Learner Drivers: Should we be patient? (From Surrey Comet)

Learner Drivers: Should we be patient?

12:18am Tuesday 9th March 2010 in

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By Community Correspondent Axel Kemp

When we see a learner driver on the road, our tendency is to swear at them and criticise their driving, regardless of our own skill. But is this really reasonable of us?

The problem with learning to drive is that without any experience driving on the road, as opposed to a car park, for instance, the driver will be useless on the road, even when their red L has been replaced with the green P.

Every motorist, at some point in their motoring career, has had the dreaded L-Plate on their vehicle. Yet we seem perpetually critical of learners, who are in the same position we were once in, and who already have enough on their plates without impatient motorists to worry about.

To be fair to instructors, the common practice is to take the learners to quiet, residential roads to learn the ropes until they have gained the necessary skills to go on the road. But what most learners lack is experience which we have gained, and they should be forgiven for this.

To conclude, learners may be a pain when you need to get somewhere. But just give them a chance for once – after all, you were once the same.