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.

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.

By Mike Lanyon