Your Car or Mine - DrivingCoach Instructor Stories

So there I was, on the road with the family heading towards Mosselbay for a well deserved break. I was tired of Cape Town traffic and needed to break away from all the soccer fans.

We took my wife’s little car as my battle ship( my 1990 Nissan Skyline) decided that it has suffered enough and needed an engine transplant. Somehow we managed to fit 2 kids, luggage for one week and my fishing rods inside her little Toyota 1300 Tazz. Dare I say it was a mission.

Anyway, we left the house all cheerful and happy waving goodbye to Cape Town. On the N2 just outside Calendon, the Tazz started to misbehave and swerved around 2 corners. I slowed down unaware of any possible issues. Cars drove past and I gave way. Then a White Hyundai Getz pulled up next to me and the driver pointed towards the rear passenger tyre.

We slowed down and stopped where it was safe. There it was, a flat tyre. Well, all we could do was to unpack the boot and start digging for the spare wheel. Lucky for me I had the spare checked the day before we left. To my surprise, the guy who showed us we had a flat, actually turned around and offered his help. We were stunned to say the least. Of all the bad stories you read and hear about how people don’t car about each other any more, this guy and his family made the effort to come and assist us.

He introduced himself (idiot me forgot his name) and pretty much changed the tyre for me. He must have thought I am on those useless metro males that can’t work with his hands. This guy and his family was my hero. He has a company called Hope Foundations that is based in Gordon’s Bay.

My hope and faith in humanity has been restored. Thank you sir, my family and I owe you a lot!!

My tyre was damaged beyond repair. Cost me a new set.

Hope Foundations , may your business grow from strength to strength.

Delme Petersen

Managing Director

The Driving Coach

The Fifa World Cup is upon us. Cape Town will be abuzz with activities and all kinds of lovely festivities. For Driving Schools in the Western Cape it will be business as usual. We at the Driving Coach hopes that the impact of the World Cup will not affect us too negatively.

With road closures in and around town ,our driving coaches may become stuck in traffic going to or coming from a client. This may become an issue and we may need to look at meeting clients for lessons away from buzz. We are not sure what lies ahead but we sure are very excited. We have decided to run a “World Cup Special” for the duration of the games to ensure we are kept busy and to ensure our clients get value for money.

There will be a fair amount of tourists visiting out lovely city. Some will use public transport and some will use rental cars to commute to and from the stadium. We as Cape Town motorists therefore need to exercise patience during this time. Our visitors will at times get lost and perhaps even drive on the wrong side of the road. We need to ensure that we as drivers are able to deal with all these issues that may or may not come our way.

What can we as the Driving Coach do for you? We are in the position to provide all visitors advice and assist them in getting to know our roads. We specialize in learner and driver training as well as advance driver training. We surely hope everyone of us using our roads will be safe and that there will be no casualties during this time. The police and traffic department will be on full alert so make sure you do not drive under the influence of alcohol/drugs. Also ensure no one you know does so either. Call a cab or even call us, The Driving Coach for assistance.

The Soccer World Cup is the biggest event taking place on our shores thus far. We need to make the most of it and ensure visitors leaving South Africa do so in good spirits. We want them to come back here after all!

The Driving Coach, Changing the world, one driver at a time

Laduma Bafana-Bafana

Delme Petersen

Marketing Manager

The Driving Coach

East London to Port St. Johns and Port St. Johns to Durban

I have lost all sense of time.  I think that I might br going slightly insane. The concentration of riding through the Transkei is hectis. People throw stones at us as we pass or jump into the road to scare us. Even worse are the potholes - they are so enormous that if I had to fall into one, the National Sea Rescue would have to come in and find me.

Our support vehicles got stuck in peak hour traffic in Mthatha. The robots don’t work there, so the motorist all just go, which naturally cuases havoc. Roxanne and I managed to weave our way through the chaos and waited on th e road to Port St. Johns but a motorist stopped and warned us that it is very dangerous to stop there so we decided to continue without our support vehicles, which in itself, is extremely dangerous.

