Nice lady,

[eileithyia]

We met today, dropping into glossop nipped her horn, gave her a nice friendly wave (honest) she pulled over and informed us we should not be riding 2 abreast on a 50mph road!!! eh politely suggested she read her Highway Code, and gave her another friendly wave as she passed a second time... Not sure her wave conveyed the same message...

[Vantage]

I was honked at by either a driving instructor or his/her student as they passed on Wigan road despite me travelling in excess of 20mph and there being more than enough room on my right for the overtake on Friday. Still waiting for an explanation from them on their Facebook page. Will be interesting I think.

[Tonyf33]

I was honked at by either a driving instructor or his/her student as they passed on Wigan road despite me travelling in excess of 20mph and there being more than enough room on my right for the overtake on Friday. Still waiting for an explanation from them on their Facebook page. Will be interesting I think.

Instructor allowed a learner to overtake a parked car in a residential area causing me to brake (As I didn't want to be squeezed into the gutter on my side thank you) I pulled around, tapped on the window and told her she should be telling her students to give way when approaching parked vehicles and not overtake (even more so given it was a learner who generally need more space to do so) and force over road users to deviate their course and/or brake. You had plenty of room says she, I did before you allowed the student to pull out and make a close pass.
She clearly couldn't understand the danger of pulling out from their position into my path and think less than 2 feet is unacceptable.
The student I had no malice toward, she should have been telling him to wait and not squeeze past in a manner that threatened me and could potentially be very serious.

It's a sad indictment but a large % of instructor's have no idea and don't want to acknowledge cyclist's and their right to be on the road in whatever position they choose to for their own safety. This very much has a massive knock on effect to the newer drivers coming through, a specific cycling section should be included in the practical lessons at the very least.

[Redvee]

I had a Driving Instructor allow a pupil to pass me too close then I caught up with the pupil/instructor and saw the instructor guide the car away from a parked car. The instructor/owner of the school found the video online and posed as a pupil saying how good the instructor was, the instructor was cage fighter etc. I continued replying to the various replies but 'the pupil' shut up when I pointed out all the comments I made on the video were going out on Twitter for all the world to see and getting more attention to the video.

[661-Pete]

If a pupil commits a motoring offence, the instructor can be prosecuted for aiding and abetting, I believe. If it's a large school covering a wide area, you could always try complaining to the school, I suppose. But many driving schools are one-person outfits, so that wouldn't work.

Needless to say, I've seen examples of poor driving by learners, but I live in the hope that the instructor is there to correct such errors. But you can't be sure.

There is the general feeling in our (quiet, residential) area, that there are far too many L-drivers anyway. Not just from us, I've heard such comments from our neighbours too. We live on a corner and have a continual stream of cars rolling up to do the 'reverse-around-a-corner' trick, noisily revving up and spewing exhaust fumes into our garden in the process. Yes it does get tedious, when it's been going on (in our case) for the past 30 years. Incidentally, how often does one have to do this manoeuvre in real life? Reverse into driveway, into parking space, using one's mirrors: yes, we all have to do that - but round a wide-radiused corner in a wide road? I would rather, this sort of stuff were dropped from the driving test, and replaced with special cyclist-awareness exercises.

But lots of us have been saying that for a long time. Nothing happens.

[Psamathe]

I have often thought (though rarely done) that "reviews" can be of great assistance to others. Even when you do a Google search, often there is a facility to add a review (including a bad review). Does not have to be "this instructor cut me up", but maybe more along the lines of "when an instructor allows a student to commit a moving offence and does not even point the failing out to the student what hope of ever becoming a safe driver ... but you will need loads more lessons to pass your test".

Ian

[brianleach]

Sadly happens to me almost every time I cycle home from the train station and usually outside the Winchester test centre. Often but not necessarily drivers under instruction. I am amazed at the number of vehicles which overtaking parked cars force me into about two feet of space. I often think about 1 staying in the middle of my lane to see what happens but am not happy about the combined speed of me downhill and them uphill and not brave/foolish enough or 2 to knock driver's wing mirror as they go past. It would probably hurt and inflame the situation so I usually take avoiding action.

[eileithyia]

Still wondering at all the references to driving schools / learner drivers.... as I did not...

[Psamathe]

Still wondering at all the references to driving schools / learner drivers.... as I did not...

Sort of crept in and stuck somehow.

