Driving Instructors – What are learners being taught? – Part 1
With the number of road accidents and deaths throughout South Africa reaching an all time high – we were interested in learning more about the driving instructors who are teaching the drivers on South African roads.
To find out more on the topic we spoke to the President of the Southern African Institute of Driving Instructors (SAIDI), Pat Allen.
Hi Pat, thanks a lot for your time! Let’s jump right into it!
Q. Overall do you think that the level of instruction given to learner drivers in South Africa is comparable to other developed countries?
No. There has never been any form of training offered to South African driving instructors. Those of us who train to a defensive and advanced standard paid privately for that standard of training and are able to give our clients a higher standard of training which should be the norm for safety.
Q. Which areas of teaching in particular, do you think requires the most attention for South African driving instructors?
Anticipation, defensive driving, courtesy, knowing, understanding and applying the law 100%, attitude training, how to be exemplary drivers so that we and our students can set standards to previously licenced drivers, using a systematic approach to hazards, understanding newer technology, while protecting ourselves from the sometimes deliberate, frequently impatient, arrogant driving, so commonly seen in so many drivers.
Q. As the national president of SAIDI, do you feel that some kind of overseeing body, for which all driving instructors should be required to be a member of, is required in order to maintain a certain standard of driving taught by driving instructors?
Yes I definitely do. SAIDI is well-respected and has been for close to 40 years. The public also find our Institute on the internet when they run into trouble with bad driving instructors, then they apply to SAIDI for help, possibly assuming SAIDI to be similar to ADI in England, with the authority to discipline errant driving instructors and to set standards.
These, and other issues, are very frequently reported to us:
- Promises of completing courses in 10 one x hour lessons. This is not possible if a safe or high standard of driving is required. When these badly prepared clients fail, they are accused of stupidity and told they are unusually slow, and told to pay for another course.
- Driving school owners often refuse to cover the costs of crashes, demanding that learner drivers should pay, (but usually those driving school vehicles are not insured or fitted with dual controls, which would have enabled the instructor to prevent a new driver mistake); despite the present lack of legislation in this regard, SAIDI members are strongly encouraged to fit dual controls to their vehicles and to sign-mark them.
- Driving instructors running off with money paid for a course of lessons, (after fraudulently posing as genuine legally registered instructors);
- Driving instructors being unreliable, not arriving for lessons after being paid, or being late with endless excuses;
- Not being given receipts for monies paid for lessons.
- Having to share a lesson with several students but each client pays for the whole lesson.
- Instructors who are barely old enough to have a driving licence themselves.
- Complaints about low standards of business ethics (e.g. the use of alcohol and drugs), sometimes coupled with inappropriate and/or immoral behavior (since they are not under our code of conduct);
- Instructors using un-insured and un-roadworthy vehicles, frequently leading to test failures;
- Low training standards, leading to crashes later or guaranteed quick passes but them insecure, incompetent new drivers who lack confidence and who are a danger to themselves and other road users.
- Driving instructors themselves causing serious inconveniences to other drivers by breaking the laws and being very arrogant about it etc.
We have always felt, at SAIDI, that it was a mistake on the part of the previous Government, and the new South Africa too, not to have made it compulsory for every driving instructor to belong to our Institute, since we were originally constituted by the Government to be a training and disciplinary body over driving instructors, while setting standards in the industry.
We are geared to do just this. The authorities say it is unconstitutional, but then ask if the four national associations over driving schools have merged into one, which would be easier for them to work with.
We believe the exorbitant national road fatality rate is a direct result of this decision. While competition is healthy, if each Association strives to set high standards amongst members, some actually strongly encourage an attitude of defiance, telling members not to apply for instructors’ certificates due to “a loophole in the law”.
The question must be asked, how can driving instructors who do not comply with the law, teach law compliance to learner drivers? How does that attitude bring about safe driving?
Q. Do you think that as a driving instructor there should be some kind of responsibility in terms of making sure the learner driver knows just how dangerous a vehicle can be, both to themselves and to other road users?
Of course! Unfortunately there is far too much emphasis on “yard work” where hours are spent perfecting parallel parking and alley docking etc. and far too little time spent in traffic.
It has been said so many times in the past, but how often do drivers die on our roads while parking or reversing into a bay?
There is far too little emphasis on driving competently, understanding what causes rear-wheel skids, coping in different weather conditions and in the day and night, driving defensively, complying with the law, and co-operating with other drivers with courtesy and respect.
Q. Do you think the requirements needed for driving instructors to legally operate in South Africa are sufficient? Does it really test driving instructors’ ability to drive competently and strictly within the boundaries of the law?
While the present instructor’s test is nowhere near as difficult as it used to be, it is never-the-less, quite challenging. We presently write a learner’s licence test. If we pass that with sufficient marks, we are tested for a driving licence test to a very strict standard. There is room for much improvement, but it is not as easy as some claim, which is why the vast majority of instructors operate illegally.
Q. Or do you think the actual driving test itself, for which each student must pass in order to get their license, is a good enough measure of each instructor’s teaching ability?
No. Most people tend to acquire bad habits due to poor training or copying other poor drivers standards. It is absolutely imperative, as a matter of great urgency, that a national training centre be established for driving instructors, where intensive training should assist all instructors to become professionals who produce masses of excellent drivers who will infiltrate the present driving force to influence the low standard positively. I have put forward a proposal at the last Technical Committee meeting on 6th and 7th October 2015, where the proposal was accepted in principle.
Q. Great, thanks again for your time and for these insightful answers! Anything else you’d like to add on the topic?
No. I think that is a great selection of questions, except for the serious lack of service delivery which contributes to bribery and corruption.
Good point!