Mirror, Signal, Manoeuvre

Boring! Boring! Yes it may be and I remember a pupil of mine called Peter who thought so too. He just wouldn’t listen. He took his driving lessons in New Malden, Surrey, and no matter what I said or how I said it; Peter would not check his mirrors before signalling. There was no way he was going to check his mirrors before steering around parked cars or before slowing down on approach to a hazard either.

The end result was an unsuccessful test.

The examiner at the end of the test turned to him and said, “In the end, I got fed up with checking your lack of mirrors.” Peter had 12 driving faults, of which 8 were mirror faults.

So Peter had to go through the process of booking another test, more lessons leading up to it and all the expense that went with it. Guess what? He checked his mirrors properly this time, well before signalling, changing direction and changing speed. This time he passed easily. Why didn’t he listen to me?

The problem is priority. You have to look ahead to deal with the ever-changing situation in front of you and the new driver with a lot to concentrate on, will focus only there. They have to learn that what is developing behind may well affect how to deal with the situation ahead. Imagine moving around a parked car and at the same time being overtaken by a motorcyclist. If you check your mirrors and see the fast approaching bike from behind you can hold back and move around the obstruction after the motorcyclist has passed without endangering other roadusers.

Another example might be when intending to turn left, on checking the mirrors you see a vehicle coming up fast behind you. Having seen it, you can signal earlier to give them more time to respond to your intended turn.

Check those mirrors – be safe out there!