ADI vs. PDI

For starters, any learner driver must know what the abbreviations above stand for. ADI is an Approved Driving Instructor. This qualification means a person has passed exams to be a professional driving instructor and is registered with the Driving Standards Agency (DSA). ADIs display their green licence (octagon) on the windscreen of their tuition vehicles. PDI stands for Potential Driving Instructors. They are licenced instructors under training who are allowed by the DSA to provide training for payment. PDIs must display their pink licence (triangle) on the windscreen of their tuition vehicles. You can understand the difference between “green and pink” for yourself. Obviously, ADIs charge more for driving lessons because they are more experienced.

How much?

The majority of learners start shopping for driving lessons with this question in mind. This approach actually turns your shopping into looking for the cheapest option. But if you want to find a good driving instructor, that option would not suit you at all. You should run away from two extremes – overpriced driving lessons and underpriced “special offers”. The national average for a driving lesson is currently around £17-£20. So make sure you shop around for the average.

Pass Guarantee

There is no such thing as pass guarantee. However, it is wise to ask your potential driving instructor about his or her driving test pass rate. Of course, you have no way of checking whether quoted pass rate is true. Yet, it is a good way of spotting a driving instructor who makes unreliable statements. The national driving test pass rate is 45.65%. So if your driving instructor is able to provide anything near this figure, you are in good hands.

What Is Your Grade?

Asking a driving instructor about his or her grade is one of the best ways to assess their competence. Every four years ADIs are graded by the DSA for the quality of driving tuition. Six point scale is used for assessment. Look for the following grades:

• grade 4 is competent
• grade 5 is good
• grade 6 is a very high standard

We’ve covered four basic things to consider while choosing a driving instructor. Although qualification, driving lesson cost, pass rate and instructor’s grade are all very important and relevant choice factors, personal feel is crucial. Your driving instructor can be a 6-grade ADI with the highest pass rate, but if you don’t seem to hit it off well, you probably need to try another one.

How well can your learner driver see?

The driver of a motor vehicle is the most important component. The driver decides which way to turn, when to use the accelerator and when to use the brakes. Learner drivers need to see and react to changing conditions very quickly.

How much you see depends on how well you can see.

Legal requirements.

The learner driver must be able to read in good daylight, with glasses or contact lenses if necessary, a stationary number plate from a minimum distance of 20.5 metres (67 feet). From September 2001, a learner driver must be able to read a new style number plate from a distance of 20 metres (66 feet). Passing this test does not imply perfect vision.

Watching your speed

1. Driving too fast for road and traffic conditions and misjudging speed and distance are the two most common causes of crashes.
2. The learner driver should always drive at a speed that will allow the pupil to stop well within the distance they can see clear.
3. The pupil must also leave enough space between the driving school vehicle and the vehicle in front so that its possible to pull up safely if it slows down or stops suddenly.

When an error has occurred, the best way to restore confidence is to repeat the action without the learner driver repeating the error. To guarantee success, the driving instructor must take full responsibility – even if you are on the way to the driving test centre when the error occurs!. All the driving instructor has to do is “tell” the learner driver when the error is about to occur – which is usually long enough for the confidence to be restored.

There is an alternative. If you change your thoughts, you can change your beliefs to see that there are opportunities to create more driving lesson enquiries and potential pupils, even in the bleakest times. You will discover what only the best leaders have discovered – that being positive opens you up to possibilities and can improve your outcomes.

Difficult times are when your business acumen skill is truly tested and your ability to maintain a positive attitude towards your driving lessons and learner drivers and use all your creative and caring qualities can make a real difference.

If you take these 9 actions today and repeat them every day, you’ll begin to see things differently.

1. Only think positive thoughts
2. Maintain an attitude towards your customers that exudes enthusiasm
3. Know your financial numbers and be realistic about cash, lesson prices (do you need to reduce the cost of your lessons?)
4. Do everything you know to book more lessons: contact pupils you’ve not heard from in a while, contact any pupils who owe you money, reduce some of your work areas and distances you might go for a new learner driver, reduce your lesson prices, make a special offer to your pupils.
5. Hold on to current pupils by adding value to your driving lessons – how long is it since you really looked at your teaching methods, are they up to date ?
6. Watch other driving instructors in your area, listen to what they tell you, work out their failings and ensure you are unique in your teachings and approach.
7. Take the opportunity to improve your teaching skills, when was the last time you read a driving book, or joined a course to help with your teaching skills
8. Are there any creative ideas that can get you noticed? Is your car branded? Do you have a web site?
9. Join a local Driving Instructor group that could bring some external wisdom to your challenges, visit on-line forums to exchange ideas.

- Don’t worry about a learner drivers progress; be concerned.
- Manage your diary more effectively.
- Improve your physical work environment

Don’t worry, be concerned

This technique for preventing stress is to learn how to convert worries into concerns. Many Driving Instructors spend a lot of time worrying about things connected with learner drivers, for example – When will I receive another pupil? What will happen if I have insufficient money to pay for my car and other expenses?

Did you know that:

- 40% of worries never actually happen.
- 58% will turn out better that you expected.
- 2% are actually worth worrying about.

A worry is something that you cannot do anything about; no action you take can resolve it. For example, suppose you are worried that you don’t have many driving lessons booked in your diary for next week. Ask yourself what can you do to attract more pupils. Have you telephoned pupils you haven’t heard from recently? Can you encourage any pupils to have an extra lesson? Do you park your driving school vehicle in a prominent position when taking breaks between driving lessons?

Concerns, on the other hand, are things that you can do something about; you can take action, no matter how small, to help resolve the situation. For example, if you are concerned that you are running late to collect a pupil for his/her driving lesson, then you can call and let the pupil know you are running a few minutes behind.

