A recent television programme has highlighted why it’s important to get professional help to learn to drive. Channel 5’s ‘Never Teach Your Wife To Drive’ must have had instructors all across the country shouting and throwing things at the television, as three learner drivers put their trust (and their lives) in the hands of their partners, rather than a qualified instructor.
The resulting chaos was quite literally ‘car crash TV’, as mistake after deadly mistake went uncorrected, and lives were put at risk. Although some could say it was simply an hour’s entertainment and a bit of harmless reality TV, it does raise a serious point – the number of learner drivers who in a bid to save money, are getting unqualified instruction from their partners.
A quirk of the law
A quirk of English law allows learner car drivers on provisional licences to get behind a wheel as long as a qualified person (someone holding a full driving licence) accompanies them. (The law is a little different for motorcyclists and HGV learners, who must be taught by qualified instructors.) However, most drivers, despite having their full licence, are not qualified instructors. And putting aside all the bad habits that drivers pick up once they’ve passed their test, they’re not trained to teach pupils, either. So Channel 5’s documentary showed a precession of ‘domestic disputes’ interspersed with some truly dreadful mistakes that avoided becoming road traffic accidents, purely thanks to chance and the luck of the Gods!
Does it affect your insurance?
Another factor has to be taken into consideration when teaching learner drivers, and that’s how it may impact on your insurance. Unless you have included the learner on your policy as a ‘named driver’ (and there are several issues surrounding that as well), you may find yourself in a car with a nervous, inexperienced and uninsured driver. The consequences of this could result in not only serious injury, but a huge financial bill as well.
Driving instructors have three major advantages over the ‘friends and family’ teaching method:
- They’re qualified and trained to teach learner drivers properly and to a safe standard
- They use vehicles that are specially designed to help learners (dual controls)
- They have the correct driving instructor insurance
It’s understandable that while people are still financially strapped for cash, it can be tempting to persuade a family member or friend with a full licence to give a learner driver a few ‘lessons’. But it is a false economy in the end, as the instruction they give will be sub-standard, riddled with driver errors and (if the documentary was to be believed) could end up with couples heading to the divorce courts!