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Exercise 1

Briefings are what you give to the examiner on all phase one exercises, in addition after you have qualified, briefings will be required whenever you are teaching your pupils a new subject. You will require visual aids to assist both yourself and your pupil.

The purpose of this page is to help trainee instructors prepare for the Part 3 ADI Examination. Experience has shown that most trainees have found this examination to be the most difficult of all. Many trainees, like driving test candidates, have sat the examination without sufficient preparation. Success in the test does not depend on luck, it should be remembered that the test is a vocational test and the standard required to pass is rightfully set very high in order to protect the public from inferior instructors and to improve road safety. If students follow the advice on this page and become sufficiently practiced so they can demonstrate first class instruction at all levels of learning, then they should have absolutely no problems in passing the examination.

Phase 1
During phase 1 the Supervising Examiner will play the role of either a beginner or a learner driver of limited experience. The S/E will explain clearly the role so that you can then set the level of your instruction in accord with his ability. If you feel you would like more information, then put questions to him which will extract the information you require.

Exercise 1

For this exercise the S/E will want you to explain safety precautions on entering the car and the lay out of the main controls. He will introduce the exercise by saying, "I would like you to imagine that I have never sat behind the steering wheel of a car before. Will you explain the safety aspects of entering the vehicle, the positions of the main controls, their function, and if we have enough time teach me how to move off and stop?"
What you do not know is :
a) whether or not he has ever been a passenger in a car before, if he has, he may be able to fasten and release a seat-belt
b) whether or not he has had experience of riding a cycle with a 3 speed or had experience at driving a motor-cycle or a farm tractor.
The reason why I mention the above items is that you may well be able to use a transfer of learning later on by taking him from the known to the unknown. But let us imagine that he has been everywhere by public transport and knows nothing. If he has had previous knowledge then you will be able to modify what follows to suit. You must now forget he is an experienced driver and treat him as a beginner commensurate with the information you have gleaned from your questions. The S/E would prefer to sit in the driving seat of the car whilst you conduct this exercise.

COCKPIT DRILL

First start with the cockpit drill. Explain the safety aspects of walking into the road and opening the driver's door. Then seating themselves in the car and closing the door. Mention the safety catch and how it can be detected by the sound made when the door is closed. I personally never let an opportunity slip by when I can work on the affective domain.

I believe that attitude to driving is very important. For example, if we have two drivers who are equal in the psycho motor and cognitive domains then the effective domain may well separate the two. e.g. One driver is considerate and careful and the other couldn't care less and has an aggressive attitude which is reflected in his or her driving. The considerate driver will be the safer driver.

Therefore I would point out to the pupil, that it is the driver's responsibility to ensure all the doors of the car are closed. The driver need not try shaking ever door, he can listen as each door is closed and when he looks in the outside mirrors he will notice if the clean lines of the vehicle are broken.

Once seated in the car the pupil should adjust the seat so that he can press the clutch fully down, when the clutch is fully depressed the left knee should be slightly bent. Next explain how the rake of the seat can be adjusted so that the elbows are slightly bent when holding the steering wheel at the ten to two or quarter to three positions which ever is most comfortable. The driver should also be able to see the road easily. Finally adjust the head restraints to approximately the height of the eyes or ears.

The next item is the adjustment of all three mirrors. Explain the difference between the plain glass and the convex glass. If the internal mirror is fitted with an anti-dazzle lever explain its function. Explain how to adjust each mirror without leaving finger marks. The field of view and the blind spots should be explained outlining the need to look round before moving off. Finally invite and deal with any questions the pupil wishes to ask before moving onto the seat belts.

Depending on the answers to your earlier questions you will know how much the pupil knows or doesn't know about seat belts. It is essential they are aware of how to fasten and release the belts. Responsibility for their own belt and passengers under 14 years of age. If an adult passenger doesn't fasten a seat belt then that is their responsibility but it doesn't cost anything to remind them of the fact that they do reduce injuries in serious accidents.

Briefly mention that the fuel gauge is mentioned in the Manual but you will be taking care of the fuel situation during the lessons.

