Above is a statement often said to learners by experienced, qualified drivers.
So that must make it true, right?
Let’s examine the facts and see if there’s any truth in the rumour…
§Evidence against the statement:
The driving test is really hard to pass. Is that because you have to be able to drive well, or is it just because the examiners are being picky, and you drove really well, but slipped up only once when you didn’t see that car coming at the roundabout? Or some other similar “trivial” error? If it hadn’t been for that idiot you’d have passed.
But what if the examiner had let it go, and the next day when your driving your shiny new pride and joy around, another car comes from nowhere at a roundabout, you pull out in front of it, and get involved in an accident? The examiners appear to be picky because they have to make sure that you are safe to drive on the road. On your own. Without anyone beside you helping you to see things that you may have missed. Does your instructor ever point things out to you that you’ve missed? Are you really ready for your test?
The examiners require you to be a good driver in order to pass your test, because that’s what’s needed to minimise the risk to yourself and others after your test.
But does that on it’s own mean that the statement “You only really learn to drive after you’ve passed your driving test” is false?
§Evidence for the statement:
As all of you who’ve passed with me know, I encourage you to take a pass plus course to improve your skills. So there is another level of learning after the test. You may in the future decide to take one of the advanced tests from ROSPA or the IAM. All of these courses will improve your driving no end – so much so that the insurance companies will recognise your new qualification and offer you cheaper insurance premiums. Surely that must be evidence for the statement being true?
§Conclusion
So we’ve seen that to pass your test you need to have learnt to drive well. But extra courses are available to help you improve. All drivers on pink licences have passed their test, but only a very small percentage of those have taken any further training. Are they better drivers now than they were when they passed their tests? Probably. This is why insurance premiums come down when you gain experience.
So how did they improve?
Not by “learning to drive properly”, but by gaining experience.
Every time you go out on the roads you will be astonished by the number of incidents that you see, that you’ve never seen before. Learn from these experiences. Gain knowledge constantly and improve your already high standard of driving. If you want to be better than most of the others, take a pass plus course, after that take an advanced course. You’ll be amazed how much you don’t know.
So to answer the original question – Do you only really learn to drive after passing the test? – I say that the answer is no. You will gain experience after your test, but will have to know how to drive properly in order to pass it. The DSA’s strapline, motto, whatever you want to call it, is” Safe Driving For Life”
This should also be the motto for every driving instructor, and when I teach you I am trying to ensure you become the very best driver possible. Not just good enough to pass the test, but good enough to enjoy safe driving for life.