We are riding the 2 fastest scooters - Rox on the Al Ninho and me on the Galactica. It is freezing and we are only wearing jeans, and 2 layers of clothing. My hands are so cold that I battle to decellarate on the bends so I go into them at about 90 kms and just grab the back brake to slow down. Two of the bikes are on the trailer and the 3rd is being ridden by Lebo who stayed with the support vehicles in Mthatha.

Besides all the dangers, the scenery is just gorgeous. It is so lush, with rivers and mountains and ocean all culminating into a garden of Eden.

We finally arrived at our destination, Jungle Monkey Backpackers in Port St. Johns, at 5pm only to find out that our support crew are still stuck in Mthatha. They all arrive 2 hours later.  All I want to do is eat somethinh and sleep.

Day 6

We are so excited - our final day - but we have well over 400kms to travel to get to the Moses Mabida Stadium in Durban. The scooters have all done 1600kms in the past 5 days and they are all suffering from exhaustion as much as we, the riders are. The roads are definitely starting to improve and the scenery is becoming more lush as we head for the Wild Coast.

We are 4 riders today - Rox, Mignon, Lebo and myself. Our 5th rider has taken ill and cannot possible ride. Crossing over the bridge into Kwazulu Natal is the happiest moment for me. I have never been as excited to see a Durban Banana Tree as I am right now. From here we only have 2 hours but the one Galactica suddenly and unexpectadly runs out of fuel. Lebo and I ride to Scottburg to buy fuel and we take it back to where Rox and Mignon are waiting…and we’re on the road again. By now the Veterano (without a silencer) sounds like a Harley Davidson and I am loving the attention that it draws from onlookers. The red Galactica is also battling but we keep going. Rox takes the lead since Durban is her home town. We follow her to the absolutely magnificent Moses Mabida Stadium - just opposite the old Kings Park. The Stormers are playing the Sharks there this evening so the place is packed with rugby supporters. Awesome!

We ride in with much hooting, shouting and HeeHaaa’s from the four gals! A cameraman from SABC interviews us one by one and we throw our orange helmets up into the air - WE DID IT!

5 WOMEN, 5 SCOOTERS AND 2010kms OH YES!!!

Dirty Girls Scooter Run Day 4 Cape St. Francis to East London

It’s 21:40 and I am finally relaxed after a long day on a bike.

I rode the Galactica for most of the day and then the Veterano late afternoon early evening.

No activities were planned for the day because we had a lot of ground to cover, over 400kms, if I am not mistaken.

Oh My Gosh…the Eastern Cape is just beautiful. I have never been here before. The rodes between Port Elizabeth and Grahamstown was extremely windy and difficult to ride. When you’re on a scooter that only weighs 90kgs, the crosswinds almost can lift it off of the tar. You have to make sure that you are leaning against the wind to counter balance the forces and just when you’ve got it…the wind changes direction within a split second and hits you from the other side. It was a constant battle just trying to keep the little bike on the road but worth every moment!

From Grahamstown it was a lot less windy and the roads were windy (curvy) and very nice to ride.

We had one incident which could have ended badly if Roxanne Banely (the S.A. womens moto-cross champion) was not riding where she was.

One of the scooters exhausts had come loose and at 100kms flew off, across the road and hit Roxanne’s bike and then hit her on the knee. How she managed to control the bike, was beyond me. I was riding behind her, about 40 meters back and within 2 seconds it was over! She managed to pull her scoot over and collapsed on the side of the road – luckily not injured but really shaken up! I would have fainted right there but after 5 minutes she was back on her bike and we were on route to East London.

We arrived at 19:30 at the Garden Court, tired but funnily enough excited. The fact that we are actually doing this, basically putting our lives on the line, for charity, is a humbling feeling to say the least.

I look forward to tomorrow.

Dirty Girls Scooter Run from Cape Town to Durban Day 3

Mosselbay to Cape St. Francis

Sponsored by: The Driving Coach, Radio 2000 and Jonway Scooters

Staying over last night at the Protea Hotel Mosselbay was a wonderful experience. The staff are super friendly and the rooms are absolutely beautiful – thank you Protea Hotel Group.

We left at 07:30 so that we could make the most of the day. We had quite a distance to cover and we had 2 activities that we had planned for the day.

