Parents and Guardians

Learner Checklist

They might be in a rush to start tackling motorways and other high speed roads, but we need to make sure we’re taking Learners on these on at the right time in their development.

Check

Speak to your instructor – do they think it’s time to take private practice onto high speed roads? What advice can they give you?
Has your Learner had a number of lessons already on other high speed roads (i.e. dual carriageways)?
Have they practised joining, acclimatising, changing lanes, planning ahead, overtaking and exiting? Our research identified these as areas of concern/’fear’ for pupils and ADIs!
What preparation or briefings have you given them about the distinct risks and challenges of high speed roads, and how to manage them?
Have you taken them through a checklist for motorway and other high speed road driving? This includes:

Vehicle readiness
Driver readiness
Journey planning
Breakdown equipment and know-how
Traffic
Weather
Tracing – letting others know where you are, your ETA and any issues

Drive over to the Pupil section for more learning on the above topics.

Private Practice Toolkit

To best support our learners and new drivers in their driver development (as well as ensuring they have training from a professional instructor) they also need plenty of private practice with you. The more practice they have, the more experience they build, and the safer they’ll be once licenced.

Once ready for driving on high speed roads (always check in with their instructor about what they should be focusing on in private practice), just because you can’t take them on motorways, doesn’t mean you can’t take them on a number of other high speed roads to gain that valuable experience. Dual carriageways, high speed rural roads and urban expressways are just as useful in developing their experience of driving in a high speed context.

We’ve pulled together some resources you may find useful in private practice – and to make sure we keep it safe for you, your Learner and other road users.