Thinking about issues before they happen
Fiona responds to an ADI forum question about dealing with aggressive and irritated drivers on the Standards Check, reflecting on the value of thinking about situations before they occur, and the role of reflective conversations in developing safer drivers.
The following question was asked on an ADI forum today:
"It is sometimes really difficult for ADIs dealing with aggressive and irritated drivers. If this was to happen on your SC how could you use it to your advantage and help the learner benefit from what is always a horrible experience ?"
And it got me thinking - this was my answer in brief:
"it seems there are many versions and precipitating factors. The issues that I try to address with my Students are about "who the other driver is?" "How are they today?" "What circumstances could they be in to make them act like that?" "What set of circumstances might trigger you to behave or react like that?" "How does it affect you?" "What steps can you take to prevent you lashing out verbally or physically?" ---
This will not prevent situations.... but sometimes to think about issues BEFORE they happen can help alleviate a crisis! ----
Good examples of this principle would be fire drills; where everybody knows what to do in the event of an emergency! ----
OR better still the 'steering into a skid' information that I was luckily given before I needed it. Going over that simple piece of information well in advance, prevented me from going out of control! I reacted instinctively due to prior knowledge, and had a 'near miss' that I can happily reflect on."
[Kolb's Theory of Learning]
I believe that having these types of conversations whilst Learning to drive a car, triggers trains of thought that age and mature over time. These reflections enhance driver skills, and decision making. Although not seeming as important as basic car control, I believe these skills to be even more so. Making well informed decisions is the key to safer driving for all our futures.
Fiona
Source & reference
Originally published on FionaDrive.com (WordPress). Title: TEMPORARY working title 'Thinking about issues before they happen' based on the core theme of Fiona's response; no heading in the supplied content serves as an explicit post title. Awaiting authoritative FionaDrive WordPress post title verification from Greg. Publication date/time: NOT YET VERIFIED from FionaDrive WordPress metadata. published_date and original_published_date left null. Date NOT inferred from the /2014/08/ image path, Standards Check terminology, or surrounding articles. Awaiting authoritative FionaDrive WordPress metadata. Opening question: The opening question ('The following question was asked on an ADI forum today:') came from an unidentified ADI forum. The questioner's identity, the forum, organisation, and other participants were NOT established. No attempt was made to identify the person who asked the question. Fiona's response: Fiona's response appears to have been copied from her own Facebook/forum response. The original WordPress content contained extensive Facebook implementation markup including: data-reactid attributes, data-ft attributes, UFICommentActorName link to Fiona's Facebook profile (https://www.facebook.com/fiona.taylor.7965692), data-hovercard attributes, UFICommentBody span wrappers, and Facebook-generated CSS classes. ALL of this Facebook implementation code and Fiona's Facebook profile link have been REMOVED. The words are Fiona's own response and remain, but the imported Facebook implementation code does not. Inline styling removed: Inline colour styling (color: #0000ff on headings and sign-off) and text-align styling removed. Heading levels (h3, h4) preserved semantically. Fiona's emphasis on 'luckily' preserved as <em>luckily</em>. Historical SC/DVSA terminology: References to ADIs, SC (Standards Check), and Fiona's professional statements treated as historical wording. No current DVSA Standards Check requirements, marking criteria, terminology, or guidance added or invented. Skid/near-miss example: The 'steering into a skid' passage is Fiona's historical personal recollection. It was NOT expanded into present-day skid-control instruction or new driving advice. The technique was NOT validated or modernised within this migration. Preserved as Fiona's historical personal experience. Kolb's Theory of Learning: Fiona's '[Kolb's Theory of Learning]' reference preserved as historical context. NOT expanded into a new explanation of Kolb's experiential learning cycle because Fiona's original article does not contain such an explanation. No academic claims or citations added that were not in the original. Editorial corrections: None made. Fiona's original hyphens, repeated full stops, and '----' punctuation preserved. No em dashes introduced. Fiona's wording, capitalisation, and characteristic writing style preserved. Historical image (requires provenance/rights/re-hosting review): URL: http://fionadrive.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/learning-kolb-300x229.jpg Alt text: 'learning-kolb' image_url: null. NOT automatically re-hosted. Because the image apparently illustrates Kolb's learning model, Fiona's ownership of the underlying diagram is NOT assumed merely because it was hosted on FionaDrive. Flagged for provenance/rights/re-hosting review. No Unsplash or generic stock image substituted. Relationships: None created. related_workshop_ids: [], related_product_ids: [], related_testimonial_ids: []. No automatic links to Beyond the Test, Scaling, Mind Mapping, Go Solo, or another current Workshop/Product. No existing record directly relates to this historical article. Legacy URL: null. No verified FionaDrive legacy URL available. None constructed or guessed from the article wording. Categories: Primary: Coaching. Additional: Learner-Centred Practice, Instructor Development, Communication. Communication included as consistent with existing FionaDrive taxonomy; the article is substantively about coaching conversations with learners about dealing with aggressive drivers. No new categories created.
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