Learning to drive is all about learning the skills. It’s about coordinating your hands, feet and eyes to perform the everyday situations that occur on our roads such as:

Roundabouts,
Dual carriageways,
Urban conditions,
Bad weather conditions.

Perfecting good driving skills will enable you as a learner driver to plan ahead. This means giving yourself time to assess what might or will happen. Before perfecting these skills, common faults are lack of observation and positioning your vehicle incorrectly:

Poor road positioning and not keeping a safe clearance around your car,
Positioning incorrectly at roundabouts, whether turning right, going straight ahead or turning left,
When Meeting traffic not holding back at the right time and confusing other drivers of your intention.

These are all common fault for failing the driving test, where lack of observation counts for 45% of fails.

If you are thinking about taking the family out for a car trip, then there are a few things you need to consider before you set out on your journey. This includes planning your route well in advance so you know exactly where you are going and which roads you need to take. Many family days out take you to places you are unfamiliar with so if you know the route there is less chance of you getting lost en route. If you are travelling for a long time, make sure you stop for a rest to break up your journey, stretch your legs and refresh yourself ready for the next leg of your journey.

If you are travelling on a motorway, make sure your respect the distance between your vehicle and the one in front of you. Before you set out on a trip you have to check all the tyres and this includes the spare to make sure it has air in it. Check that all your lights are working including your indicators and break lights. Driving any distance means staying alert and knowing what all road signs mean as these do occasionally change, so you have to keep up to scratch.

A lot of road traffic accidents happen because people are in too much of a hurry, so take your time and enjoy the journey rather than rush to get to your destination. If you have the misfortune of breaking down, make sure you pull your car well off the road and if this happens on a motorway then you have to get all the occupants out of the car and wait a little distance away on the side of the motorway until the rescue vehicle arrives. If you have just passed your test then remember all the instructions you were given during your driving lessons as this will remind of all the safety aspects of driving a car on a public busy road.

Learning to drive is not only useful and practical it is a right of passage for many people too. Being able to drive is a good skill to have, but it takes time and money to acquire. You will need to pass the theory test, and get a lot of driving experience. You will almost certainly need driving lessons, and it is advisable to have a thorough course.

For some people driving comes fairly easily. You do need the coordination to perform several tasks in sequence. For some this quickly feels natural, for others it is more of a struggle. One option is to learn to drive an automatic car. This means you don’t have to worry about changing gears. You can take your test as an automatic driver, but you will not be qualified to drive a manual gearbox car. For most people getting to grips with the gears is worth the effort. You will get a feel for the way the car works through the gearing.

You can also use the gears to slow the car; something that is especially useful on snowy or icy conditions. And, of course, you can drive any car so long as you are insured. However the automatic option is one to consider if you are struggling and need to be able to drive. It might also be helpful for various special needs, or for people suffering leg, back or hip problems, who may find using the clutch difficult. You driving instructor will be able to advise you, and you can try a lesson in an automatic car with a specialist instructor.

After many months spent practising driving in all conditions, and a large amount of money spent on driving lessons, how do you know when you are finally ready to take your driving test?

If you have a good instructor he or she will be able to tell when you are ready to give the driving test a fair go. Many driving instructors will put a student through their test before they are ready, either so they get a feel for how the test will be, or because they have a quota to fill!

The main way to tell if you are ready though is how you feel yourself. You will probably reach a point with your lessons where you feel comfortable behind the wheel, and can drive without any prompting from your driving instructor. Perhaps their comments even start to annoy you a bit, as you feel that you know what you are doing!

There is no harm in taking the driving test as soon as you feel like you can. There are no limits to the amount of times you can take it, and it is all good experience.

It is often said that you learn to pass the driving test, and once you have, that is when you start to learn to drive!

There are many ways to cope with nerves that might arise in various situations, but one of the most nerve-racking scenarios that anyone will face is that of their driving test.

Getting to the stage of being good enough to take the test takes a lot of time, money and effort in driving lessons, and there is always the added pressure of friends and family telling you that they passed first time.

A good driving instructor will have a wealth of experience in helping people through this difficult time, but there are many techniques that can be employed yourself.

Take deep, slow breaths, and visualise yourself performing perfectly in your test. Take some time to sit somewhere quietly and visualise things that you find difficult, whether that’s parking or roundabouts, and also visualise other people on the roads making mistakes and how you deal with this. This type of visualisation is very powerful, and can help you react correctly.

There are various herbal supplements that can be taken and will help with the feeling of stress without making you drowsy. It is worth taking them a few times in advance though, so you know if they have any unexpected side effects.

When people are nervous they tend to move fast, so make a conscious effort to slow down all your movements.