Learning how to drive can be both exciting and harrowing. Most students take driving lessons from an accredited driving school, like the Bill Plant School of Motoring. It helps if learner-drivers can have some extra practice between lessons with their instructor. In order for them to be able to legally get behind the wheel with only their provisional license, learner-drivers must be accompanied by an adult who has a license.

Anyone wishing to accompany their learner-driver on the road must be 21 years of age or older. They must also have had their own full driving license for at least three years, and special ‘L’ plates on the front and back of the car.

According to the Driving Standards Agency, it takes the average learner driver forty-five hours of driving lessons and twenty-two hours of private practice before they are ready to take their driving test. If you are willing to help your learner-driver, no matter what you do you must always remain calm and patient. Remember, you were a student once too.

We all have to be concerned regarding the current high cost of fuel, whether that is standard petrol or diesel, even though in many cases this precious commodity is paid for by a company. So what can we do to improve the fuel efficiency of our vehicles?

Some simple tips to use less fuel are; firstly drive the way that you did when you were under the care and control of one of the qualified driving instructors. Lift your foot off the accelerator earlier on your approach to traffic lights etc thereby reducing your braking. Be sensible about accelerating; vary your foot pressure on the accelerator pedal so you don’t have to brake as often or as hard. Surprisingly to many, one of the pillars of fuel efficient driving is accelerating briskly to a safe cruising speed and then taking the highest gear quickly. Most drivers tend to go straight from accelerator to brake, which is when fuel consumption suffers. Plan your arrival at roundabouts so that you decelerate for a longer period in a higher gear. Save that fuel and save yourself money, become an advanced driver.

Driving is a problem-solving activity where we must coordinate both our mental and physical skills in order to be able to accomplish our task.  A good driver has learned how to concentrate, observe, think ahead and react, and handle their vehicle all within the space of a few seconds.  This is enough to make any new driver nervous.  We are taught many of these skills by our driving instructor who points out hazards, how to perceive things, and how to assess risk to ourselves and our vehicles in an effort to avoid driving hazards.

Once we start to drive alone we become more relaxed and gain confidence, and experience.  We discover our strengths and weaknesses and try to remember everything we are taught.  We need to make sure we are prepared for every potential problem and we need to remember that a road is never really empty.  In order to do that we must make sure that we can see the road clearly, be alert and not under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and keep our concentration on our driving.

When trying to watch out for hazards, there are some questions we may subconsciously ask ourselves as we drive.  Is the hazard a curve in the road that we cannot see beyond?  Could it be a pedestrian or another vehicle?  How fast are others driving?  How fast am I driving?  What if you come to a combination of hazards?  You must always be on the watch for potential hazards in the road when you are driving.  To miss one may be a fatal mistake that could’ve been avoided.

In common with the Major Driving Schools in the United Kingdom, the Bill Plant School of Motoring is a business which is run on franchised lines, in other words following full driving instructor training to become a DSA approved driving instructor, individuals can then become a franchisee and work under the umbrella of the Bill Plant organisation. The advantages to those who are taking driving lessons are that they learn to drive at major centres throughout the UK in new vehicles changed at frequent intervals, following laid down procedures, safe in the knowledge that there is a major operation behind them.

Having this back up has proved to be helpful in the recent problem that was brought to the attention of Bill Plant following a complaint that was made to The Birmingham Mail on the 17th April 2008. From the article in The Mail, it appears that a franchised driving instructor made off with money that the pupils had paid for driving lessons. Head office at the Bill Plant School of Motoring immediately reimbursed all affected pupils with their money, in addition offered them a free driving lesson. Further, Bill Plant contacted the Driving Standards Agency to ask them to investigate the complaints and to see if the individual was still registered with the DSA, the Birmingham Trading Standards office was also informed and Bill Plant is taking legal action on behalf of the pupils affected.

When was the last time you sounded your horn? Many drivers rarely sound their horn at all, because they feel that it can be interpreted as being aggressive. We don’t mean blasting someone for pulling out in front of you or reminding the driver in front that the traffic lights have turned to green!

