Your Car or Mine - DrivingCoach Instructor Stories

I came across this article from The Star, and thought it was quite interesting and worth spreading the word about…

More than 35 000 people were caught driving in Cape Town without valid driving licences in the first six months of 2008 – and more than 19 000 unlicensed cars were pulled over.

ANC councillor Werner Scwhella said he was “deeply concerned” about the number of people driving without licences.

“The question is whether people are merely ignoring the law or taking a chance driving without a licence due to the long waiting periods,” he added

Many jobs require a driving licence, which means frustrated motorists are choosing to drive illegally.

According to the Metro Police’s quarterly report, Cape Town’s traffic department dealt with 19 234 unlicensed drivers and just under 11 000 unlicensed vehicles in April, May and June, 2008

Cape Town is doing ‘relatively well’ in reducing the waiting time to six months

Traffic spokesperson Merle Lourens said the high number of unlicensed drivers could be because of the testing backlog. It could also be caused by motorists who did not want to get a valid driver’s licence.

Acting safety and security director Heathcliff Thomas said the waiting period for a new licence was nine months nationally but that Cape Town was doing “relatively well” in reducing the waiting time to an average of six months.

A pilot booking system had been introduced at the Lingelethu driving licence test centre in Khayelitsha, he said, and would be followed by others at Atlantis, Milnerton and Gallows Hill.

Even with the introduction of the new system, it takes at least six months to book for a licence test

The next available date for a licence test is in February 2009

By Anél Powell

Browsing online the other day, we came across the strangest website. This website promises to get their clientele a booking for their drivers and or learners tests within three days of completing a contact form and making a rather ridiculous payment of R299.

Guys, please be very wary of this, as this is an absolute scam. There is no possible way that any company can provide this service. The only way to ensure your test booking is to literally go to a testing station yourself, get your eye test done,  verify your identity and make the payment necessary (either R60 for learners or R120 for drivers). This might mean that you have to stand in a queue for a couple of hours, but at least you know you’re doing things the right way. 

I would also really appreciate if you guys could report anything else of this nature you may come across; it is quite simply illegal.

Such a beautifully succesful week. We’ve had 2 of our Learners pass their Driver’s tests and also one succesful Learner’s test. I can’t remember the last time I’ve felt so proud!… (see our website for photos of the student who’s passed)

For our lesson today it was so amazing once again to see our student listening to our guidelines oh so carefully to be sure she doesn’t miss a single bit of detail. This girl really surprised me as she could do all the parkings including the nightmarish K53 observations with no hassles. Well done girl!

Another jam packed week coming up for us. We are really not complaining, we are afterall busy “changing the world one driver at a time”…

See you guys again soon!

Ok, so I know I haven’t written in a while, but that’s because we have actually been incredibly busy over the last couple of weeks.

Here’s a quick recap; on Sun 27/07 we had 3 clients. One of them really amazed me, he went from “this is my first time behind the wheel” to “wow, this is awesome!”. It was an incredible sight to witness someone learning the basics so quickly, as you all know, for some it can take ages! For his next lesson, coming up this Sat, he is actually going onto the road, absolutely amazing! The rest of our clients have all been driving for a while, but it’s so nice to see how they improve with each lesson they take. Sometimes, you as the instructor also have to realise that these students can figure things out for themselves. We can guide them along the way, but eventually they have to get it right themselves, by themselves.

On Friday 01/08, I went along when one of the other instructors took one of our students for his test. He passed and let me tell you, it’s an incredibly proud moment to experience with them, knowing that you are partly responsible for their success.

This past weekend we had a number of students, and believe it or not, 3 of them were also brand new drivers. Seems like soon there will be a lot of new drivers on the road… Watch out for them :p

Until next time folks, keep coming back for more.

Since first getting involved in the Driving coach (which has been such an interesting and sometimes hilarious experience) life and all it used to mean changed quite drastically.

My coach took me from “jelly leg” where I literally couldn’t change gears cause my left leg was simply shaking to much to a place where I now (according to others) drive like a complete and utter maniac. And the best part of it all: I love it!

With this blog I plan to share stories from the driving school, the good ones, the bad ones and yes even the terrifying ones.

Keep reading and enjoy!

PS. Also check out www.drivingcoach.co.za