But I was really surprised the other day; probably more by my own stereotyping than a drivers behaviour. Driving down a single track lane and a flashy black Audi coming the other way some distance off. I thought "road owner" so I pulled into a field entranceway and waited. Audi slowed and stopped beside me and driver did his Popeye impression (muscles covered with tattoos on display). I was expecting some verbal abuse so ignored it more intent on removing some insect intent on eating my leg. And driver said "Thank you". And with the insect getting the taste for blood and my own shock I just went "Uh" and the guy carried on. I felt a bit rude after that, and disappointed in my expectation (for want of a better word).

Ian

[Flinders]

If a pupil commits a motoring offence, the instructor can be prosecuted for aiding and abetting, I believe. If it's a large school covering a wide area, you could always try complaining to the school, I suppose. But many driving schools are one-person outfits, so that wouldn't work.

Needless to say, I've seen examples of poor driving by learners, but I live in the hope that the instructor is there to correct such errors. But you can't be sure.

There is the general feeling in our (quiet, residential) area, that there are far too many L-drivers anyway. Not just from us, I've heard such comments from our neighbours too. We live on a corner and have a continual stream of cars rolling up to do the 'reverse-around-a-corner' trick, noisily revving up and spewing exhaust fumes into our garden in the process. Yes it does get tedious, when it's been going on (in our case) for the past 30 years. Incidentally, how often does one have to do this manoeuvre in real life? Reverse into driveway, into parking space, using one's mirrors: yes, we all have to do that - but round a wide-radiused corner in a wide road? I would rather, this sort of stuff were dropped from the driving test, and replaced with special cyclist-awareness exercises.

But lots of us have been saying that for a long time. Nothing happens.

May be you're on a test route. We are. When I pop put for a spin midweek there is nearly always a learner driver somewhere here, I generally see at least one either going out, coming back or both. It's a quiet street with short dead-end side streets off it, so it's juicy meat for practicing reversing round corners. I can't say I've had any problems so far as a cyclist or driver, though. I reckon there being plenty of cyclists coming round here too is good, as the instructors, if they're decent, get the chance to teach their students about us. I can't say I've noticed any fume problems either, not ought there to be if the cars are properly maintained. If they aren't, they need reporting.

[Cunobelin]

Had a similar episode with a driving instructor, so sent video to driving school pointing out that he was totally ignorant of the highway code, ans my concern over the content of the lesson as the pupil was also being incorrectly instructed..

Heard nothing for a week, then very apologetic reply, ensuring me that it was NOT their normal standard and that both instructor ans student had been instructed with the fact that bicycle do not have to use cycle paths

[661-Pete]

May be you're on a test route.

Possibly - although we live on the opposite side of town from where the test centre is, and the activity we see doesn't look like tests (if it were, there'd be a lot of failures ). I thought that instructors had a sort of unwritten code of conduct to 'stay off the test routes' so as not to impede actual tests.

Although I still think that a lot of this manoeuvring stuff is irrelevant - or, at the very least, should be practiced and conducted off the road - there's one activity that I would like to see reinstated. When I took my test we had to give hand signals on the move - but this is no longer asked for. Perhaps if candidates were forced to give hand signals whilst driving along, they might learn to appreciate signals given by cyclists more. Moreover, when cycling (and bear in mind most adult cyclists are also motorists) they might not be so shy about giving proper hand signals, with the arm extended right out - instead of the pusillanimous finger-gestures from the hip that I see some cyclists deliver.

[TrevA]

I used to work on the same site as a test centre until a couple of years ago, and the surrounding roads were festooned with learner drivers practicing reversing, reverse parking and 3 point turns. A right pain when you are trying to get to or from work!

[Redvee]

I used to work on the same site as a test centre until a couple of years ago, and the surrounding roads were festooned with learner drivers practicing reversing, reverse parking and 3 point turns. A right pain when you are trying to get to or from work!

My commute was along a similar road popular with learners doing 3 point turns but there were bypasses to avoid the road blocked by turning cars. Look at Concorde Drive.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.50135 ... ,17z?hl=en

[Guy951]

One of my younger friends passed his driving test last week. The one thing he got told off about was for "showing too much consideration to a cyclist".

One-way street with cars parked down both sides. Ahead is a cyclist. 50 yards beyond the cyclist is a roundabout. Liam waited behind the cyclist (as we would all like drivers to do). Once over the roundabout the female examiner told him he should have overtaken before the roundabout, and when Liam explained there wasn't enough room, that he'd have to cut in and brake, causing the cyclist to brake hard to avoid running into him, she told him that was what he was supposed to do

I know we all complain about morons who just can't wait to get to the back of the next queue, but surely they can't all have taken their tests in Letchworth!