If you are worried about something that you can do nothing about, let it go. If you are worried about something that you can do something about, learn to turn the worry into a concern by taking some action.

More information to follow.

Driving Instructors work hard, they do a great job and get good results. But if they looked harder at their earnings would they ever say they are being paid too much ?

Being a brilliant Instructor is about pushing that little extra level, going just one step further, the extra mile. It’s about caring more, understanding more, researching more, delivering more and by achieving more then a brilliant job gets done. The exciting part of the process is that when you do a brilliant job you don’t get fantastic results, you get brilliant results. The rewards are brilliant, the effect on others is brilliant and the quality of life you enjoy as an Instructor is brilliant.

I remember a pupil who wanted to learn to drive quickly so she could open a small mobile business. The business would radically change her lifestyle. Her lessons began in earnest but it was clear she was under pressure to learn quickly from her husband, parents and friends – or at least it was clear to me. But the learner driver couldn’t see that the people that loved and cared for her the most would also hold her back with their positive “criticism”.

Over many driving lessons we drew up a list of driving goals she wanted to achieve, for example, she wanted to visit a local shopping centre with a tricky entrance and vast car parks, she also wanted to visit the drive-thru of the burger bar, she wanted to be able to go to the sea-side, and understand the basics of car mechanics. By the time she passed her driving test, not only had she achieved her driving goals but was so confident on the road that within 6 months she had opened a business and enjoying the fruits of her labours. But not only that, she shared her good fortune by impressing on others what a fantastic Driving Instructor she had. She changed the fortunes of the authors business too!!

Simply telling a learner driver that he/she will pass is not enough. It all comes down to the actions we take as Driving Instructors. It’s about pushing to the extra level. Have you got enough to be a brilliant Instructor?

A fairly wide selection of planned routes containing various types of traffic
hazards and conditions will be required. Flexibility is an impotant consideration
when planning a route because it allows for changes to be made midway through a
driving lesson. This may become necessary to allow more time to be spent on an area
of driving which may be proving unexpectedly troublesome, and yet still allow the
driving lesson to be completed on time for your next appointment or driving test.
Try not to repeat the same route excessively, this can lead to reducesd interest
from the learner driver, and this can lead to boredom and slow progress. Repetition
can be useful when it is carried out deliberately for a specific purpose relevant to
the driving lesson. An example could be practising control skills on the approach to
uphill junctions.

Training routes and areas fall into three main categories:

1. Nursery routes
2. Intermediate
3. Advanced

Nursery routes – require various kinds of roads. try to avoid busy roads and
initially, in the very early stages, roads with parked vehicles. These routes should
not include pedestrian crossings, traffic lights or roundabouts.

Intermediate routes – These routes should, wherever possible, be planned to avoid
dual carriageways, multi-laned roads and one way streets. Junctions which do not
conform to basic rules should also be excluded. Right turns on to very busy main
roads, and any other particularly difficult situation, should not normally be
incorporated into these routes where they can be avoided.

Advanced routes – These routes will incorporate most of the intermediate routes.
They should be progressively extended to include many variations to the basic rules
as possible.

The nature of driving instruction requires that driving instructors work with
customers who may drive you up the wall (not literally!). regardless of whether your
customer is offhand, rude, frustrated, confused or irate, most minor problems do not
have to escalate into bad feelings.

The six steps in helping a customer are:

1. Let the pupil have their say
2. Avoid getting trapped with their negative feelings
3. Express empathy with the pupil
4. Begin to solve problems actively
5. Agree on solutions
6. Continue to check they are satisfied with progress so far.

When a learner driver is upset, they want two things: First, they want to let you
know how they feel, and then they want you to help them. It’s that simple. Some
driving instructors view learners becoming tense and frustrated as an indication of
the pupils inability to understand basic facts. However trying to resolve a
situation without listening to your pupils thoughts and feelings never works. Only
after the pupil has let you know their thoughts can they begin to hear what you have
to say.

Try it and see!

Formal tuition can only be given by a trainee Instructor, or a qualified Driving Standards Agency, Approved Driving Instructor (DSA ADI), who can also help structure the private practice.

Many learner drivers only have driving lessons for one or two hours per week and their driving experience is limited to driving at the same time of day and over the same roads. Accompanying a learner driver is a good way of helping your friends or relatives become safe drivers. It’s a team effort involving you, the learner driver and the Driving Instructor.

Working together is the best way of ensuring everyone’s aim of safe driving for life.

Surepass Driving Instructor Training Courses deal with the novice driver through to the more advanced. Our trainers are aware that chances are a novice driver will be involved in a road accident within their first year of passing the test, especially during the first six months. The courses are designed, not only to enable a provisional Instructor to qualify but also:

1. Understand the legal requirements and responsibilities of supervising the learner driver
2. Understand the role of the Driving Instructor
3. Understand the role of the Driving Standards Agency and its examiners
4. Know how to effectively encourage and support the “L” driver
5. Gain experience in hazard awareness and perception to an advanced level

The above skills coupled with our bespoke Driver Training will undoubtedly contribute to the reduction in the 38,800 road user injuries each year which involve at least one driver with less than two years post-test experience.

Training to be a Surepass Driving Instructor is not just about the cheapest course, the job at the end, the earning potential, its also about learning to help young drivers (and old) understand the risks and responsibilities they are undertaking everytime they get behind the wheel of the car. Surepass Instructor Trainers are passionate about providing professional instruction in the most effective way to help reduce the number of fatalities on our roads. If its your concern too then let Surepass train you to become the type of Instructor the DSA require.