Author: Cameron

A new road rule is now in place in NSW to improve the safety of emergency workers, as well as the people they are protecting

The new rule requires motorists to slow down to 40km/h when passing a stationary emergency vehicle displaying blue or red flashing lights.

The rule also requires motorists to give way to any person on foot in the immediate area of the emergency vehicle. Motorists should not increase their speed until they are a safe distance past the vehicle.

The NSW Government will monitor the safety and traffic impacts of the rule during a 12-month trial period in consultation with NSW Police, emergency service organisations and other stakeholders.

Key messages of the campaign

• For everyone’s safety, motorists must slow down to 40km/h when passing stationary emergency vehicles displaying blue or red flashing lights
• The rule applies to vehicles travelling in both directions, unless the road is divided by a median strip
• Motorists who do not comply with the rule will face a $448 fine and three demerit points.

Police, firefighters, ambulance officers, State Emergency Service and rescue volunteers perform difficult and dangerous work for the community. But just like everyone doing their job, they should feel safe and know that they are protected at work.

Cameron, after 3 times trying to pass the test, 1 lesson with you made all the difference.

You made things so easy to understand and 2 days later Jacob got his P’s.

He also said how comfortable and confident you made him feel.

I would highly recommend anyone to have lessons with Cameron prior to attempting their P’s test.

Thanks Tanya W………

Hi Cameron!

This is the twins from Bella Vista!

We just wanted to let you know that we just did our Ps test at Blacktown and we both passed !!

We would just like to thank you so much for guiding us in our lessons!

You gave us a lot of confidence going into this test !

We also appreciate your energy and enthusiasm during our lessons. Oh and amazingly we both got 104/105 !

My instructor said in all his years he has never seen that, he said this is a conversation for the staff room ha-ha !

Thank you Ali and Jacki

1/3/2018

Hi Cameron,
finally after 4 times failed, today I pass and got my full license. Thank you for everything that you tought, I’ve been so blessed that I took driving lessons with you. God bless you. Cheers, Artie.

It has been shown time and time again that simply slowing down and driving safely for the conditions is the best way to reduce road crashes.

Research has shown that even five km/h over a 60 km/h speed limit can double the risk of an injury crash. The risk doubles again for each additional five km/h travelled.

At higher speeds you have less time to detect and respond to hazards. When you are still new to driving you need even more time to assess hazards and deal with dangerous situations.

Penalty rules

It’s important that you know the rules so you don’t get fined or, even worse, lose your licence.

• Learner and P1 plate drivers will have their licence suspended for at least three months for ANY speeding offence
• P2 plate drivers will have their licence suspended for at least three months for a second speeding offence
• Learners and P plate drivers receive a minimum of four demerit points and a fine for any speeding offence
• Speeding attracts additional points if committed in a school zone
• Double demerit points apply for speeding during all holiday periods such a long weekends, Christmas, New Year and Easter
• Learner and provisional riders and drivers face immediate suspension and confiscation of their licence for speeding more than 30 km/h over the speed limit.

Like most things, it takes lots of practice to become a safe and confident driver. These rules are designed to give new drivers time to learn to adjust the vehicle speed to suit the traffic situations and driving conditions.

More information on speeding penalties is available on the Roads and Maritime Services website

The streets are busier as more people drive to avoid the rain and the roads become slippery. There’s the water itself, but the rain also brings oil and other slippery muck to the surface.
It’s harder to see the road ahead, your windscreen becomes foggy and your brakes are less effective.
It’s no surprise that in the wet weather there are more prangs, but there are some simple things you can do to avoid getting into trouble.

Slow down

It seems obvious, but it’s always a good idea in wet weather to ease up on the gas.
You should also increase the distance between you and the cars ahead.
In normal conditions, it’s recommended that you leave a three second gap – in the wet, try to double this.

Take it easy

You need to take extra care in all aspects of your driving. Accelerate and steer smoothly. Avoid slamming on the brakes – apply steady pressure.

Look out

Make sure you can see and be seen. Turn on your lights and use your air conditioner and/or demister to keep your windows from fogging up.
In heavy rain, you’ll wish you had replaced those worn old windscreen wipers. Before that happens, check out whether you need new ones – they’re cheap to buy and easy to install.

Watch out

Keep an eye out for water on the road. Sometimes water can gather in dips or unseen potholes, creating deceptively deep pools.
Cars have been known to ‘aquaplane’ after hitting water like this (that is, ‘glide’ out of control across the road).
If you do come across water across the road, then cut your speed right back to 30 or 40km/h. After you’ve driven through, touch your brakes lightly to dry out the brake pads.
Obviously, if there’s water flowing across a road in a low-lying country area, for example, you should stop and check the depth before continuing (it shouldn’t be higher than the lowest point on the wheel rim).

Patience

The most important thing is to be patient. When it’s raining and chaotic, everyone’s in the same boat…

Reverse parking made easy

The reverse park is the one part of the driving test that makes you more nervous.

Even when you’ve got your Ps, reverse parking can be a sweaty-palmed trial. No-one likes the feeling of trying to squeeze into a gap between two cars while cranky motorists bank up behind you.

Here are some simple tips to avoid a dose of the reverse parking heebie-jeebies.

Put it in perspective

Reverse parking isn’t the biggest test of your driving ability.

It doesn’t matter if you’re the best reverse parker in the world, if you speed, forget to indicate and can’t pick a safe gap in the traffic, you’re never going to get your Ps.

The reverse park is one of the manoeuvres you’re expected to do when you go for your red Ps – the dreaded Driving Test.

This is probably why reverse parking has such a reputation – because you have to perform it under pressure.

