To ask for tolerance towards learner drivers?

[Ohtobeskiing]

Dd is learning to drive and as well as her lessons she is now practising in my car. We were out this morning and experienced some awful behaviour from other drivers. For example - turning right out of a side road into a main road the driver behind her beeped their horn several times to get her to hurry up. This of course just made her anxious and she stalled. The car is clearly marked with 'L' plates. Is it so difficult to be considerate to an inexperienced driver?

In terms of liability on the road, learner drivers are judged by the same standards as every other driver. Whilst some allowances should be made (eg not honking if a learner stalls at traffic lights) no one should be on the road and driving in rush hour who isn't competent to be there. Practice on quiet residential streets, or even an empty car park until you can drive without hindering or endangering others.

if you are taking her out during rush hour, what do you expect ?

Really? So you want someone to learn to drive and pass their test without ever driving in, and getting used to, rush hour traffic? Or, how about learners practice in rush hour traffic and other drivers give them space and respect?

Even if they are competent and the instructor takes them out, garuntee you they will stall and be hesitant if people are up their back sides or honking.

your holding yourselves up and I have little sympathy. don't blame the learner for how you are making them feel.

you can be as competent as you like on quiet roads and industrial estates but until you practice in rush hour attitudes and impatience are things you have yet to master dealing with until you do ot.

I agree with Giles. Again.

I have recent experience

Maryz Driving instructors are supposed to have a removable sign (often on top of the car) which is used to show if a learner is driving - so they don't have to remove their paint but they do have to remove the sign

The simple answer is don't use sticky L signs - use magnetic ones!

People are intolerant of learners and we all had to learn once BUT I do think their should be a minimum standard before they go out on the road - as others have said there are some awful learners/instructors out there

Yes there are ghost. but if you are new to learning and have nothing to compare to, you are pretty much just gonna do as you are asked to do. we put our trust in them.after all.

poor instruction is not the fault of the learner.

and whether it's a bad instructor or a crappy learner. neither situation is helped by being an arse.

My brother in law is a traffic cop in the nw. Ilove being in the car with him. Even when he's off duty he's on duty and calls in any terrible behaviour with reg number etc. He once had me signal to a driver to stop texting. I was given the middle finger. Bil then passed me his badge to hold up against the window. :o He also pulls over other drivers giving learners abuse as it can be dangerous.

On my very first lesson (mid 90's) I drove down the A34 at rush hour. It's supposedly one of the busiest routes in Europe. An ambulance came speeding up through the traffic and I calmly pulled into the bus lane and then navigated around 3 roundabouts. My instructor said I was so calm that he wanted to see if I could navigate the roundabout system straight away. I surprised myself.
I left school with no qualifications and felt like a loser. But driving came so easy to me. My instructor only ever needed to show me a manoeuvre once (well explain it) and that was it. By my 8th lesson he said he wanted to do a mock test which I passed. He said another 3 hours and he was confident I would be ready. I was only on a £55 weekly trainee wage and couldn't afford to finish my lessons. I asked my mum to lend me the £70+ to finish and she refused. My instructor even offered to let her pay at a later date and she said no. So that was it. No more lessons.
Eventually many years later my friends dh let me book a taster lesson with him. I developed the flu and was forced to finish work (I was 8 months pg and apparently they can force you to start if you become ill anyway) I asked if I could delay the lesson until I felt with it. He refused and wouldn't refund my money. I felt like I had a head like cotton wool and I just wasn't "there". He spent the whole lesson on the phone. I stalled at lights for the first time and he ignored me. I was panicking as the lights changed twice and other drivers were going bonkers. I was in tears. Another instructor pulled up and bawled him out. Nothing. The other instructor told me to ignore the other drivers and talked me through the pedals and I moved off safely. I drove back home sobbing and got out the car and haven't dared try again since. I'm 37 and feel panicky when I think of learning now. I wish I had my pre child fearlessness back.

I never honk or glare at learner drivers. My learning days are 30 years behind me, but a little courtesy doesn't cost anything.

Oh my god. This thread is hilarious.

ALL AUDI AND BMW drivers are twatish?

Thanks for that :-) I have an Audi, new, in perfect nick. I drive perfectly well and nicely thank you very much!
And I'm a new driver!