As you will find from the guide in the Highway Code the whole purpose of the horn is to warn other road users of your presence, they may not have noticed you or simply cannot see that you are an approaching hazard, your horn is a warning instrument. Remember that the overall principle is that the other road user should have time to hear the horn, recognise the risk and have time to react. Your horn should be used as you would your own voice, by doing this you won’t go too far wrong.

When we where learning to drive our driving instructor emphasised the need for 100% concentration on our driving and in those halcyon days we had few if any distractions. Since we left the driving school behind many things have happened to us, one of which is the possibility of children coming along.

Driving to a holiday destination with young children on board is possibly the number one distraction that drivers have to deal with, driving experts acknowledge that internal distractions can be every bit as dangerous as the external distractions. To prevent the driver going on to “auto pilot” how is the best way to deal with this? Plan your journey, take on plenty of food and drink, and if it is a long journey allow more stops than you would allow for adult passengers. Electronic games are ideal along with books to help keep the children amused.  “I spy” games with another adult also help to pass away the journey time and allow the driver to give the road the attention it deserves.

If you have ever misjudged a bend and found yourself braking in the corner, you would not be on your own. Getting this wrong can mean the consequences are potentially very serious, particularly on rural roads, which still dominate crash statistics. Statistics clearly show that it is not just the young or newly qualified driver that gets caught out, most single vehicle accidents occur in these situations.

Your Bill Plant Driving School instructor will have given you tips and advice how to spot a severe bend, road signs are the most obvious. There are other signs to look out for though and these include; line of trees, hedges, buildings, street lights or telegraph poles, but remember sometimes telegraph or electricity poles can cross fields, so don’t try to follow them! If you have been caught out why not consider a Pass Plus course featuring advanced driving lessons. Pass plus covers all types of driving conditions and gives you added confidence.

It is vital for the driver who has successfully completed a course of driving lessons with the Bill Plant School of motoring and has passed both the theoretical and practical driving test that it is not all over, not yet anyway. Effectively all new drivers are on a probationary period for two years from passing their driving test, and if during this period they accumulate six or more penalty points, automatic disqualification will occur and their precious driving licence will be revoked. Any penalty point that might have been collected before passing the driving test also count, remember these are still valid.

Should this unfortunate event occur, a couple of speeding cameras for example, you will have to re-apply for your driving licence as a learner driver and re-sit your driving test. It is important to remember that passing the re-test does not remove the penalty points from your driving licence these penalty points remain valid, although your driving licence can only be revoked once under the provisions of the act.

The debate is raging and it is likely to become more vociferous in the coming years as it has been announced that all new cars are to be fitted with automatic daytime headlights within four years. Government has been against the idea, arguing grounds that using lights in the daytime would increase fuel consumption and emissions.

Motoring groups are united in their opposition to the move claiming that fuel consumption will increase by three percent, a figure that the European Union refutes claiming that it is only 0.3 percent a figure which would not be noticed by vehicle users. Anything that makes a vehicle more visible to all road users, and that includes cyclists and pedestrians, can only be a good thing. However what could be more important is if road users used dipped headlights in fog and poor visibility, something that all students learn during their driving lessons at the Bill Plant School of Motoring.

On a lighter note from Bill Plant is the question have you seen the film Driving Lessons yet ?  It features Rupert Grint as Ben Marshall and Julie Walters as Evie Walton.  Driving lessons was released in 2006 and has also been on the BBC. Here at Bill Plant we do not wish to give the Driving Lessons plot away, but can comment that it is a very uplifting film with a comical outlook, yet dramatic approach.

The plot of Driving Lessons is basically a coming of age story featuring a shy teenage boy who is hoping to avoid the control of is over domineering mother. He then starts to work for a retired actress played by Judi Walters. With 3 awards and 2 nominations we are sure that Driving Lessons is a film you will want to watch.