Adi part 3 training - Emergency stop
Adi part 3 training - Emergency Stop and the use of mirrors.
The thing that amazes me most, when I come to do this pst with trainees from other colleges or schools is that the pst is listed as "emergency stop and the use of mirrors" and yet EVERY time we cover this, for the drive to where we do the emergency stop, the trainee does not say a thing about my mirrors, except when we go to turn left or right!
Well what's wrong with that? You may wonder, well mirrors are to be used to quote the essential skills book, BEFORE any change of speed or direction. NOT when changing gear and NOT just for when you turn left or right!
PST 5
The reason for this? Because as you pull away from the side of the road, or just after you have turned a corner, you may well have a vehicle behind who wants to come racing past at the first opportunity, now if you are going to wait to check the mirrors until just before you change gear, he may have already pulled out to overtake you and at that precise moment, you put the gas pedal to the floor in an attempt to pick up speed to change gear.
The result is that he is now in a race with you, the problem being, he is on the wrong side of the road and could have a 40 ton lorry screaming towards him and you are keeping him over there because you are not quite at the point to change gear and are still quite happily accelerating at a rate of knotts because you still don't realise that he is there. So for anyone having driving instructor training, remember it's mirrors before ANY change of speed or direction!!!
The other thing to remember when you take your adi part 3, is that the commentary for he mirrors should begin at the test centre BEFORE the senior examiner evn goes to move away, you need to be watching the examiners eyes and NOT their head! So many time I will just sit there, keep my eyes fixed on the road ahead, and all the pdi does is say "good mirror check, well done".
So they are in effect saying well done for not checking your mirrors!
Before accelerating away from the test centre car park get them to check their mirrors, Before slowing down, any potential need for them to be checked should be mentioned, i.e junctions on the left or right, pedestrians walking across the road, buses pulling in or out, change of speed of the traffic, pedestrian crossings etc.