(It was in the 15year old Clio I had an issue!)

My aunt drives her BMW nicely too!

maryz

I kind of don't see the issue either. but then I do try and treat all other car drivers the same. I don't get to close. I don't honk. if I need to wait i wait . makes no difference to me if they are learners or not.

but the highway code has the final say i guess. but I don't think to myself. not a learner right here we go....

I knew someone who was a driving instuctor, he had one of those magnetic toblerones for the roof of his car with the name on etc. If he forgot to take it into the house at night he would find it on random other cars up the road in the morning.

If learners don't practice during rush hour there will be recently qualified drivers out in the rush hour with no experience!

Yes, we should all be more tolerant, and yes, I try to be, and no, I am not always. And that's probably true of us all. The really impatient types are not here in the first place.

I learnt to drive during rush hour, because 1) My driving instructor also had a full time day time job so that was best times for him. and 2) I'd much rather be used to the busy roads than learn at always quiet times then get hit with rush hour traffic and panic.

That said, I think the pass plus motorway part should be compulsory, as many new drivers pass their test and are left to is with no real knowledge of how the motorway works which can totally freak them out.

*left to IT not is.

I think there is a big difference between someone learning about driving in rush hour, and someone who is still at the v early stages who needs to be on a tiny side road being taught clutch control and how to change gear. And I don't mean 'need' because they might slow traffic, I mean 'need' because they can't do it yet at all. However in that scenario I pity the learner because the instructor is a twat.

only mways aren't a specific new driver issue imo. There's loads of people who have been driving years and even decades who are entirely clueless but unlike a new driver think they are fantastic drivers and are knowledgeable mway drivers when they are actually dangerously shit.

I had a twat pull onto a roundabout right in front of me on my test (I was coming round to her right and she entered the roundabout when there wasn't enough of a gap). I had to brake so harshly to avoid hitting her that it was almost an emergency stop. The examiner in the debrief after said it was her error and I dealt with it appropriately, and I finally passed but she could have cost me my test for the sake of a couple of seconds.

We have a particular junction close by that seems to be a favourite with learners. I suspect it's a good place to practice hill starts. The problem is it's traffic light controlled with sensors. After the lights turn to green if you don't move quickly enough they turn straight back to red. Patience does wear thin when you've sat behind a learner for three light cycles. My ire is mainly directed at the instructors rather than the drivers though.

I'm driving again after 25 years (even though I passed my test at 17 and drove everywhere for roughly 10 years). Now at 51 I have to drive to a new job, it's hell out there. Roads seem busier, everyone in a huge hurry etc, it wasn't like this in the 80's!!! I started a new job today and was more terrified about the journey to and from that starting the new job!! I can certainly sympathise with learner drivers.

No, YANBU to ask for tolerance of new drivers; they're learning, mostly they drive carefully and within their limits. No issues with them at all.

However, some of the supposedly experienced and competent people in the passenger seat accompanying learner drivers need to take a look at themselves. I had the misfortune to be driving behind a learner not so long ago, in what passes for the rush hour in these parts - sleepy little town, but two primary schools, and a busy level crossing which closes every ten minutes or so. In the space of less than 200 yards, he'd blocked a roundabout by not checking his exit was clear, driven through a red light on a pedestrian crossing, and turned into a side road without signalling, slowing down or (apparently) looking. He slammed on the brakes inches from the parent (who had right of way) crossing the road with his DC.

He parked up, I parked up, and off he went to his train. His mother (who was the accompanying experienced driver) must have seen me looking like because she started gushing to me about how good I'd been not to hassle him, he wasn't really ready to be driving but he wanted to learn so much, he was so confident, he'd always been a confident child, she didn't think that we should hold back our children, should we, and it'd be so convenient if he could drive by the time he went to uni. I managed not to slap her, but she got the Hard Stare, and was told that he was a fucking danger on the road, no matter how confident he was.

Ohtobeskiing, thank you! I keep telling myself that, it's the only thing that gets me back in the driver's seat . Best of luck to your DD.

YANBU. My DF is a driving instructor and when he's out driving in his school car he gets idiots overtaking and tailgating him constantly just because they assume it's a learner driver in the car. It's nothing to do with how well he's driving.

What lurked said. You can drive in rush hour on busy main roads when you're more experienced. Common sense.