Driving crash courses - well not literally!

Blue School of Motoring is a driving school based in the south of England covering Berkshire, Surrey & Hampshire. These areas include Ascot, Sunningdale, Virginia Water, Wokingham, Crowthorne, Camberley, Finchampstead, Earley, Woodley and Reading but to name a few. We also cover all suburbs of Surrey & Hampshire.

Got a new job with a company car and you need to have a full driving licence?

Try the fast track route, intensive driving courses are designed for people who are after the quickest and most cost effective way of learning to drive in the shortest time possible.

Despite the speed, courses do provide a safe preparation for driving on today's roads and have many advantages over the conventional method of learning to drive.  The normal route is to take a one or two hour driving lesson once a week over several months, this can, to some people prove to be mundane and boring, and some learner drivers tend to drop off and give up altogether, even after several months of learning. One caveat is you need to have completed your theory test prior to commencing any intensive driving courses.

Courses are more demanding and will certainly keep you on your toes for the entire duration, with one hurdle after another to deal with. If you have already driven a car before you start the course, then you may need less hours than a beginner, this depends on when you last drove a vehicle. The key to driving at a good and consistent standard, will only be maintained if you are doing it on a regular basis.

For instance if you have failed a driving test several months or maybe even years ago, it will take you a little bit longer to remember the basics of MSPSL (Mirror Signal Position Speed Look), but once that routine has been re-introduced, you will soon be progressing.

If you are a learner driver and are just starting on your road to becoming a fully qualified driver, then you will need to cover the basics of how to use the controls of the car, then to move off and stop, after that how to turn left and right into a side road then you should progress onto emerging at junctions from minor to major. These are the very basics and should be covered within the first few hours.

After several more days you should now be at the partly trained stage. You will have covered all the basics of car control and you should now be progressing onto slightly more demanding road systems and junctions, such as roundabouts main roads and gradually moving off the beginner nursery routes into busier area's. Your intensive driving instructor should now be ramping up the pace and also introducing you to the reverse manoeuvres, such as turn in the road, reverse parking, reverse into a side roads.  You could potentially be asked to carry out two of these four manoeuvres for you practical driving test, as well as an emergency stop, the latter if time permits.

After several more days of your intensive course your driving standard should now be at an independent stage. You should have reached this stage just before your practical test, a good time to peak. The road systems you should dealing with now are dual carriageways and complex junctions, higher speeds up to the national speed limit, which on these roads is potentially 70mph. You will be performing all types of driving independently such as route planning to and from different locations and dealing with all types of traffic conditions without the assistance of your instructor. 

A mock test should have been arranged by your instructor, prior to you taking the official practical test and this should have shown any weaknesses in your overall driving standard. If you're mock test has not gone well or you have not reached an independent stage in your driving, then your instructor should suggest two options:

• 1. if time permits, plan for more training in order to concentrate on the areas that you are weak in.

• 2. is to re-book your practical driving test for a later time, thus enabling more of option one.

The key to completing the course is to find a specialist organisation that can deliver an intensive course to you in the timescale that you need. Any good driving school such as http://www.blueschoolofmotoring.com/ would recommend an assessment lesson prior to commencing any course, which requires a large investment of money in a short period of time.  They should also have clear and easy to understand terms and conditions along with written code of conduct, if they don't have either of these then go elsewhere.

How should I choose between differentdriving lessons?

First of all it might be helpful for you to know what is generally meant by these terms:

Normal- This is usually around 2 hours per week, in one lesson. The course usually lasting 2-4 months.

Semi-intensive - This means around 4-8 hours per week, with a course being completed in approximately 1-2 months.

Intensive- This is around 10-24 hours per week, with a course being completed in 1-3 weeks.

The above are all dependant on practical test times, and these can vary from test centre, you may have to wait 4-8 weeks for a date, please check with DSA (Driving Standards Agency).

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