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Scooter Run Day 2 Cape A’Gulhas to Mosselbay

Let me state this emphatically: I have never done anything more physically draining than this!

Riding a “125cc Yesterday” scooter from Jonway is, in itself, a lovely experience. It is a lovely looking scooter, very retro with wide handle bars and huge mudguards.

Mine is white in colour with big red, hearts adorning it.

We left Cape A’Gulhas at about 08:00 after visiting the Southermost point of Africa (where the two oceans meet). What an inspiring experience!

The road between Bredasdorp and Swellendam is long with beautiful scenery.

Unfortunately the wind picked up badly to the point where it actually blew one of our ladies off her scooter. Luckily she is ok and happy to ride again.

We are still only reaching topspeeds of 110kms max and this, along with the necessary stops, is making our journey longer than we thought.

The ride between Riversdal and Mosselbay was exceptionally good as we were tucked in behind the support vehicle and using it’s slipstream to gain momentum.

We arrived in Mosselbay 6ish, freezing yet grateful for having the opportunity to be part of this stunning event.

We will leave tomorrow morning at 08:00 for Knysna.

Catch us on Radio 2000 at 08:45, 11:45 and 18:30 with Lebo M.

Dirty Girls Scooter Run from Cape Town to Durban 03 May 2010 – 08 May 2010

Sponsored by: Jonway, Radio 2000, The Driving Coach, Chevrolet.

What an event!

At 08:30 this morning we left Cape Town from the Stadium after Lebo did her first crossing to Radio 2000. 5 women, 5 Jonway scooters and 2 support vehicles.

 Patrick took some footage for SABC sport and we were off.

We rode the N1 in convoy to Cool Runnings where we did some tobogganing, which was almost as nice as riding the scooters.

We took the N2 over Sir Lowry’s Pass (a real challenge in headstrong winds) winding our way down the pass towards Grabouw, Botriver and onto Hermanus.

On a down hill the scooters get up to 100kms – 110kms but uphill we can only do about 70kms.

We lunched in Hermanus and then hit the road again towards Stanford taking the turnoff  to Caledon / Bredasdorp. The weather changed to a chilly 15 degrees and riding became quite difficult. We still had to get to Struissbaai where we are staying over tonight at The Agulhas Backpackers, which really is stunning.

We look forward to our adventures tomorrow: sandboarding in Mosselbay and staying over in there.

I thought i would share this with you today instead of writing my usual article. Her name is Skye from Cape Town and she wrote this letter to us.

“Today I sit here, a licensed driver; which if you knew me personally you would know what a big deal it really is!

I’m an accomplished 23 year old, with a gleaming academic career under my belt. When it came to my studies I was a master! I have a prestigious Bachelors Degree as well as my Honours, and I was accepted into a course that only accepts 160 out of probably 1000 applicants.

With all of this to my name, you can only imagine my dismay when I failed my first, second and third drivers tests!! I have had three leaner’s licences and by the time I actually got my licence, I had spent about R10 000 on the entire endeavour! It was soul crushing to go through the process so many times, having my parents doubt my driving and say “I told you so” each time. The worst part was that I knew I was a good driver, I felt nervous and fearful of failure in lessons, but I could drive without problem. I could parallel park like a bomb, and although alley docking wasn’t my forte, I could complete the yard when practicing without any problems. Yet somehow, once I got into the test environment, I collapsed, melted down, freaked out and all round it just went pear shaped. My first three tests I never so much as got out of the yard!

So on having booked my fourth test, and moved to the City Bowl, I decided it was time to look for a new driving school (having already had four different instructors). Clearly something in the learning process needed to change, because this time I had to pass, or I would end up going down a less legal path of licensing. My closest friend told me of this company, and how they went about instructing in a totally different way from normal, how they didn’t so much as teach you how to drive, but rather coached you through the experiences of driving. They apparently had a good pass rate and basically worked specifically with people like me. So I figured, why not give it a bash, they come highly recommended, unlike other local driving schools. In my first lesson my coach, Grant, blew me away, within the first 10 minutes of the lesson we had chatted and done some exercises and I went from a nauseas, nervous, shaky mass to a calm and composed, confident student. Not to mention we both won tickets to a music festival, with VIP treatment for each of us and four of our friends! Definitely the best driving lesson ever!

