It is a sad fact that young males between the ages of 17 and 20 years of age are ten times more likely to be killed or injured than their older counterparts, so what can we do about it? In spite of the individual attention and training that they will have received from one the team qualified instructors at the Bill Plant School of Motoring, once they have successfully passed their two part driving test they are out of the Driving School’s hands.

Once a new driver is qualified they should seriously consider enrolling on a pass plus course which will not just make them better drivers, but will in most cases qualify them for lower insurance premiums, itself a tremendous bonus. Government is considering legislation to reform the driving test and safety organisations such as “Brake” advocate a provisional period after the test restricting the new driver to day time driving and not carrying passengers. Until reform is brought in the statistics will unfortunately continue.

When you get ready to go out at night and need to drive, you should always make sure that both you and your car are prepared for the outing.  You need to make sure that you will be able to see adequately to drive and you may find that as you age you may need night time driving glasses.   Always allow your eyes to adjust to the darkness if you leave a brightly-lit building.  And it’s a good idea to make sure your windshield is clear on the inside of your car and the outside to cut any glare that may occur from passing vehicles in the other lane. 

The biggest priority of a night time driver is to make sure the lights on his or her car work properly.  Headlights, taillights, parking lights and turn signals should all be in good working condition.  Make sure that the headlights work in both positions – main beam and dip.  Use the proper settings on your lights when driving to help you see better.  Dimly lit or dark roads with little traffic can be traversed using your high beams.  When driving in town or on roads that are lit, use the dipped setting.  Always remember to dim your lights when on the bright setting to oncoming traffic so as not to blind the other motorists.

If you feel yourself getting tired while you are driving at night, stop the vehicle, get out, and take a break.  Fatigue can cause you to fall asleep at the wheel and if this happens you could get involved in an accident, potentially a fatal one.

As soaring fuel prices continue to hit the headlines there can be no motorist who is not interested in saving this precious commodity. Here at the Bill Plant School of Motoring, we have vast experience in driving and want to share our knowledge on techniques you can use to save fuel.

Do you really need to use your car today? If the journey is short, less than two miles for instance, the engine is at its most inefficient and will use more fuel, walking to your destination in these circumstances could be an option. Take the most direct route and go at off-peak times if possible to save fuel and time, sitting in congestion means you are often doing zero miles per litre. Check your tyre pressures this reduces wear and helps fuel economy.

At Bill Plant our qualified driving instructors always emphasise keeping within the speed limit, this is the law after all, but for instance travelling at 56 mph uses 25 per cent less fuel than 70mph and a smoother driving style can bring significant fuel saving. Reduce your drag by removing roof racks when not in use and drive with your windows up. Fuel has never been more expensive, save it!

In common with many countries in the Sub-Sahara regions of Africa, Malawi suffers from a lack of clean drinkable water in certain parts of the country, but help is at hand through the good offices of Bill Plant. The fastest growing National Driving School has donated money to Pump Aid which specialises in bringing water to those most in need.

Pump Aid have been around for well over 11 years and during that time they have successfully supplied and installed “Elephant” pumps which are simple devices that once installed, require little maintenance easily carried out by the local population themselves.

The initial donation made by the Bill Plant School of Motoring is seen by them as an initial signal, heralding the start of a long association with Pump Aid, which will save and improve the lives of tens of thousands of Africans.

What is not in doubt is that modern cars are structurally far superior to models widely available in years previously, but the width of the pillars to achieve this has grown, in particular the one that divides the windscreen and the side windows, known as the “A” pillar, the downside is that his pillar obstructs the vision of thousands of drivers.

Your Bill Plant qualified driving instructor will have made you aware of the potential restriction the “A” pillar may cause in your ability to scan the road ahead. As a reminder to all drivers you should make sure that nothing is hidden from view by the pillar before making a manoeuvre as pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists are easy to “lose” in the space behind this. Make sure you take time to look around the pillar, not just take a quick “snap-shot” look which could allow a cyclist to be hidden from view.

Never forget that good all round vision is essential to safe driving, vital in fact and remember that as a driver of a motor vehicle, the onus is on you to ensure that nothing is there.

