Welcome back to our EDT Lesson series, where we’ve been helping Alanna get on the road. She is now starting to drive more independently and make checks and make adjustments automatically, and she knows the hazards to look out for while driving. 

 Last week we covered EDT Lesson 7 – Sharing the Road, where Alanna learned how to anticipate and respond to other road users and EDT Lesson 8 – Driving Safely Through Traffic, and she got more experience of driving in busy road conditions and worked on her defensive driving skills. 

Lesson 9 – Changing Direction 2 (More Complex Situations) 

Building on what she learned in Lesson 3, this lesson focused on helping Alanna to become more competent at changing direction in a variety of more complex situations. 

Up until now Alanna was prompted by her instructor for things like the POM, GOSHO and MSPSL. (do you remember them? Test yourself now!) These are key things she now needs to remember to do automatically herself. Today she worked making independent driving decisions and controlling the journey more. 

She went on the dual carriageway and stayed in the left-hand lane, until Alanna came to a slow-moving tractor. She was a little bit nervous but adjusted her speed and continued at a safe distance behind it until she felt comfortable to overtake it. She checked her mirrors and blind spots before indicating out. And once she could see nothing was coming, she moved out into the right lane, increased her speed and passed it. Once she was safely past at a good distance, she checked her mirrors and blind spots again and indicated left before one last check and moving back into the left-hand lane. This kind of overtaking was a first for Alanna and a big confidence-booster.  

Lesson 10 – Speed Management 

Choosing the right speed is essential when driving. Drive too slowly and it can disrupt the flow of traffic, frustrate other drivers and can cause accidents by forcing other drivers to brake suddenly. But driving too fast reduces your ability to control your car and gives you less time to see and respond to hazards, increasing the risk of accidents. The trick is to get your speed just right. 

Staying within the speed limits and choosing the right speed for different roads and driving situations is a key part of becoming a good driver. These are things that will become automatic with practice and time. 

In this lesson Alanna focused on keeping pace with the flow of traffic and adjusting her speed to suit different road conditions. We took a route where speed limits change to give her some practice at adjusting her speed in fast moving traffic, when approaching roundabouts and we talked about how these speeds would need to be adjusted in different weather conditions. 

End of lesson Q&A 

At the end of the lesson, Rod and Alanna had a chat about her progress so far. 

Here’s what Alanna had to say about her ninth and tenth lessons: 

We practiced a few things like hill starts and turnabouts and we drove around the test route areas. It’s great to feel more confident about driving now compared to when I first started learning and honestly I couldn’t have done it without Rod. 

Here’s how Rod feels Alanna is progressing: 

The lesson were great! Alanna did a lot of independent driving this week. She chose her own route, and we did a recap on the turnabout which was very good, we also worked on speed management and the way that Alanna controls her speed on roads. She’s progressed so well and she’s really comfortable driving on main roads and roundabouts now. 

Remember:  

Learner drivers aged 17-40 can get 12 EDT Lessons for €545 AND if you have an AXA car insurance policy and you could get up to €400 off your car insurance if you complete your lessons within 12 months. Read more now on the AXA Website.