But the reverse park is only one part of the Driving Test – even if you don’t do it perfectly, you can still pass the test (unless you do something like drive up the kerb or hit a car!).

The best advice from Roads and Maritime Services testing officers is to practise a lot before the test and then, on the day, keep it in perspective, stay calm and don’t panic if it doesn’t go well.

The same advice works on the road: stay calm and if it doesn’t work, well there’s always another parking space somewhere else.

The step-by-step guide

Here’s Geared’s step-by-step guide:

• Find a suitable space that you can safely get your car into.
• Slow down, indicate left, check your left blind spot and pull up alongside the car you are parking behind (you can keep your indicator on throughout the manoeuvre).
• When you pull up alongside the car you are parking behind, make sure there is about one meter between your car and the car next to you.
• Position the car so your car’s left passenger side mirror is in line with the driver side mirror of the car next to you.
• Shift your car into reverse gear, check all mirrors and blind spots.
• Turn the steering wheel anti-clockwise, and slowly begin to reverse your car. Continue to check the left passenger side mirror and the front left corner of your car while you are reversing to ensure you keep a safe distance between your car and the car in front.
• Continue reversing at an angle until your rear tyre (facing the kerb) is nearly as close as required to the kerb (this is roughly 30cm). If your tyre hits the kerb, this means you’ve gone too far. Put the car back into drive and move forward a few feet and try again. Also the rear end of your car should be around 30cm away from the front of the car behind you.
• As you finish reversing in, turn your steering wheel clockwise to straighten your front wheels.
• Finally, inch forward (making sure your front wheels are straight) to complete the parallel park.

The final turning point may need a little careful trial and error, but once you have that point established it never needs to be changed, and will become easier each time.

You should also do everything slowly to allow sufficient time to use each of the turning points exactly.

Just a helpful hint, rather than trying to learn to reverse park between two cars learn to reverse park behind one car first. Then when it becomes easier, you can move on to nailing the reverse park between two cars.

Up until that point you’ve been in the more spacious seats, with room to stretch your legs and a view of the scenery uninterrupted by a speedo and fuel gauge.

When you first slide into the driver’s seat, you’re suddenly surrounded by all sorts of buttons, dials, numbers and flashing lights. It’s a pretty snug fit with pedals at your feet, a steering wheel in front and gearstick to the left.

Turn the key and away you go? If only it was that easy. Driving a car is not something you can learn from a Youtube clip either – you need someone who knows what they’re doing to show you and answer your questions.

Finding your teacher

Ok, so you’ve passed the test and got a fresh pair of L plates for the car.

Now you’ll need someone to teach you exactly how to operate the pedals, turn the steering wheel, and change gears using the gearstick. Take some time to think about this because learning to drive can be pretty stressful so you’ll want someone you’re comfortable with. It can also be stressful being the teacher, trying to explain things they’ve been doing automatically for years. So keep this in mind when you’re hunting for a teacher.

Can you teach me?

As a learner driver, the person in the passenger seat with you must have a valid, unrestricted Australian driver licence. So if your big brother is on his Ps, he can’t take you out for a drive. Or if uncle Jim has lost his licence or forgotten to have it renewed, he can’t teach you either.

Who CAN teach you:

• Tom from next door – has only ever driven an automatic car (if you want to learn auto)
• Mum – has her full licence and it’s up to date
• Professional driver trainer – from a reputable company with licensed driver instructors

Who CAN’T teach you:

• Big brother – on his green Ps and has his own car
• Uncle Jim – has been driving for 20 years but his licence expired four months ago
• Friend of uncle Jim’s – wants you to pick him up from the pub after a few beverages
• Dad – has a motorcycle licence but not a car licence
• Tom from next door – has only ever driven an automatic car (if you want to learn manual)

Back to school?

There’s always the option of paid driving lessons through a driving school. It can be a good way to practise driving with someone in the car that’s not a family member or friend, for when it comes time to take your Driving Test with a Roads and Maritime Services driving tester.

Here’s another nice perk: for every one hour you take with a paid driving instructor, you can record three hours in your logbook (up to 10 hours). So if you pay for 10 hours of lessons, you notch up 30 hours in your logbook.

Which school?

There are lots of driving schools and licensed driving instructors out there to choose from and it’s important you do a bit of research to choose the right one. You don’t want to find out the instructor isn’t properly qualified and the hours you pay for won’t count in the three-for-one deal.

If the “school” is run out of some random garage and the “instructor” offers a rusted heap that looks like it could have been salvaged from a wrecker’s yard, it’s really a no brainer to keep right on walking past.

All fully qualified and licensed driving instructors will have a NSW Driving Instructor’s Licence (with their photo on it). If they don’t have this licence, they’re not legal instructors. To claim the three-for-one driving hours in your logbook, the driving school and instructor must have a structured lesson planner – without it, you’ll only be able to record the actual hours you spend on the road, even though they’re paid lessons.

It’s a good idea to give the instructors you’re considering a call to ask a few questions.

Some questions worth asking are:

• Are they a fully licensed driving instructor?
• Do they have a structured lesson planner?
• Is the training one-on-one?
• What course guidelines do they have?
• Would they design each lesson together with you and your supervising driver?
• Do they have a system to track your progress?
• Can they give guidance to your supervising driver to help you learn and satisfy logbook requirements?
• Do they have a vehicle for your lessons? Is it automatic or manual?
• Can you choose which vehicle you take lessons in (maybe you want to learn in your parents’ car)?
• Are they flexible in terms of lesson times, drop off and pick up spots, etc?
• Are they a member of an association with a code of practice?