FOOT CONTROLS

Start with the first three letters of the alphabet A B C but they will be read from right to left accelerator, brake, clutch. The accelerator controls the amount of fuel entering the engine. When the accelerator is pressed it allows more fuel to enter the engine, which results in the engine running faster and if the car is in gear with the clutch engaged the car will go faster. Conversely if you allow the pedal to return it reduces the amount of fuel entering the engine which results in the engine running slower, if the car is in gear with the clutch engaged the car will slow down. The accelerator is a sensitive pedal but it's sensitivity varies. In neutral and the lower gears it is very sensitive but in the higher gears it becomes less sensitive. If ever the accelerator doesn't respond it is an indication that the gear being used is too high.
During instruction we may refer to the accelerator as the gas, because it is quicker to say gas than accelerator.

The middle pedal is the foot brake which operates the service brake and the brake lights on the rear of the vehicle. The footbridge is a powerful brake which operates on all four wheels of the car. It is capable of locking all four wheels and stalling the engine, therefore it must always be used progressively.

When you first apply the brake you will feel the free play in the linkage then you will feel a resistance under your foot, the brakes are now beginning to be applied and the brake lights, at the rear of the vehicle, will light up to warn other drivers. Monitor how quickly the vehicle is reducing speed, if it isn't reducing speed quickly enough then progressively increase the pressure to achieve the desired result. You will see that your right foot controls the speed of the car with either the accelerator or the brake. You never want to go fast and slow simultaneously.

The left pedal is the clutch pedal which is operated by the left foot. There are 3 things I would like to tell you about the clutch

1 Why we need it.
2 How we use it.
3.When we use it.

1. Why we need a clutch The reason why we need a clutch is the fact that before you can use either a diesel engine or a petrol engine, you must have the engine running. It is the turning motion of the engine which we use to turn the road wheels of the car to propel it along the road. This is referred to as the drive. The engine,( when running at it's slowest speed tick over), runs at about the same speed as a spin drier on a washing machine. So you can imagine if the engine was suddenly connected to the stationary road wheels, the wheels would suddenly start spinning causing the smell of burning rubber and then the car would leap into motion, or the sudden load being put onto the engine would result in the engine stalling. Neither of these results are desirable.

2. How we use the clutch When the clutch pedal is depressed the drive is disconnected, when the clutch is in the up position the drive is connected. To engage the clutch smoothly the driver has to engage it in two and sometimes three movements. When bringing the clutch up from the floor of the car nothing happens for the first few inches of travel, then the driver becomes aware of a lowering of the tone of the engine and feels the car straining against the brakes. He may also see and feel the rear of the car dipping down. This is called the biting point and at this point the driver must hold the clutch pedal perfectly still for a few moments until the road wheels begin to turn then the clutch can be allowed to slowly complete it's travel. To vary the power being transmitted is called slipping the clutch. In order to achieve this the driver must, after having reached the biting point, allow the car to just start to move then ease the clutch down again a fraction of an inch (about the thickness of a pound coin) so full connection does not take place.

3. When do we use it We use it to move off from rest. Before changing gear. When manoeuvring slowly.When we are stopping the car, just before the wheels stop we press the clutch so that when the wheels stop the engine will remain running.

HAND CONTROLS

The first control to describe is the hand brake or parking brake. This brake is used to keep the vehicle stationary, it is never used whilst the vehicle is in motion. On most vehicles it operates only on the rear wheels. At present it is on, to release it the driver pulls it up as if he was applying it and simultaneously releases the ratchet by pressing the button with his thumb, then pushes the brake down as far as it will go. To apply it, the button must be pressed and held in whilst the brake is pulled up as far as it will travel. Whilst holding the brake on, release the button and allow the brake to settle. It is important at this stage to look outside the vehicle to see if there is any movement, if there is, then the foot brake must be applied and the hand brake pulled up again to put it on the next notch of the ratchet.

GEARS

The pupil needs to know three things about the gears, they are:

1.The positions of all the various gears.

2.Why we need a gearbox.

3.How to use the gears.

To deal with (1) Show the pupil the diagram on the gear knob and explain that the line running from left to right represents the neutral position where no gears are selected. With a modern five speed box the gear lever will rest central between 3rd and 4th gears. Invite the pupil to place his left hand on the gear lever and press the clutch pedal down.To select 1st gear side pressure must be applied to the left with the palm of the hand followed by a forward movement with the heel of the hand. To engage 2nd gear the side pressure to the left must be applied then draw the lever backwards with the fingers, a notch will be felt when the lever reaches neutral but continue backwards until 2nd gear is selected. To move to 3rd gear ease the lever forward with the heel of the hand and watch the lever jump to the right to line itself up with 3rd gear then again move the lever forward to select 3rd gear.Next draw the lever backwards a notch will be felt when neutral is reached, then a further backward movement will select 4th gear. To engage 5th gear again ease the lever forward with the heel of the hand until neutral is reached ,then apply side pressure to the right and then forward. From there return to neutral and outline how to select reverse gear in your particular vehicle.

