I am also a qualified hypnotherapist so if any potential pupil whether learning with me or simply getting anxious before a driving test i can certainly help you find that confidence you need.

 

From January 29 th 2022 changes are being made to the Highway Code that will affect every person in the country. When turning left if a pedestrian is waiting to cross the road then road users will have to give way to them. This is going to cause injury and deaths to pedestrians for the following reasons. 1. When giving way to the pedestrian vehicles approaching from the pedestrians right may not see them and collide with them, 2. the pedestrian may know the new rule but the vehicle driver may not and the pedestrian could walk straight into a collision with the vehicle. 3. As the pedestrians get used to vehicles giving way they will walk straight into the road expecting vehicles to stop for them, as many pedestrians do not wait until it is safe at zebra crossings. Add to this the extra fumes going into the atmosphere because of vehicles ticking over whilst waiting for the pedestrians to cross and the rear end crashes that will inevitably occur i am of the opinion that this Highway Code change is ill thought out and it smacks of a jobsworth seeing to be doing something. This ridiculous idea needs to be scrapped before it starts. Pedestrians are better off being left to their own judgement as to wether it is safe to cross the road.

Cyclists are going to be encouraged to ride in the middle of the lane and were there are two cyclists ride two abreast, who the hell thought this one up, obviously someone who cant drive!!! can you imagine the oncoming vehicles in your lane as they overtake dangerously its bad enough now god knows how many crashes these new rules will create. As with the so called smart motorways which have been postponed awaiting reports of the safety of theses stupid roads i wonder just how many pedestrians, cyclists, drivers will have to be maimed or die before the powers that be see sense. i wont hold my breath.

As you will have already realised, probably to your cost, the roads in Sussex and the UK generally are in an extremely bad way due to the lack of maintenance despite costing motorists thousands per year in , road tax, fuel duty, VAT, council tax etc. I find it strange that driving skills have to be extremely good to pass the driving test, our cars have to be checked at an MOT station every year, so are we all safe ? of course not we have to be good drivers, have safe cars, be insured all these rules laid down by government, and quite right too. Then why are we given unsafe and dangerous roads to drive on ? I find it ironic that we are in this situation, ive always said there are no dangerous roads only dangerous drivers that is until now. We should be looking as far ahead as possible when we drive which most people know, however there are so many potholes now and they are very deep that you need to be looking in front of the car as well so much so that is the only place some drivers are looking resulting crashes. I can only suggest writing to the county council and your MP not just once but every week until they get sick and tired of the same thing. What else can we do? suggestions please.

Another winter is upon us with the usual risks, however this year the risks seem greatly worse than normal in the form of potholes, roads breaking up and crumbling away at the sides in the centre in fact all over a lot of our roads. I saw a comment on Face book recently it said : At one time we used to drive on the left, we now drive on the parts of the road that are left. Says it all really don,t you think?

Be extremely careful out there this winter especially in the dark afternoons and evenings as another problem is raising its ugly head again, the lack of white lines. The white lines are wearing out at an alarming rate and are not being replaced so if you are in an unfamiliar area take a bit more time to make sure you are in the correct position on the road, look for roundabouts, mini roundabout markings have all but disappeared in my town (Hastings) i witnessed three separate occasions last week cars treating a mini roundabout as a T junction and consequently three near misses obviously those drivers should have taken more care but we all know some drivers are simply not paying attention but had the roundabout been more clearly marked then i,m sure these incidents would not have occurred.

I wrote to Rupert Clubb who is in charge of transport at East Sussex county council pointing out the details i have already stated here, some 14 days later i received a letter back from him without even a mention of white lines, so much for a caring county council with road safety staying at the bottom of their priorities. Why not email Rupert Clubb at east sussex county council, bombard him with complaints about white lines and pot holes and the lack of any road maintenance and see if we can get him to at least have a look at the awful state of our roads these days, but dont, hold your breath.

Learner drivers are to be allowed on motorways from 4th June this year. Good decision or bad decision time will only tell.

There are a few good instructors out there whom i know will be very careful indeed as to evaluate when their pupil is ready for motorway training.

However there are a LOT of bad instructors who will see this as a bit of a jolly in other words a 3 or 4 hour lesson driving in a straight line. Some instructors will allow themselves to be persuaded to taking the pupil on to the motorway when the pupil is no where ready for it, thats going to be a potential problem.

In my opinion and of other professional instructors this should not be happening, what should happen is the pass plus training programme should become compulsory  instead of voluntary say within a year of passing the driving test.

 

What do you think???