Over the next four weeks, we worked on the basics of driving but in a very practical and logical way. Before I had been taught how to follow a bunch of poles and magically land up in a parking bay, this time I was taught how parking worked, how one realistically parks a car; so when I got into my test, it didn’t matter if poles were spaced funny or looked different, because I understood how to park. In addition to this, Grant gave me a whole new perspective on the journey of driving tests, and he completely changed my mind about wanting to get my licence in any dodgy manner, by the time I got to the day of test number four, I was perfectly happy to have to do test five, I just wanted to achieve a few small victories in that test, namely getting out of the yard. And having that reduced pressure, made a HUGE difference, I knew it wasn’t the be all and end all of my life, even though without my licence I was unable to get a job!

So test day arrived, and par for the course I had an epic meltdown, luckily it was an hour before the test and Grant helped me through it, gave me yet another new perspective and new tool for dealing with the nerves and stress. Don’t get me wrong, I was still a nervous mass by the time I got to the test, but I had tools to deal with it, control it and to boost my confidence. With each small success in the yard, my spirits lifted,  I was able to overlook the few mistakes I made and not obsess over them, allowing myself to have the right point of view to do what I had to do. And without further adue…I stalled just before exiting the yard, lol, don’t get too happy and excited on completing it! Luckily a stall is only one point, and I didn’t let it upset me at all. I had achieved my aim for the day, and I had completed the yard! I was heading on to the road! And the rest is history! I now have my licence, and thanks to Grant, the most life-changing thing, is that I have a whole new perspective and set of tools for dealing with stressful situations in which one faces the Red Furry Cat, of Rejection Failure and Criticism…these are not things I handled very well before, the fear of them really is what drove me through a large portion of my life, but now I know better.

Without the Driving Coach, I would probably be standing in a long queue waiting to book test number five, any other driving school is a waste of time and precious money in my eyes, this is the only way to do it, so a big thank you to you all over there at The Driving Coach!”

Give us a try and to see how we can help you!

Delme Petersen, Marketing Manager,The Driving Coach

There are many books these days explaining how to things work and how to do it yourself. I read a few and found them very interesting and sometimes even amusing. Preparing for your learners is easy as the test is purely theory. The driving test however is a practical test and no amount of reading can ever prepare you for this.

The driving test requires many hours of preparation where you need to do various types of parking and do some driving on the road. We at the Driving Coach know how these things work as we have been doing this for a very long time. We had a good look at other driving schools and looked at how they do things. From this we realized that there were some elements missing in this type of training.

So what makes us different from the rest? We prepare you for all aspects of the driving test. We cover all practical training and ensure that you are able to perform all types of parking and teach you how to handle all types of traffic. We also teach you how to handle your nerves. Why? Nerves are one of the main reasons why a lot of people fail their test. Nerves will cause you to make mistakes which you normally would not do.

Why would you choose is above the others? We are passionate in what we do. From the person that answers the phone to the coach that takes you for a lesson. Our main aim is for you to grow as a person and more importantly, not wasting your hard earned cash on unnecessary lessons.

Give us a call and see for yourself

Delme Petersen, Marketing Manager

Just the other day we celebrated Christmas and new year. Now we are preparing ourselves for Easter. May of us will make full use of this long weekend by going away on holiday. Personally, i would not mind either.

Sadly this time is also known for its high death toll on the road. People will rush to their destination and this is where the problem starts. Speeding and reckless driving has always been a major cause for concern.

We at the driving coach are very passionate about road safety. We are striving towards making a difference on our road. We therefore prepare our clients in all aspects of driving to ensure they keep themselves and other road users safe. We teach them to always obey the rules of the road and to be aware of their surroundings.

We strive towards our logo” changing the world one driver at a time” is what puts us as Driving School above the rest.

Don’t believe me? Give us a call and see.

Have a safe Easter weekend

Delme, Marketing Manager, The Driving Coach