To think these driving instructors were teaching students wrong?

[HerNeighbourTotoro]

I live near a road that is one of the routes popular with driving instructors.
The other day I was driving behind an L car (instructor and a student) and I wonder why he would teach a student to rive like this- or am I wrong?

The road is in many places wide enough for two cars driving from opposite directions to pass each other, but most of the time there is not a lot of traffic so you can comfortably drive in the middle'ish. There are cars parked on both sides, and on occasions if another car comes from the opposite direction there is plenty of space to pull up to the side to let them pass and then continue.

The L in front of me was however driving into every single bigger gap. There were no cars coming from the opposite direction (they are the red line on the diagram, except the road is long so there were loads of these). The first time I thought they were parking but didnt have the indicator on, but then they pulled out in front of me, they kept on doing that the whole length of the road, slowing down each time and then driving to the end of the 'gap' and pulling out. Also driving between 5-10 mph.

Scenario B:
Driving behind another L, with one other car behind me. Every time a car would come from the opposite direction the L would instantly pull up to make room for the upcoming car... except that there were two cars behind them- me and the person behind me, with often nowhere to go. I was always taught to assess, if there is a 'single' car coming from the opposite direction and 1 or more from the other, then whichever side had fewer cars tries to make space for the side that has more cars on their side- obviously depending on the room you and they have (so if we have 2 cars and loads of space and the other car doesnt, we make room, etc). This L was however pulling into tiny gaps every time a car appeared on the horizon, even though they had two cars behind, and the one car coming from the opposite direction had much more space on their side, leaving me and the guy behind me puzzled and either hoping that the oncoming car would clock in and make room for us or everyone getting stuck if they were too close and then trying to reverse into another gap. After 4th time (!) when the L pulled up I just drove by, the guy behind me followed, so we left the L behind, the oncoming car made room for us without problems and we continued our journey without the L blocking us. I just wondered if this is something that is being taught to learners here?

A. Sounds like they were practicing, i.e. just getting comfortable with manoeuvring while driving which is a skill.
B. You and the other driver behind sound quite impatient. Who has right of way is a lot more nuanced than counting how many cars are going each way.
I'll add that the highway code covers this, and is updated frequently, so what a lot of us "were always taught" is actually out of date. Drivers are supposed to keep themselves updated from the Code, not mumsnet.

This. Youre supposed to stick left unless youre overtaking or going around something.
Most people ignore that and just go straight when the road is clear, but thats not what youre supposed to do..

Both sound like the driving instructor was following the letter of the law. Which is what the learners will need to pass. In example A, you should pull over to let the oncoming traffic pass.

In example 1, why didn't you just pass them when they pulled over?

Yes, but you probably didn't actually have right of way, especially if you'd encroached on the wrong side of the road.

Option b sounds fine to me, all of the cars should be responsible for making sure their way is clear on a narrow road or one with lots of parked cars on. If the next passing place was only big enough for one car then you should have waited until it was available for you before you started to manoeuvre around the parked car, it doesn’t really matter what the learner was doing. There is a single track road with intermittent passing places near me where people seem to think following the car in front bumper to bumper will give them priority but just ends up clogging the road up with queues of traffic from both sides.

I get it OP, and when I was taught about 10 years ago I was told to absolutely not do this but to 'make good progress' and not hold up other traffic unnecessarily. If they were practicing pulling into a space they would have indicated and let you pass. They were clearly just driving into every passing place despite cars not coming towards them, then weaving back out again which is confusing to other road users. If the spaces between cars were for instance 7 or 8 cars long an instructor might suggest moving slightly to the left as they continue at the same speed, but certainly not weaving in and out at angles and I've never seen a learner driver do that.