Tag Archives: instructor

Driving Lesson in Stoke on Trent – What to expect on your first driving lesson?

When you start learning to drive it’s hard to know what to expect.  This blog post will tell you everything that will happen during your first driving lesson in Stoke with Drive Ahead School of Motoring so you know what to expect and there’ll be no surprises.

Your driving instructor will pick you up from a prearranged location (usually work, home or college).  You’ll need to make sure you bring your driving license along with you, you should bring both parts, the plastic photo card and paper counterpart.  Your driving instructor will then ask you to read a number plate (currently this is from 20 metres, but is shortly to changed to 17.5 metres) in good daylight.  If you normally wear glassed or contacts then you should wear them for your driving lessons, as failure to read the number plate would be mean the lesson cannot go ahead.

Your driving instructor will then normally drive you to a quite location where there are few distractions and not too much traffic, making the learning process easier.  You will then swap round to the drivers seat, but don’t worry, you won’t be expected to start driving immediately.

The first thing to learn on your driving lessons is the cockpit drill.  This is a process of 5 checks that ensure that the car is secure, you are sitting in the right position and can reach all of the controls properly, and see everything you need to see.  Its not the catchiest thing to remember, but the acronym we use DSSSM:

D – Doors

S – Seat

S – Steering

S – Seatbelt

M – Mirrors

I’ll go into the details of each of these checks in a later blog.

Following this your driving instructor will talk you through each of the controls of the car, how to operate them, and what they all do.  These will include feet controls, handbrake, gears, handbrake, steering and indicators.

Once you’ve done this, it’s nearly time to drive!

You will learn all about Mirrors – Signal – Manoeuvre (MSM) which is the building blocks for everything we do.  Your driving instructor will talk you through preparing the car to move, performing the relevant safety checks, before getting the car moving along the road then coming to stop a short time later.  The first few times you try this, your driving instructor will talk you through absolutely everything to help you get going.  As he feels you gaining in confidence, he will start to ask you questions to check you understand what you have learnt throughout your driving lesson, and will then gradually reduce the amount of instruction he gives depending on your ability.

You may do slightly more or less than this, depending on the length of your driving lessons, or your own ability.  At the end of your first driving lesson your driving instructor will recap everything you’ve done and will then book your next driving lesson with you.

Good luck with you learning, and have fun – from all at Drive Ahead School of Motoring

Driving Lessons in Stoke on Trent

 

Congratulations to Justine Pickthorne who passed her driving test on 26th July 2012 at the Stoke on Trent driving test centre.  Justine passed first time with just 3 minor faults.  She took her driving lessons in Stoke on Trent with Drive Ahead’s driving instructor Dave Shannon.  Justine passed with us, following her boyfriend and his brother previously passing with us.

Well done Justine, from Dave and all at Drive Ahead School of Motoring!

Driving Lessons in Stoke on Trent