Last week finished on a high with three very good lessons on
Friday. My first pupil, Callum, is very close to being ready for his test and
we started the day by asking what he felt his strengths and weaknesses were. He
is very relaxed in the car and quite confident, but country roads and meeting
traffic were the areas that he felt needed some attention so, the content of
our lesson being decided, we set off.
Our route would start from the sea front and follow the coast
road through Maenporth and Mawnan Smith, a relatively gentle start but
progressing to some narrow country roads before returning to the streets of
Falmouth. The weather was beautiful but, while it was great to see the sun it
would prove to be an additional hazard when we reached the more difficult parts
of the route.
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| Cliff Road |
Castle Drive was nice and clear and, apart from a few
joggers and dog walkers there was nothing too difficult to handle so it gave
Callum time to settle himself into the drive. The road is pretty good until you
pass Swanpool beach, then a nasty double uphill bend leads you into some of the
more challenging parts of the route.
Road signs are put in place to give instructions or
information to road users, and, while its always important to be aware of and
to react to them, when driving on particularly difficult roads those needs are
emphasised.
As our route progressed towards Maenporth the road became
narrower with several bends and Callum found that he needed to focus even more
on the road ahead. By reacting early to the road signs he was able to negotiate
the difficult parts with relative ease and, when meeting oncoming traffic it
gave him time to prepare rather than being rushed into taking avoiding action
Driving out of Maenporth the road twists and turns and
reduces to single lane in places, this was the first time that Callum had tackled
this hazard, he approached cautiously, keeping an eye open for passing places
in case we met oncoming traffic, which, of course, happened. Callum slowed the
car, slipped into first gear and, using clutch control, pulled to the side and
applied the handbrake, allowing the approaching cars to proceed. Callum’s hill
start was excellent and we continued on our way.
The road into Mawnan Smith still held some surprises, the
black and white chevron sign, above right, being used after the left hand bend
sign to indicate the sharpness of the approaching bend. Once again, with good
observation and forward planning we were able to negotiate the corners safely
and with no problems.
Driving away from Mawnan Smith the road becomes
a little easier, although there are still a couple of nasty bends, and it’s as
we approach one of these bends that we catch up with two cyclists. We don’t
have a good view of the road ahead and so we
stay behind the cyclists until we can pass them safely,
giving them as much room as possible and making sure that we check in our left
hand mirror to see that they are still sitting on their bikes.
As we returned to Falmouth the hazards that come from
meeting traffic changed again, now we were on streets with parked cars,
sometimes on both sides of the road, and, of course, pedestrians now became
another potential hazard. Increasing amounts of traffic also helped to keep
Callum well focused as returning to his house would require us to pass through
some quite busy roads.
Approaching Falmouth hospital we meet not only cars but also
a bus and a lorry before the lights on the crossing turn to red, and if we were
hoping for more challenges in Tregenver road we weren’t to be disappointed,
because of the parking in the road there is little or no space to pass without
someone having to stop and pull in, unfortunately not all drivers are polite as
Callum is and, even though he had the right of way he still found it necessary
to pull in to let oncoming traffic through because they were not prepared to wait.
Our lesson finished shortly after and, once parked, we discussed
how the lesson had gone. Callum felt satisfied that he had handled some
difficult situations quite well, reading the road ahead and using available
road signs had increased his awareness and therefore helped him to plan how he
might be able to handle potential problems without panic. A successful lesson
completed.
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