The bay park exercise can be one of the most frustrating to teach and to learn.  Getting the car in between the two white lines first time isn’t always easy, especially from a 90 degree angle to the bay, and when there are no other parked cars in the adjacent bays to help guide you.

But does it have to be done this way?  Not at all!

Two common myths among learner drivers (and even some instructors) seem to be that on driving test day:

1.       You have to park from a 90 degree angle, and
2.       You will fail your driving test if you don’t get the car into the bay in one movement.

A recent trainee driving instructor I was training believed the above to be true because she was told this by her previous ADI trainer.  Many other instructors will have been told the same by their trainers.  Inevitably, this gets passed on to the learner driver.  They too believe they have to carry out the bay park from a 90 degree angle and complete it first time.

The ‘90 degree’ method

The ‘90 degree’ method is often the preferred option by instructors for the following reasons:

• It can be easier to develop a ‘method’
• It helps them relate to the reverse around a corner exercise
• It can encourage the learners to not rely on their mirrors as much.

It can be easier to use reference points from a right angle to the bay, but this relies on the driver starting the manoeuvre from the same distance from the bays, and the width of the bays being the same in each car park.  If these conditions are met, this method regularly results in success.

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‘Coaching’ is seen as a dirty word by some driving instructors, not surprising with some of the industry media attention it’s attracted.  But can all instructors embrace the benefits of coaching?  Do you think you use coaching already?  Read on and decide for yourself!

To illustrate effective coaching in action, let’s take one example of a risk increasing factor – passengers.  Any distraction can increase the risk of a driver crashing, we all know that.  But the distraction of carrying passengers and the effects of peer pressure are quite often a contributory factor as to why young drivers crash, especially young male drivers.  How do you address this issue with your learners?

As driving instructors, we’re in a unique position to deal with this issue before it results in your learner becoming just another statistic once they pass their test.  You may deal with this issue with your learners already, e.g. you may advise them not to be distracted by passengers, to ask the passengers to be quiet, or perhaps even to avoid carrying passengers, where possible.  And young people have this uncanny ability to let things go in one ear… and out of the other.  In actual fact, some have the determination to do exactly the opposite of what they are told (‘advised’).  I know I did at that age!  Not surprising then that this approach to dealing with crash causation factors, although meant with good intention, will not have a great deal of effect.

Coaching enables the coachee to experience and to learn, to make errors and to find solutions.

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“Hey Ged.. I got a really difficult pupil later. Good control of the car but in a ‘boy racer’ way. Very impatient, slightly aggressive to other road users, especially cyclists. He does know all the dangers/hazards but has the ‘it’s their own fault’ attitude. Any advice?”

Great question! Firstly, the problems of attitude, peer pressure, etc, cannot be dealt with on a superficial level, which ‘traditional’ driving instruction deals with. Rather than concentrate on the dangers/hazards OUTSIDE the car, this guy needs to take a closer examination of the dangers/hazards WITHIN the car, or more specifically… the person sat in the driving seat. For this reason, I would definitely deal with this issue using a coaching approach.

I would first start off by suggesting that this be carried out at the start of the lesson. It may take 10 minutes or so, so if you are conscious of the time taken to do this, ask if it’s ok for the lesson to run over by 10 minutes. Then say something along the lines of, “OK, so what I’d like to do this afternoon is to explore what your thoughts are on driving. So I just want to ask you a few questions to find out your opinions; some of these may be a little challenging, but I’d like you to answer as honestly as you can – that way you’ll get the full benefit. Is that OK with you?”

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