Welcome Amy. We really look forward to helping you to not only prepare for your restricted driving test, but to also go forward on the roads as a safe and well prepared driver.
Lesson #10 and #11 16 and 27.01.2023
Some amazing progress in your confidence Amy. We have now covered everything we need to cover in your preparation to sit your restricted driving test. In our next lesson, I would like to look at a pre-test session to drill down into how you manage under test pressure.
Lesson #10 07.12.22
Amy, I really feel that we’ve just reached a new level of skill and confidence. I’m really impressed with your level of confidence now in your driving. Your push and pull steering method is really settled in – although you’ll still have the odd occasion where you’ll still lock up your arms, your brain seems to tell you to release your hands and steer push-n-pull. So well done. What I want you to think about is the practice of crawling into a junction from a triangle, assessing, especially if it’s a give way, and then leaving – but leaving with a bit of a speedier response.
So from brake, a quicker transition onto accelerator. It doesn’t mean you have to speed forward with the car, but that you’re going: brake – assess – pull out and begin to accelerate if need be; so that you can actually move away promptly.
Road-reading would be really good to practice, try and see how many signs you can notice 12 seconds ahead, so that you can begin to prepare for what you need to do. Great motorway driving, and I really want to keep this level; fantastic parallel park, fantastic 3-point turn.
So now what I want to do on the next level is take it to the next challenge, of being a testing officer, giving you the instructions, and getting you to carry out with confidence what you need to do. And don’t forget we’ve got a strawberry ice cream planned, yay!
Lesson #9 23.11.22 2:30
Amy, really good, solid effort today, although what I will say is that there were a couple of times you were a little bit nervy around intersections – when do you pull away, when do you not, and what happens in a panic situation. Now you did handle things really well, but I really want you to begin to get used to how you plan to pull up to an intersection, smoothly bringing everything down – you know sometimes when you were going a little bit too fast and then there’s a harsher braking? And also the looking left and right, left and right. So it was really good because what I’ve begun to pick up is there can be a little bit of panic in trying to handle a vehicle as you’re pulling out or indeed pulling into somewhere. Hence why we went to Kumeu and did a lot of low speed maneuvering round the 30 zones. So, being able to push and pull, being able to manage things at a lower rate, helps you then when you need to speed up. So just think about all of those things, and the next time we meet let’s have another crack at motorways.
Lesson #8 10.11.22 12pm
Amy, you’re really getting a handle on your steering and road positioning, fantastic. We had an opportunity today to look at motorway driving. So you did really well, doing one little leg of the motorway. What I want to do next time is to really expand that motorway knowledge in your vehicle where you can really use your onramps, use your off ramps, confidently, knowing whether you’re speeding up into a motorway setting, or indeed slowing down. So I just want you to look at the video I’ve included about motorway driving because we’re going to focus a lot on that in your next few lessons. But well done!
Lesson #7 Wednesday 26.10.22 midday to 1.30pm
Excellent lesson today Amy, you have really begun to get on top of your steering with the push-and-pull method so well done! My feedback is now you need to practice the rural road rule about keeping left so that there is plenty of room for oncoming traffic on windy roads. Think about the video here relating to navigating roundabouts and plenty of practice will help.
Next lesson I want to look at motorway driving and more roundabout practice. See you soon.
Lesson #6 Wednesday 26.10.22 9:30am
Amy, what a fantastic lesson today! I feel that it was your best yet.
Although you started off a little bit nervy on the steering you really began to settle in again with the push and pull method. I really want you to focus on that in your practice in the time before we meet again the week after next. Your road positioning became really solid, focusing on your left eye remaining on the left solid white line on rural driving, not on the line but close to it. And you really began to make the car behave as you needed it to behave, which keeps you super safe for on-coming traffic.
We also did roundabouts today, and I really enjoyed seeing you, after a couple of circuits, being able to handle the right hand turn on a roundabout, as you were coming in with good assessment tools, good indication – I just think you probably need to use your mirrors a little bit more as you’re exiting off left, and also that all-important head check. We also did right hand intersection turns, which meant going into a central merge lane – the flush median – and again, just that head check needed over your right shoulder, with your right indication, just making sure no cars are coming up behind you.
And then wow! A three point turn, and you nailed it! That low speed maneuvering, that push and pull, so I really want you to practice that. But all in all, fantastic. Can’t wait to see you again.
Lesson #5 – Monday 17.10.22 10am
Amy it was fantastic to see you driving your little family Nissan this week, you handled it very well! We started off with the low speed maneuvering so you could learn the push-pull technique in a new car with the steering, and you quickly picked that up, so well done.
Things that I think you need to think about and focus on now, is the practice of the hill start, which we did focus on quite a lot within the lesson, and also the navigating of roundabouts. Apart from that, I look forward to seeing you very soon.
