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the instructor/assessor). It helps identify
any misunderstandings and allows you,
as the instructor, to help fill any gaps in
your pupil’s knowledge and enables you
both to make the most of the training
session. It could mean that you change a
route to include a more suitable learning
environment.
As pupils gain more confidence these
conversations can be replaced by
questions, but questions should only be
used when a pupil has time to think of
an appropriate response and at the
correct time. Just asking questions
requiring a quick response only tests the
power of recall, and not understanding.
Questions requiring greater depth of
thinking may need to be asked while
stationary or when pupils are confident
with driving in heavier traffic.
Another example could be while
waiting to emerge from a side road. If
you can see parked vehicles in the new
road to your left, you could use this as a
risk management opportunity, for
example, ‘Where will the traffic on the
main road be positioned? And “Where
will you have to be positioned once you
emerge [on to main road]?” Chances are
that you and oncoming traffic will be
sharing the same space on the road.
Using such examples can also help
linking the theory to the practical to
reinforce the risks associated with
parking so close to junctions.
A challenging question here could be
to ask who has priority. Learners will
often give the standard reply, “Traffic on
the main road’. This is true but from
experience I have found that they
generally assume it is traffic approaching
from the right. Traffic approaching from
the left which may be on your side of the
road also has priority, because it is on
the main road, therefore to reduce the
risk of causing an obstruction or
something worse, it may be safer to wait
in the side road, even if that means the
occasional ‘beep’ from behind. This is
similar to waiting to turn right at a
controlled crossroads when you can see
there is not enough room to wait in the
middle of the junction, so instead of
proceeding you wait behind the stop line
to avoid blocking the pedestrian areas,
and wait for the traffic to clear and risk
the wrath of the following drivers who,
given the chance, would do exactly what
you are trying to avoid, eg, block the
junction. Making the correct decision not
to proceed requires as much confidence
as knowing when to proceed.
Learners also need to understand how
they can reduce the risk that they may
‘‘
Making the correct decision
not to proceed requires
as much confidence as
knowing when to proceed.
‘‘
pose to other road users while driving,
manoeuvring or parking.
These are examples of risk
management. How you phrase the term
depends on your pupil; after all, using
the same phrase can become tiresome
and if a pupil becomes bored they are in
danger of switching off and losing
concentration – and that’s also a risk!
How you phrase questions will determine
the level of your pupil’s understanding of
a subject, for example, asking a pupil to
identify a hazard (or risk) means asking
them what they have (or haven’t) seen,
but asking them how they are going to
deal with it means a higher level of
thinking.
Other questions relating to risk
management could include:
• What could be the danger/
consequences of….?”
• What could be the disadvantage
of…?”
• Where is the safest place to wait?
• Why do you think it’s a 20mph
speed limit?
If you see other drivers causing an
unnecessary obstruction you could ask
“How could that driver have made that
situation easier?” Or “What would you
have done?” You could then explain what
they have witnessed is poor risk
management.
Teaching pupils to plan 10 or even 15
seconds ahead encourages them to read
the road well ahead and allows time to
adapt to the road and traffic conditions.
It allows time for options, adjustments to
the driving plan and increases the
chances of arriving at hazards in the
correct position, at the correct speed and
in the correct gear, and essentially with
enough time to look. (Position Speed and
Look).
As my old driving instructor told me
many years ago as he puffed away on his
pipe, “Nobody’s ever crashed into fresh
air!”
A useful format for asking thought
provoking questions comes from the
Police publication Roadcraft. On
approach to a hazard is asks the
questions:
• What can be seen?
• What can’t be seen?
• What may reasonably be expected to
happen?
Imagine you are approaching a side
road; what can be seen could be a car
waiting to emerge. What can’t be seen
could be a second car waiting to emerge
behind the first one, but not in view.
Often the danger comes from what can’t
be seen, rather than what can be seen,
such as a car closely following a van
coming towards you in a ‘meeting’
situation.
If you have a few minutes to spare
have a think about how you could apply
this scenario to another hazardous
stretch of road, such as a sharp bend or
a where there are parked cars narrowing
the road.
The same questions could be applied
to road signs, for example, road narrows,
school children or slippery surface. If you
can find some signs which you know you
are likely to see during the lesson then
you are preparing your pupil for what will
be seen while driving.
You could repeat these questions while
driving to assess if your pupil is able to
put the theory into practice. Knowing
what a road sign means is one thing, but
knowing how act upon seeing it is
another.
It is important to remember that risk
management should not be made too
technical. It is just the process we take
once we have identified a hazard to
reduce that risk.
Try and include it in each lesson and
you’ll have nothing to fear once your
Standards Check arrives.
NEWSLINK n MAY 2021
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