Automatic Driving Lessons Raheny-Reverse Around The Corner

Hey guys and welcome back to our classroom. Today we are going to be talking about the most difficult part of the driving test, the reverse around the corner. When you first try the reverse around the corner, it can be very tricky and you will think that you will never get it, but after a few attempts at it, it will all make sense. Have a look at our whiteboard video below and if you like the content, please like and subscribe and watch until the end.

During your test, the tester will ask you to pull in and stop on the left. They will usually give you all the information that you will be moving off from a parked position, driving past the turn and pulling in and stopping. Then you will reverse backwards around the corner. The tester used to get out of the car for this during COVID times but they might stay in the car now, especially with winter on the way. You will be expected the reverse back in a straight line, keeping reasonably close to the footpath and keep reversing back until they say stop.

Step one is to move off from a parked position using GOSHO, then drive past the turn and left mirror, left signal and pull in on the left. Then handbrake up, into neutral and cancel your signal.  Always try to park straight and reasonably close to the path.

Step two is then to move off from a parked position but this one is a little different. We go into reverse gear, do our big look around, this time we don’t use our indicator because our reverse lights are on. This is our indication to everyone that we are going backwards. Then we take our handbrake down, one more look over our right shoulder and reverse slowly backwards. We don’t need to be on the accelerator at this point. On the clutch is fast enough. If you feel that you are going to fast, dip (press) the clutch in to take the speed out of it. As we reverse back in a straight line, we need to look out our back window, at our left mirror and also ahead and into the right mirror. The trick here is to make sure that you are straight in your left mirror first before you look around. Reverse back to where your back wheels meets where the kerb starts to bend and stop.

Now it is time for steering. When your back wheels are where the kerb starts to bend that’s when I usually do a half a steering wheel to the left. This usually gives you really nice position for the first part of the turn. If your position looks like it is reasonably close to the footpath the best thing to do is hold the steering wheel in that position. If your position looks good in your left mirror, then we can check our blind spot. We need to check this 3 or 4 times as we reverse around the corner. Also trying to look out our back window occasionally too. 

As you look in your left mirror, if you feel the kerb is getting away from, stop, take another small steer to the left. It would be the same thing as if you were you driving forward around the turn. The trick here is action now. If you feel are a getting further from the path, steer to the left straight away. The longer you leave it the wider you will go.

As you come around and we can see the kerb straighten up in our left mirror, that’s when we need to start undoing our steering. What I usually tell my students is to keep the left steer on and when we are parallel with the kerb, stop, straighten the wheel and reverse back in a straight line. The tester will usually bring you back 3 car lengths.

So that’s it. The reverse around the corner. Really hard to explain by text but I hope you understand the concept a little bit more. If you like the content please hit that like button and subscribe and watch the video until the end. Thanks  

Automatic Driving Lessons Raheny-Reaction To Hazards

I hope you are enjoying the Learner Driver Classroom and you are benefitting from the videos. In our next video we will be talking about reaction to hazards. This is something I cover in EDT 6 and it is a very important lesson. During your EDTs, if your instructor doesn’t talk about this in detail, I find people pick up a lot of marks for this. Only after I explain reaction to hazards to my students, does it make sense when you are driving. See my video below

First of all, I have to define what a hazard is. A hazard is anything that makes you change speed, change course or change direction and there are 3 different types of hazard.

1. Stationary (doesn’t move)
2. Moving
3. Environmental

A stationary hazard that would make you change speed would be a speed bump, a traffic light or even a narrow gap. A moving hazard that would make you change speed would be a pedestrian crossing the road in front of you or a vehicle turning in front of you. An environmental hazard that would make you change speed would be dense fog, snow or ice, rain or even darkness.

A stationary hazard that would make you change course would be a car parked on the left or any type of object that would make you move around it. A moving hazard that would make you change course would be a cyclist or bus pulling in/out.

A stationary hazard that would make you change direction would be a turn, roundabout or a mini roundabout. 

The trick with reaction to hazards is that it’s better to act now rather than later. How we do this is by scanning the road ahead and looking out for potential hazards. If you know there is a speed bump ahead, we mustn’t race up to the bump, brake harshly when we get to the bump and make it a rough drive. This is your driving test, everything has to be smooth.

It is the same when we see a car parked on the left. We don’t want to race up to a car parked on the left, instead, we want to see the parked car ahead, mirror, signal and move early, provided it is safe to do so. I will be posting a video about when to signal around parked cars another day so stay tuned for that one.

It is the same with an environmental hazard. Imagine driving on a national road and the speed limit being 100kmph and it was icy outside, that would not be very safe. Although, you wouldn’t do your driving test in icy conditions, you could do it in heavy rain and the tester would expect you to ease off a slightly. Remember it is double the following distance when driving in wet weather compared to driving in dry weather and a much greater stopping distance.

Watch the video above for a detailed description on reaction to hazards and also how to deal with certain hazards. You have to be thinking in advance when driving. I see it so often that students go into a trance while driving. Its all about staying alert and anticipating what is happening ahead. 

