Emergency Stop - A Quiet Driving Instructor Weekend

This weekend was quiet for me as a driving instructor (not that I'm complaining), just one driving lesson on Saturday, and my elderly lady learner driver pupil was not available for any tuition on Sunday due to a meeting she had at her local church.

The Saturday lesson was nothing special, the pupil had failed a practical test recently, so she was generally at test standard so we just did more practise and a few major roundabouts to keep her skills sharp.

My plan for the day had been general driving, check her bay parking
(left and right) and then end the day with an emergency stop (or controlled stop as it is now called on the test report).

The drive to the car park of a local supermarket was good, with nothing major to report, and then first came the bay park to the left, which she failed. I checked with her the points of turn which she knew, then asked if she had used those points for turn for the exercise to which she asked no (Doh!). I asked her to then repeat the left bay park, this time using the correct references she had been taught and which she knew, and it worked perfectly.



I don't get it, why do pupils start a Manoeuvre, know the correct procedure ignore what they have been taught, see things are going wrong, don't correct, and then finish in the wrong spot and then look at me like what went wrong there?

Next up the right bay park, again a quick refresher and all wrapped up nicely.

I go for the joker on a quiet road, pull her up on the side, tell her we are going to do a controlled stop, ask if she has any questions to which she says no. 'Alright, move off when you are ready', I say and at the right moment I put up my right hand say 'STOP' and I feel the car
accelerate before it stops. I then advise her that she pressed the clutch before the brake, which caused the car to speed up before stopping, advised her to go for the brake first, and then the clutch, but more importantly that stopping the car is first priority and not
stalling is secondary, as in a real life situation what she had just done could mean injury or death of a young child (the most likely person
to run into the road without looking).

I also adviced her of the important tip to make sure she always puts the handbrake on after the emergency stop, and carries out an all round observation (6 point check) before moving off after this procedure.

Emergency Stop Driving Video



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More Reading
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