To think what the driving instructor has told Dd is wrong?

[JacobReesMogadishu]

Apparently you never do a shoulder check unless you’re stopped. So if you’re changing lanes on a motorway or coming down a slip road you just use your mirrors and don’t do a quick shoulder check. I know it’s a long time since I took my test but I was told you must because of blind spots.

Second thing is apparently when stopped at traffic lights, etc you don’t need to put your hand brake on. Again I was told you must so if someone rear ends you hopefully you don’t crash forward into the person in front. She’s driving an automatic if that makes a difference.

So last week when driving with me she was stopped at lights with quite a hill start and hadnt got the hand brake on. It’s a good job she is in an automatic or she’d have rolled backwards when she took her foot of the brake to move forward!

She has her test in less than two weeks! 😱

So it seems current thinking (albeit not consistent) is no shoulder check and no handbrake in an auto.

It seems I’m accidentally broadly up to date

If you’re changing lanes, current advice is ‘Rule 133. If you need to change lane, first use your mirrors and if necessary take a quick sideways glance to make sure you will not force another road user to change course or speed. When it is safe to do so, signal to indicate your intentions to other road users and when clear, move over.’
Full shoulder watching and looking directly behind you whilst accelerating is now discouraged. It doesn’t matter what anyone else does or used to do. As long as you Mirror Signal Manoeuvre you are covered. The reason they teach this is because a LOT of driving tests are failed because of hesitation, and looking around for so long adds to that.
The instructor is right! Look round for big blind spots, but in the mentioned situations she shouldn’t have any. Handbrake is correct.
You should check blind spots by checking sometimes this will involve looking behind (reversing) but never moving forwards whilst looking backwards.

Assume the qualified instructor is correct and all the non-qualified posters are incorrect. He wouldn’t have any pupils passing their test if he didn’t know what he was doing.
I was also taught many moons ago when shoulder checks and handbrake use was essential but things change all the time.

I passed four years ago in an automatic. I was never taught to put handbreak on at lights and never have.

I was also taught to just use the mirrors. I remember my partner disagreeing with the instructor on this. Instructor said shoulder check causes more accidents than it avoids. Not sure how true this is but I passed my test on the first go so assume they don't expect it.

DS1 recently passed was told not to shoulder check when the car is moving. My mirrors have blind spot lights as well as small blind spot mirrors in the corner.

Ok, I will tell Dd I’m wrong and to listen to her instructor. Personally I’ll carry on shoulder checking.

OP please trust the instructor, they are trained to do this. And given her test is in 2 weeks, you have clearly trusted them until now. Let her get on with it and don't confuse her. Good luck dd

@BillMasen

No she’s being taught correctly, at least the handbrake. Automatics cant roll back so it’s correct to sit with your foot on the bare until you pull off.

As for the shoulder check, I imagine all car mirrors cover blind spots better now and whilst moving, looking over your shoulder is more likely to make you drift. I learnt in 1991 and was told this

I learned in 2002 and was told emphatically to always check my blind spot.

If it helps I passed in an automatic in March this year and you definitely need to check your blind spots. The handbrake is not an issue in an automatic.

I learned in an auto 10 years ago and was taught to use the handbrake at traffic lights. I still do - it feels safer and I really hate having someone’s brake lights glaring in my face so I’m not going to do it to someone else.

Or try use your mirrors more often and you will realise you don’t need a shoulder check?

@Nicknacky

Did you use a shoulder check before your advanced driving course with the police?

i was taight 14 years ago in an auto and had to use the handbrake at traffic lights

also shoulder checks

hobnobsandbroomstick Yes, because that’s what I was taught to do when I passed my test in 2004.

Highway Code:

“Rule 114
You MUST NOT

*use any lights in a way which would dazzle or cause discomfort to other road users, including pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders

*use front or rear fog lights unless visibility is seriously reduced. You MUST switch them off when visibility improves to avoid dazzling other road users (see Rule 226).

In stationary queues of traffic, drivers should apply the parking brake and, once the following traffic has stopped, take their foot off the footbrake to deactivate the vehicle brake lights. This will minimise glare to road users behind until the traffic moves again.“

also if i hadnt shoulder checked last week i would have gone into a car so i dont see how it can be harmful

I was taught to use my mirrors frequently and told not to do a shoulder check.

No to over shoulder checks whilst changing lanes. I would think that’s actually quite dangerous tbh.

GabsALot But if you had been checking your mirrors more frequently then you would have seen them?

The point about the glare from brake lights when using the foot brake is a good point. Someone was frothing about this on the local fb page the other week.

@BillMasen

No she’s being taught correctly, at least the handbrake. Automatics cant roll back so it’s correct to sit with your foot on the bare until you pull off.

As for the shoulder check, I imagine all car mirrors cover blind spots better now and whilst moving, looking over your shoulder is more likely to make you drift. I learnt in 1991 and was told this

I’m in my early 20s so took my lessons a few years ago at 17 - my driving instructor was heavily insistent on a shoulder check (Bill Plant)

I’m sure I was told to check over the shoulder for blind spot before switching lanes ? This was like 15 plus years ago tho when I learned

I do a lot of motorway driving an always check like that before moving lanes , there have absolutley been times in heavier traffic when Iv seen nothing in the mirror and then a car to my side when checking over shoulder

@Boulshired

DS1 recently passed was told not to shoulder check when the car is moving. My mirrors have blind spot lights as well as small blind spot mirrors in the corner.

I like playing at lighting up those blind spot lights when I am bored in slow traffic on the motorway :)

I was definitely taught to put my hand break on whenever I've come to a complete stop, because if someone does drive into the back of you, you won't travel into the car in front, or into oncoming traffic. It's a bit weird to think because I don't actually think about it now as my car has an automatic hand break, but it definitely puts the hand break on when I have stopped.

I can't remember regarding the blind spot when changing lanes but I feel pretty sure I was taught to do a very quick, brief shoulder check when joining onto a motorway.