2. Must be explained without becoming technical. I usually explain it in the following way. I ask the pupil if they know why we need the gearbox and the answers are usually in the negative or incomplete. This gives me an ideal opening and I give the following explanation.

The work we ask the engine to do varies, for example, if we wanted to push the car uphill loaded with passengers and luggage we would probably consider that to be too difficult. On the other hand if we wanted to push it downhill, we would consider that light work. The power from the engine also varies. When the engine is running slow at tick over, the engine does not have much power and ,as you will no doubt see for yourself later, it is very easy to stall. However, when the engine is running fast the engine becomes quite powerful.

3.When we wish to move the car from rest, particularly uphill, this requires a tremendous amount of power so we engage first gear which will allow the engine to run fast at low road speeds. Once the car is moving it has a force of it's own called momentum and needs less power from the engine to keep it moving. So once the car is moving we soon realise the engine is running fast, it is burning a lot of fuel and it is wearing out quicker than it need do. Therefore we change to the next higher gear which will allow the car to travel at the same road speed with less engine speed. As we speed up again we repeat the operation until we are eventually in the highest gear. Once in the highest gear we do not usually need to change down to a lower gear unless we need more power. There are four conditions which could cause us to change down, they are:

1) needing more power to climb a steep hill,

2) needing more power after reducing speed.

3) needing more power to increase speed to overtake,

4) using a lower gear to assist the brakes in preventing the car gaining speed whilst descending a steep hill,

Although we normally change up progressively through each gear in turn, it is not necessary to change down through each gear in turn. For example if we were driving along in fifth gear and the traffic slowed down quickly for some obstruction, we would reduce speed with the footbrake to suit the situation. Then we would change directly into the most appropriate gear having regard for the gradient and number of passengers in the vehicle. So remember, gears are for going, brakes are for slowing. Now invite questions and deal with them.

STEERING

The steering wheel controls the direction of the vehicle and we normally hold it with both hands in positions of ten to two or quarter to three similar to the hands on a clock face. The car is designed to travel in a straight line on a level surface, so it does not need any effort on the driver's part to steer a straight course. All that is necessary is for the driver to hold the wheel lightly with both hands to prevent the wheel from turning due to imperfections in the road surface. When we come to turn a corner the wheel may have to be turned two or three complete turns to gain full lock. Therefore a system of push and pull is employed and I demonstrate this as well as showing a diagram similar to the one in the "Driving Manual". Always make sure the pupil understands the expression "Full Lock" Again invite questions and deal with them.

On the first lesson the final control to be shown is the direction indicator unless it is raining and it is necessary to demonstrate the windscreen wipers. Do not waste time on less important items at this stage. Remember the pupil can only remember so much and may well have already forgotten some of what has been explained.

STARTING THE ENGINE

Show the precautions necessary for starting the engine. The brake must be checked to see if it is correctly applied, then the gear lever should be checked to see if the gear is in neutral. If the engine is cold, then it may be necessary to explain the choke or the heater plugs if the vehicle is fitted with a diesel engine. Explain the advantage of pressing the clutch particularly in winter. By holding it down it removes the resistance which cold thick oil in the gearbox would give and would have to be overcome by the battery operating the starter motor. Then show the pupil the ignition key and explain that it's first function is to unlock the steering. Show them how to do it and emphasize that the key must never be forced, if resistance is experienced, the resistance must be reduced by gently rocking the steering wheel and turning the key simultaneously.

Explain the various notches as the key is turned and the importance of noticing if all the warning lights are lighting, otherwise they will not be able to warn if a fault occurs. Finally start the engine.

In the part three test you may not get as far as this before the examiner cuts in and tells you. "That is the end of that exercise and I would like to give you a couple of minutes to think about the next exercise." If that happens do not worry, the examiner is more concerned with quality than quantity. With a real pupil of course we would continue by giving the pupil a demonstration drive with a commentary on the control aspects before showing the pupil how to move off. This part I will explain as we deal with exercise two.

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ADI Part 3 Briefings and Exercises

Exercise 1