Preparing for a driving test? Get lessons from a qualified instructor to make sure you pass with flying colours!

Bad habits creep into everything we do. It’s only human nature to want to cut corners and streamline our daily tasks, but unfortunately this is not always good news for our driving. Safety on the road is paramount and each time we sit in the driver’s seat of a car we should be mindful of the potential dangers. Making sure you have formed good driving habits will help avoid the temptation to fall into bad practices, and driving lessons from a qualified instructor are the best way to learn.

Many people take driving lessons when they are a complete beginner. This is extremely advisable and will set you up with a great foundation. Then many people gradually drop the lessons in order to simply practice and get to grips with the road by themselves. This too is fine, but unfortunately by cutting an instructor out of your progress, mistakes and errors are going to creep into your driving. Now if there is nobody there to point things out to you, there is no way you are going to know where your weaknesses are. Ideally, it would be great to get sporadic lessons during the first few months of driving. During this period you will move from being a terrified beginner who needs to mechanically think though each movement, to a driver who can observe their road surroundings much better and thus begin to drive much more fluidly and naturally. An instructor’s input during this phase will be very beneficial.

Failing that, and with the prospect of a driving test looming on the horizon, many people have to take emergency action. Hence the pre-test lesson panic that frequently ensues. Leaving a pre-test to the night before the actual test is not the wisest move. If an instructor finds bad habits that must be rectified to drive safely and securely, then it will be impossible to break a habit right before a driving test. When we become more comfortable driving, the technicalities involved become automatic. We don’t actively think through what we are doing, but instinctively go through the motions. And this is when bad habits become so hard to break. Get recommendations for a good instructor that has experience dealing with non-beginners. A tough instructor may seem like a hugely negative force when they sit in your car and begin to point out all the mistakes you are making, but take a deep breath and listen to what they are saying. They are not there to win your friendship. This person is a qualified professional, trained to find the weaknesses and provide the correct course of action to get your driving skills up to speed. Pay heed to the advice they are giving and you will be amazed at what will stay with you.

So check out driving schools in your area, or ask around for some recommended names. A good instructor will fix those habits and instil the confidence and skills needed to help you sail through that driving test, and continue to drive safely in the future!

HelenElizabeth is an Irish writer available for proofreading, editing, and general writing work.