If you are enjoying the content so far, please hit the like button and also subscribe to my channel. There is so much content on my channel and there is so much to come. Also, try to get your sponsor to watch the videos too. This will help you during your lessons as you will be on the safe page. Best of luck to you 

Automatic Car Rental in Raheny-Turning Right Yellow Box Junction

** Watch all the video guys to see how to win the limited edition prize**

Hey guys, welcome back to our Learner Driver Classroom. Todays lesson is an important one. Everyday I hear of someone failing their driving test for not knowing how to do these junctions correctly. There is a lot of information in this video so be sure to watch the video more than once. Also, like and subscribe and answer the question in the video on Youtube to win the prize.

The video above explains the correct way to tackle these bigger junctions with the yellow box. Knowing how to read the traffic lights is very important so lets explain the lights first.

Obviously, when we see a red traffic light, we generally stop at the first line you see. As we wait for a green light, we could be checking a mirror every few seconds but also keeping an eye on your traffic light. Once that light goes green, we check our left mirror then our right mirror, handbrake down and off you go.

If we see a green circle light with no directional arrow, this means that we can proceed straight and turn left if its safe to do so. We can also turn right here provided there is no on coming traffic. If there is oncoming traffic, we drive into the yellow box, look to the right and try to stop with the front of your car in line with the centre line. Once we are stopped here, we are looking ahead for a gap to appear in the oncoming traffic and also looking to the right onto the new road. When we see a safe suitable gap, we can proceed with caution. Check out the video below to see how we explain turning right. 

If you are first in the que, its very important we move up into the middle of the junction. Failure to move up into the middle will result in a grade 3 fault in your exam. It can be ok for the second car to wait behind the line on the smaller junctions. You don’t want to get caught stopped in a pedestrian crossing. If the first car moves off the junction and the light is still green, then the second car can move up to the middle.

When you are in the middle of the junction, your main job is to get off the junction. Don’t worry about the traffic lights at this stage. If they change to amber, that means the oncoming traffic should also see and amber light and they should start slowing. Once you see them slowing down and preparing to stop, that’s when you get going.

If we see a green directional arrow to the right, we should be ok to proceed with caution in the same direction as the green arrow.

If we see a green arrow for straight only, it is very important that we wait behind the line if we are turning right. If you move up into the middle of the junction at this light, this will also result in a grade 3.

Remember guys, if you are enjoying the content, please like and subscribe to my channel. Also if you want to win the limited edition prize, be sure to type the correct answer into the comment section on YouTube. Also, if you have any questions, please type them into Youtube and I can respond there. Best of luck

Automatic Driving Lessons in Raheny-Mini Roundabouts

Welcome back to your Learner Driver Classroom. In our last session, we spoke about tackling roundabouts. Roundabouts are an everyday part of driving in Ireland. They can be confusing when you are learning how to drive and with a little practice, they get easier. If you haven’t seen the video on roundabouts, click the link below to see more.

Now lets talk about mini roundabouts. Students generally find the mini roundabouts even more confusing than the bigger roundabouts. The same general rules apply, the only difference is that they are much smaller, so you might need to ease off the accelerator slightly.

If you are taking the first exit to the left, it is the exact same as a normal roundabout. We MSPSL on approach. We mirror, signal left, keep our position in on the left, slow and into 2nd gear, off the clutch and L for look out to the right. If there are no cars coming from the right, keep going slowly in 2nd. That is usually easy enough. 

Going straight through is where people usually have difficulty. The way we take these is similar to normal roundabouts except there is no need to drive all the way around the outside of the mini roundabout. There is not enough space for that and it can be very confusing for other road users. The trick here is easy. We use our MSPSL on approach, the only difference is we don’t signal on approach because we are driving straight through. So we check our mirrors, keep our position into the left, slow, 2nd off the clutch and observation ahead and to the right. If there are no cars coming from the right keep going. Once we are on the mini roundabout, look in the direction you are driving. Once we steer around the mini roundabout, then we can mirror left then signal to the left. Very important we don’t sacrifice good steering to check your mirror and then signal left. The video below explains more.

The video above explains taking the third exit or to the right in much more detail than I can here. The main things to take into account is the speed at which you drive around a mini roundabout. Some mini roundabouts are extremely narrow, so sometimes it is ok to drive around them in 1st gear.

As always, we do our MSPSL on approach. We mirror, signal to the right. Then we position our car over towards the centre line. Then we slow, into 2nd, off the clutch and observation ahead and to the right. If there are no cars coming from the right, we can keep it moving. If its narrow, slow it down and use first gear. Try use the accelerator lightly or not at all. Try roll around the mini roundabout. We want our steering to be perfect. And remember, when we pass exit 2, left mirror, left signal and exit in on the left. It is not the end of the world if you touch the road markings a small bit, just try to avoid them as best you can 

Make sure you stay until the end of the video because I explain why so many people pick up grade 2s for observation at the roundabout. 

Also, I never mentioned it in the video but if you are going straight through a mini roundabout and it is straight through, first exit, we left mirror, left signal on approach. Keep our position in on the left, slow and look to the right.  

That’s it. Another classroom done and dusted. If you are enjoying the content please smash up the like button and subscribe to my channel. Stay tuned for more content and cool giveaways soon. Safe driving all