are 2 people per square kilometre of land compared to the UK which has 256 people per square kilometre of land, you would expect these restrictions to have some impact. When an area is more densely populated GDL systems are less effective according to the EU. So could this extreme shake up which is going to cost the tax payer far more than they save be worth it.

Although the EU refer to the implementation of the GDE matrix in Norway it is also noted that the studies will not be conclusive for some time to come, if ever, as in an evolving world anything can change, this is clear when we have a quickly advancing introduction to the driverless car. Although post test training compulsory or otherwise is shown to have an influence on risky behaviour, there is scientific evidence to suggest that the maturing mind and storage of information in the brain would result in this outcome anyway, hence practice makes perfect.

Night time restriction is one of the more popular points amongst road safety professionals, but, this carries a risk in itself, GDL requires night time driver training to be part of the learning process, yet as time passes without practice this skill will diminish and in some be forgotten, if the novice new driver is to have the training and then be denied night time driving for a probationary period that skill will be lost.

As far as land mass goes, the UK has exceptional figures for road fatalities amongst the under 25's, being the 22nd largest population in the world we are clearly doing something right, whereas for a country like Australia that has been using the GDL system for sometime to revise the probationary period with a view to extending it, then that points to it being less effective than they had wished. With road fatalities falling across the world, this is more about economy than it is about education, particularly as in some of those countries you can buy a driving licence at the corner shop.

Public information films have a proven track record for being effective when tackling various behaviour, this applies to all EU countries, the young girl who was reconstructed after hitting a tree is one that many people remember and had a very positive effect on speed in built up areas for sometime, however the generation now to be guided with good education are of an age that hasn't seen this.  Advertising is expensive, and a hearty campaign would be likely to see the cost exceed the saving, which again begs the question is this about the preservation of life, or money.

The root of the problem frequently sees a finger pointed towards the trainer, and in countries outside of the EU that have effective train the trainer courses in place, road death and education has improved.  So are we starting at the bottom and working up or should we be at the top working down. The test for all new drivers is the ultimate point, where they are then able to have an easier life in terms of mobility, the UK driving test was deemed fit for purpose by the EURSC and covers more bases in the time frame than many other countries, with Sweden having a similar testing process. With these two countries always vying for top spot in the road safety charts then surely we should be looking to other countries to find what element there system presents. Interestingly if we were outside of the EU looking in, we would still be doing well, research says figures would continue to fall as the UK becomes more heavily populated and road space a greater premium. So are we taking part in a compulsory task or is it a necessary one.