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! 😱

@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

Thats what I was told getting my UK license in 2002

You definitely don't need to put the handbrake on in an automatic.

No idea about the shoulder check, I still do it.

I find I need to shoulder check more now there is less variety in car colours - in mirrors I have a stream of dark coloured BMWs or white Audis passing me, difficult to keep track of which was "last" in the queue, were there 8 or 9?

I've been surprised by something turning up in my blindspot twice in 20 years of driving so I'd say I'm fairly aware, but don't trust my memory now cars are much more samey!

I passed my test 4 years ago and you definitely should check your blind spots when joining motorway etc.

Hand break I have to agree with you dd, I literally take my hand break off when I start driving and put it back on when I’ve parked the car. The rules changes and as long as you are in control off the car and don’t roll back when doing a hill start, using the foot break is enough. I don’t know how to hill start with the hand break 😳

When I first learned to drive I was taught to look over shoulder. When I did lessons more recently (to add another category to the licence), I was told that I should be checking all mirrors regularly enough that I'm constantly aware of what's behind me and therefore a shoulder check is unnecessary. That's what I've mostly been doing in the years since my first test anway and it makes sense. There can't be anything in my blind spot that I don't already know about.

I learnt in an automatic recently and was told to always put my handbrake on if I’m completely stopped rather than just pauses (eg at a red light) in case someone goes into the back of me

I had a very experienced instructor less than 5 years ago and he always told me to do shoulder checks whether we were moving or not! Yanbu!

@GabsAlot

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

Yeah that's happened to me as well. I always shoulder check after that, gave me the fright after just using mirrors quite happily.

I passed in 2007 and was only taught to check over my shoulder if moving off the right hand lanes of a roundabout when crossing lanes. Otherwise just mirrors, I was taught that I needed to make it really obvious I was looking in my mirrors every few seconds. Mirror - signal - manoeuvre. Handbrake whenever at a complete stop but that was a manual.

A friend of mine did the police driving awareness course last year sometime after being caught speeding. I remember him telling me afterwards that the participants on the course were all told that if you are stopped for more than 3 seconds, you should put your handbrake on.

The number of times a shoulder check before changing land on motorway has saved me feom serious accidents is more than enough for me to continue to do it.

Sure check your mirror but I remeber the rule being around every 30secs, well on a motorway even if you check and think its clear in a split second a car can move over esp when its busy.

In London I always check esp for cyclists, they are called blind spots for a reason!

I passed my first test abroad and had to take a U.K. test after I’d been back for a year.

So I had some lessons with an ex police officer instructor, who once made me do a hill start over and over again. To me I’d done it perfectly, couldn’t understand what I’d done wrong.

Eventually he said, ‘You didn’t look over your shoulder. That would have been an instant fail.’
Needless to say, I never forgot again.

Definitely wrong, especially on not checking blind spots. I have had to hold my breath as someone started to come into my lane without checking their blind spot on a 70mph A road. On the hand break issue, my driving instructor didn't teach me to use hand break unless on hill starts. I use it now but not everytime.

Ok. This is something I’ve just discovered - brand new manual 4x4 car - it automatically applies the hand brake when stopped at junctions lights etc.
So someone thinks it is still a good idea to apply a handbrake when momentarily stopped as in at traffic lights in a manual car, and not just when stopped as in parked up.

[quote Hobnobsandbroomstick]@BillMasen

How do you check your blind spot without looking over your shoulder? Genuine question.[/quote]
I have blind spot mirrors that help. Also having your normal wing mirrors properly adjusted - so many people have them wrong.

No shoulder checks - as a regular motorway driver that chills me to the bone. Maybe there is an explanation for how bloody awful a lot of drivers seem to be getting.

In fact, "blind spots" are a thing of the past! On any car or mini-van built in the last ten or twenty years (assuming it has a right side mirror, which everyone should have), the mirrors can be adjusted so there are no blind spots. How?

The first step is to adjust the rear-view mirror to do exactly that - give you a view directly to the rear. Position it so that it best covers your view straight out the rear window. Don't bother tilting it to one side or the other to assist with your view of traffic to either side of your car. That's what the side mirrors are for.

Next, lean your head until it almost touches the driver's side window. Then, adjust your left side mirrors so that you can just barely see the side of your car, and no more than that.