Lesson #4 – Thursday 10.10.22
Lesson #3 – Thursday 06.10.22 9am
Amy fantastic driving, you’re really starting to improve, having conducted 3 lessons. I want you to think about your steering practice and your lane position. What I want you to do is focus on being further left instead of further right, just so you keep away from oncoming traffic. What you need to be aware of, is when you’re turning into any road, especially right, you’re not to cut your lanes – so you’re not to cut over any of the lines into oncoming traffic. So what I want you to focus on and think about as you practice your driving, is taking your accelerator off and gradually easing into your junction, steering back to where you need to be, and only then accelerating. Roundabout practice is definitely something we will do next time, I want you to be really confident about how you assess a roundabout
So in the meantime, prior to us meeting, I really want you to go to the “Drive” YouTube channel, and look at roundabouts. I will link it in here for you. and we’ll see you again soon! I’ll send you some appointments.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiLbiNseXSE&ab_channel=Drive
Lesson #2 – 14.09.2022 11am
Fantastic lesson today Amy, I was so impressed with the progress we made from week 1, simply driving very slowly around small back suburban streets without any traffic, so you could focus on steering. Because you’ve had this horrible thing happen where you drove over a small barrier with your car and it scared you, what tends to happen is you panic with speed vs steering. However, today was fantastic! To begin in those same suburban back streets, having you just drive until you got a feel for the vehicle, releasing the steering wheel in enough time so you’re not oversteering and turning too far into something, it was lovely and smooth. Then I felt you beginning to ease in with acceleration, matching that with what you needed was just enough to be able to steer, but then also to retain a little bit of acceleration and forward motion, so well done.
Leaving the suburban streets, we headed out onto the main roads, and I was so proud to see you being able to manage and handle that. I did feel that you panicked initially when you had vehicles come towards you or go around you or sit behind you, and you managed to overcome that. I think the strategy we used today of breathing out, and breathing in, and actually having you breathe along with the vehicle and how you connect all of that up – driving down to the vehicle, having to overtake it because it’s parked, breathing out, breathing in to bring the vehicle back in, breathing down to bring you to the triangle for a roundabout, assessing, breathing up to leave the roundabout, breathing to the right, breathing to the left. And it was so impressive to see you handling that vehicle so well, on main roads, with quite a good amount of traffic today.
My feedback is: being able to now keep your eyes from looking at your speed for too long, keep eyes looking up and in your mirrors. Building up that picture, and allowing breathing to happen not only with your body but with the car, and so breathing through everything with your steering.
What I want you to do this week is practice all of those techniques we learned today with your mum, and just try a couple of main roads, not at rush hour just something a little quieter, where you can just breathe through everything, and have mum sitting beside you just supporting you with that. That’ll be amazing. Going left, breathing, mirrors, indication, speed coming down, breathing through.
So well done, I look forward to seeing you on our next lesson, #3 Thanks Amy
This is a record of your progress and must be kept by us on your behalf for 12 months and when added to your lesson plans forms the overall training plan.
Student Name
Lesson Date
Lesson Plan #
Subjects Covered
Seat adjustment
Instruments & controls
Pre-drive checks
Signals
Moving off (straight)
Stopping
Directional control
Moving of (at angle)
Basic gear changing
Speed control
Moving off (uphill)
Moving off (downhill)
Parking on a hill
Gears on hills
Head checks
Stopping times
2 & 4 second rule
Lane driving
12-6-3 Second scans
Hazard awareness
Decision techniques
Amber lights
Priority rules
Blocking rule
Gap selection
Roundabouts
Decision rechecks
Vehicle dynamics
Cornering techniques
Open road driving
Motorway driving
Low-speed control
Three-point turn
“U” turns
Reversing (straight)
Reversing (left corner)
Reversing (driveway)
Parallel parking
Angle parking
Night driving (optional)
Pre-test practice
Developing a training plan with you is where we begin once you have your theory learner test behind you.
Your training plan will be a structured and logical sequence of progressive lesson plans with the provision for the review of your progress as we go.
Each lesson plan will have its own TRAINING OBJECTIVE which will outline what you will achieve as a result of the session along with the STANDARD to which you need to perform the task and the conditions under which the performance will be assessed along with the RESOURCES that will need to be supplied.
How we deliver our knowledge to you is through three main methods
Controlled Practice – This is where your tutor will carry out the manoeuvre with a full verbal description as we go a couple of times so you have a chance to observe and feel comfortable trying it yourself.
Prompted Practice – Once you are comfortable, you can then try the manoeuvre whilst your tutor prompts you with a word here and there as a reminder as you concentrate on carrying out your manoeuvre
Transferred Responsibility – Yay – this is the bit you get to do it yourself and practice.
The following behaviors will not be tolerated by either the tutor or the student or any staff member of ALL TERRAIN DRIVING ACADEMY
Sharon is very experienced when it comes to driver education. An NZTA approved driving instructor, a defensive driving instructor in STREETALK and a member of the New Zealand Institute of Driving Educators and a fully qualified assessor carrying out driver assessments for various NZ government organisations. Sharon is an off road driver trainer too, so you are in experience and patient hands.
You can contact Sharon on 021 029 28023 ( a text is always better) if you have any questions.
Learning To Be A Model Driver
On & Off Road
Off Road Helps Your On Road Knowledge
Modern Day Learning Techniques / Up To Date Tech
