pogo wrote:
Grumpy Old Biker wrote:
My kids had a copy of the Hazard Aware DVD - which I failed miserably until I started to use it as a computer game.
It fails you if you spot more than one hazard and also if you spot them too early - the exact opposite of how your mind should work. Hazards never come one at a time! And the sooner you see them, the better!
It's a great idea but very difficult to be realistic.
I heard a chap on the radio a while back, he was the chairman of the British Association of Driving Instructors (or whatever the correct name for the organisation is) and he was complaining that the Hazard Perception test was more akin to an arcade game than real life. He also "complained" that he consistently failed it, whereas his wife, a non-driver, passed it every time!
That's where it fails. It panders more to the "semi-literate" in some ways.
It would be better to make it more formal and freeze the frame perhaps with either a multiple choice to choose what they perceive the hazard to be or just write one or two short sentences or clause to explain what they think is the hazard. The way it is at them moment.. astute or experienced driver is clicking the mouse in agitation as they see exactly what the hazard is and in real life situation would have shaved speed off the speedo to accommodate this potential threat to safety, changed postion and so on.
I will post this to the related thread as well.. but the Chief of Driving Instructors did say that there is a tendency to practise only on the test routes so that the student driver will drive according to the rubric of the test and then be "lost completely" on new and unfamiliar ground when left to own devices - making silly and even tragically lethal mistakes. In fact, he echoed something which I posted to vonhosen on the PH site on this same topic .. when I described that the reason why we did the block lessons with our kids and then had them out with different family members in very different areas and times of the day was giving our young a varied experience routine and then tightening up in the two days before the big test day itself on the test routes. Could be why Durham's trainer was so far from "base" as well
The real test of "understanding" lies in the "unseen exam" where you apply what you have learned - and show and prove you have understood it.
The guy said exactly what has been said by most of us and certainly by Paul
....that drivers need experience and can only obtain this by driving on different roads and even the familiar roads in different road, time and weather conditions. Hence the call to allow the kids to practise earlier and for longer before being of age to take a driving test. It would help if after these lessons .. these children were taught to
evaluate their drives and how they might improve and learn more in formal lesson time .
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
Members