Lean your head to the right towards the middle of the car and adjust the right side mirror so that you can just barely see the right side of your car. You should NOT be able to see the side of your car when your head is perfectly upright. After all, why would you want to? When was the last time your own car ran into itself?

Check for blind spots by doing the following: While driving along a four-lane road in the right lane, note a vehicle in the left lane coming up to pass you from behind. Without moving your head, glance in the rear-view mirror and follow it as it approaches your car in the left lane. Just before it disappears from your view in the rear-view mirror, glance to the left side mirror. There it is. Now follow that vehicle in the side mirror as it begins to pass you. Then, just before it disappears from the side mirror, you should see it with your peripheral vision. Notice that without even turning your head, you never had a blind-spot. Then try it with the right side mirror. Watch as you pass a vehicle travelling in the right lane go from your peripheral vision, to your right side mirror, to your rear-view mirror. Again, no blind-spot. If there is a blind spot for even a fraction of a second, your side mirror adjustment needs some fine-tuning.

This procedure should be done every time you get into a car in which you have not adjusted the mirrors. It only takes seconds, and can make a big difference.

Far too many drivers do not use their side mirrors enough when changing lanes, instead relying on turning their heads and looking over their shoulder. The problem is as they are not set or adjusted properly - resulting in blind spots - the driver does not trust using the side mirrors. But, once they are adjusted properly, using them and trusting them to give you the information you require will become a habit.

With the mirrors adjusted properly, a shoulder check to change lanes becomes more of a "shoulder peek", meaning you don't have to turn your head so far. That means your peripheral vision will still provide a view in front of you - no "blind spot" in front of you either, meaning less chance of rear-ending a vehicle that has suddenly stopped.

As a side benefit, with the side mirrors tilted out farther, you will no longer have to worry about the bright lights of a vehicle behind you glaring in your eyes.

It may take a little while to feel comfortable with not being able to see the side of your own car in the side mirrors (if you really need to see it every now and then, just tilt your head a little!). Also, it may take a little time to stop relying on the side mirrors for looking to the rear. But once you get used to it, you'll love it. You'll feel much more confident and comfortable in traffic.

I passed 6/7 years ago and was taught the same as you, OP. I failed one of my tests for not checking the blind spot...

@Intelinside57

No shoulder checks - as a regular motorway driver that chills me to the bone. Maybe there is an explanation for how bloody awful a lot of drivers seem to be getting.

I find that over the shoulder is only really necessary on short lived duel carriageways. Long stretches of road, then mirrors are fine because you get a chance to look more often.

It seems to be ok to not put your handbrake on if you are in an automatic. I was never taught to, and passed recently. It’s only now that I do do it, when stopped at lights or in heavy traffic.

[quote RedMarauder]@BillMasen lots of modern cars, whether automatic or manual, have electronic handbrakes. Depending on the model if you just brake you should automatically activate the handbrake.[/quote]
One of my cars is auto with electronic handbrake ad it doesn’t put it on if I’m sitting at lights with my foot on the brake. Only when I’m parked up. Same as every previous auto with elec brake I’ve had

Really interesting how many people have been taught differently and think anyone not doing what they do is dangerous

Nicknacky
In my advanced driving course (Police) many years ago we were taught not to do a shoulder check but to be checking our mirrors so frequently that I am aware of what is behind me. I still to this day only use my mirrors

This is what I do. Although I shoulder check if I’m pulling off ( and in other situations where it’s warranted) I don’t when changing lanes on the motorway. I constantly check my mirrors
and am aware of where cars are before I change lanes. I also check both my side and rear view mirror with a head wobble so I can see my ‘blind spot’. My Dad told me to drive as though I was a wanted criminal. He would put his hand over the rear view mirror and I’d have to tell him what was behind me.

I literally check my rear view mirror every few seconds if I’m on a busy motorway.

I think shoulder checking on a motorway would be dangerous. Happy to be corrected by police drivers or driving instructors though.

The first time you are about to change lanes and a motorcycle spears right next to your window and you had no idea it was there, is the last time you trust mirror only checks.

I use my hand brake at known long lights, probably with the engine off. Especially canal bridge or level crossings! Also hill starts at lights