The chief medical officer Liam Donaldson has called for teenage drivers to be banned from drinking any alcohol at all when taking to the wheel of a motor vehicle, a zero limit. Even when they have consumed within the present limit the teenager is twice as likely as an older driver to be involved in an accident.

Many younger drivers are asking why they should be treated differently to older drivers and we believe that the answer is quite simple. Not only are older drivers more careful due to their experience, but they are much more tolerant to alcohol than a younger person.

At Bill Plant we train our learner drivers to the highest standard at all our UK wide driving schools, and as part of our tuition we have always considered that driving a motor vehicle and alcohol are two things that do not mix, Mr Donaldson’s views may be controversial, but they could save lives.

Most drivers tend to be reactive drivers when they first learn to drive.  New drivers tend to wait and see what the other drivers on the road are going to do.  As you gain experience driving, your skills start to reflect your personality and attitude.  You start to watch out for hazards sooner the more you drive and you begin to drive proactively.  This means you try to control your part of the situation by adjusting your speed and moving out of the road if there is room.  As long as no one is tailgating you, you do not have to worry about being rear-ended.  If you make good use of your horn, headlights, and brake lights, you can help avoid an accident.

If you need to brake to come to a stop and the road is dry and even, braking very hard is appropriate.  When the weather is bad – snowy, rainy, and icy – a proactive driver will use various driving techniques to slow down and stop their vehicle.  Threshold braking requires the driver to gently brake without excess pressure.  Cadence braking is the method of tapping the brake, pumping it to slow down. 

Sometimes you will need to turn your vehicle around in order to avoid the road hazard in front of you.  If you are on a two-lane road you will need to perform a two-point turn with an emergency stop.  If the road is larger, you can safely try to perform a U-turn.  If you need to back up quickly, make sure there is not traffic behind you. 

Every day in the UK, 23 young people, under the age of 25, are killed or seriously injured in vehicles and it is a fact that most of these collisions are caused not by the vehicle, the road, or the conditions, but by bad driving, which is the biggest single killer of young people In the UK.

That there are some young tearaways on our roads is not in dispute and for them there is absolutely no excuse, fortunately most young drivers are not like that most want to be good safe drivers. The easiest way to achieve this is to enroll on a Bill Plant pass plus advanced driving course which covers all types of driving conditions and gives you the added confidence you will almost certainly need following on from your successful driving test. In addition to making the newly qualified driver safer, they will benefit from reduced insurance premiums which can only be a good thing. Join the thousands of successful Bill Plant driving school students and you can be a good and safe driver too.

As with anything in life, doing something that is completely new to you can be pretty daunting. This applies to learning to drive on today’s busy roads, towns and cities which are crowded with cars and other vehicles. This is particularly so if you have never sat behind the wheel of a car before, what you need in these circumstances is a friendly patient fully qualified driving instructor. We believe that is someone who is local to your particular area and is not just familiar with it, but “knows it inside out”!

It is not just about passing that all important two part driving test, but it is also coaching you in the skills that will make you a safe and considerate driver long after you have successfully passed your driving test. Bill Plant Driving School is in the unique position of being in the top five national driving schools, with a local approach and feel to it, whether you are learning to drive in Bradford, or one of the other major centres covered by this coveted driving school.

By most standards, Ireland’s system for new drivers has been a bit peculiar. New drivers entering the system got a provisional license, which allowed them to drive with an accompanying licensed driver.  What then made this unusual, and delightfully Irish, was if they took their driving test and failed it, they could apply for, and get, a second provisional license, and happily drive without a fully licensed driver!

Uniquely the learner driver did not have to take a driving test and subsequently fail this to get a new two year provisional licence; they could simply not turn up for the driving test and use the appointment letter to renew their provisional licence. However from the 30th June 2008 provisional licence holders must have a fully qualified driver with them at all times, or face a fine of up to €1000, or imprisonment if they fail to pay this. We know at Bill Plant that after years of driving you can build up bad habits and it’s really difficult to get rid of them without training. As they say it can only happen in Ireland!