ADI Part 3 - Handbrake Emergency Stop!

Please HELP ME!
Should I have used the HANDBRAKE to stop the car!
What would you have done?

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Meet Howard
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Howard Floyd has been teaching people how to drive since 2009. He is a DVSA Grade 'A' ADI, holds the Cardington Special Advanced Test (Grade A), RosPA Advanced Test (Gold) and is a registered ORDIT trainer. Howard lives in Norwich (UK) with his family.

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[sjb]

Thanks for posting this Howard, it takes guts to put this out there. I’m a PDI and it’s kind of reassuring to see an instructor of your capability and expertise showing how it looks when it goes wrong from time to time. I wouldn’t dream of giving you advice, but I’m going to learn from watching this and make sure I’m ready for the pupil to do the unexpected !! All the best, and looking forward to more from this series- it’s been a great help to me. Regards, Steve

[matthewth]

Thank you for sharing this experience. And thank you to ava. Im still training towards my part 3 (havent even got my pink yet), but snippets like this are a useful learning tool for people like me.
This just goes to show how important the drivers current mental state is when driving.

[FlattsForce]

Hi Howard, when I became an ADI I spent the first 2 years exclusively teaching students in thier own car.
Interestingly I heard other ADIs telling me they would never teach without dual controls. I took this as a compliment as it meant my communication with the student had to be spot on and my anticipation & planning razor sharp to negate the need for duals.
On approach, you asked to think about the appropriate gear, I suspect that's all she was thinking about on approach and not merging safely.
I always remember "planning to stop but looking to go, don't get a gear until its safe to go".
I think this would have been more the case coming of that fast road.
Having to grab the handbrake is the last resort. Maybe your own anticipation in hindsight would have told you her speed was to fast and verbal intervention (earlier) may have been a better option. But, everything is easy in hindsight. Thanks for sharing

[BladeSkate]

As someone who has his first Pink License lesson tomorrow, this was exceptional knowledge to see.

The way you knock it out of gear and use the handbrake in that timeframe is sublime. About 10 of the views are from me learning! Thank you!

[terryatkins]

Looking at the comments and reading the ones that’s said they would have said they would have said the her to slow down on the approach because she was to fast. I think her speed was fine, approaching the roundabout the visibility to the right is blind but her speed was fine. As soon as the van arrived at the roundabout she was possibly only 3 car lengths away from the give way line and if you had duals you would have brought the car to a comfortable stop. However she didn’t respond to wait, wait, wait and you had to take control which was executed extremely well, the only thing I would have done differently would have been to use the word stop.

[Hahshshhshhshsjs]

Omg Howard that’s nerve wracking. Being an ADI I don’t think I could take a pupil out without duals. You’re very brave. Just the other day I was sat on a pupils test and she almost drove across an approaching car as she was turning right, and I immediately stretched my leg out to brake 😆 just as the examiner had done.

[seozt]

I'm a PDI (part 3 1st attempt in Dec), I've been driving buses for 19 years and from my position I think you used your only option at that point.
Should it have got there? Possibly not but even professionals make errors of judgement. It takes a great person to own up to their mistakes and an even bigger person to post them on social media for the world to comment on it. It's a learning opportunity for everyone, remember hindsight is a wonderful thing.
Well done for choosing the best possible option at that moment in time, and well done to Ava for allowing this to be shown. Thank you both.

[judehembry]

You made a good decision in the moment.
You didn't have the luxury of replaying it on a VAR.
❤

[shabzcaan]

On approach to roundabout asked her if she was thinking of stopping or going

[rollerball]

In the lesson summary at the end perhaps a talk through and ask pupil if they felt their conctration had been affected due to the time of day, could there be any other time when both pupil and instructor are both available.

[CroftyOriginal]

I would honestly say that it would be safer to just go rather than suddenly stop plus if you use the handbrake the brake lights wont come on so they wouldn't know you are stopping. If you're going to pull out, just go at that point because I think that is the safer thing.

[pinsandneedlesyt]

My driving instructors would say slow down on aproach change down be prepaird to stop. On approaching junctions and always look right early gives you time to map trafic approaching the island then look again to be sure its clear of all approaching trafic. Gives you time to judge their speed to. But what you did saved your skins. Im not an instructor just someone who had experience of many different ones over the years. Some would give tips at the end of the lesson covering how i could use said tip to drive better. And some prepd me first before starting driving as what he wanted me to do.

[paulhardy]

Personally, I think she was carrying too much speed towards the roundabout and didn't give herself the time to assess. I would have had the conversation about braking down the MSPSL routine a little longer.

In terms of stopping the car, you did all you could without the Duals! Good effort! 😂

Well done, Ava! You're doing a fantastic job. Mistakes happen, don't let it knock your confidence.

[wrightwoodwork]

As I don't teach take with a pinch of salt. On the approach I would have her glancing more to the right looking for gap a lot sooner that's where I feel the mistake starts not actually at the line and ask how may cats in front of the gap. Observation to me was last second . I wouldn't have discussed the previous roundabout as the next wasn't too far off and just focus on the next part of the drive then when nothing was happening other than just normal drive discussed it. To me you had a choice firm command of stop or handbag I'm not sure which is better

[nicholasdrivingacademy]

As long as she's safe enough to be in her own car only you would know. Lucky it wasn't an electric hand break!

[lovethynation]

Me personally, I think at the point she mentioned she was tired, I would have pulled over and spoke about tiredness and lack of concentration and the consequences of driving tired. Maybe even a 5 min break, but in fairness I must say that teaching a student in their own car is challenging at best, and I think maybe on approach to the roundabout I would have been a bit more proactive with the Q&A, knowing I didn't have duel control.

But you know your stuff you're a good instructor and handled the safety critical as best you could in that scenario.

Hope you and your student are ok, and now she learnt how to handbrake turn the car 🚗

[TheSGRob]

I haven't been following this series so i'm not sure if you've already done this, but after this incident i'd have a serious conversation with her about the responability she carries considering you have no controls. I'd tell her that if i say "stop" (i think your choice to say "wait" wasn't a strong enough of a word to get her to stop) you must stop the car as quick as you can. Leads me on to the emergency stop, have you done this with her yet? if i were teaching someone without dual controls i'd cover this really early so that we both know she could stop the car as quick as possible if/when she needed to.

I also think letting her go on the roundabout may have been safer, although it's hard to tell from the camera. Didn't look like there was going to be an accident, or that the van was going to have to take huge evasive action.

[simmsme]

She was approaching the roundabout clearly too fast. I would've asked her to slow down way earlier

[TheRubyhall]

A bit misleading as the handbrake is not stopping much, parents need to talk early on approach and ask the driver what they can see. Teaching the student the emergency stop early on is helpful as you can put your hand out and say stop to get a better reaction.

[xlepp]

Asking is it clear? Are we going ? Tell me what you're thinking?

Scary one though 🙏 hope you're both okay