A Job to be Done

When it comes to driving schools leeds probably has as good a selection as anywhere in England. And when I attended the driving instruction course, we had the best instructor in all the country, at least in my opinion. He was cool and collected, no matter what happened. During our lessons, he never lost his temper and never raised his voice. Even when the lessons were going really badly, our instructor never seemed upset or frightened at all.

One of my classmates got into a crash with an oncoming vehicle, and our teacher was calm and discussed very quietly with the driver of the other car exactly how the crash was all his own fault, and how if he'd been driving defensively it never would have happened.

But one of my favourite lessons was the one where our instructor took us out into the country and let us drive around on the moors. I think he must have had special permission. Driving around on such uneven terrain is really challenging, and it taught us to watch the road really carefully, and to spot potholes and other road hazards well before the car got to them. Plus, it was just plain fun to bounce up and down on the grassy hills. Our instructor was always serious, but I think he was having fun too, in his own quiet way.

On our way back from that little adventure, we came over a hill to see a really bad crash. Our instructor didn't flinch at all. He pulled over to the side of the road, and told us to wait there. Then he went over to the other cars, both of them smoking and horribly mangled. One of the drivers had managed to extricate himself from his car, and was wandering around in a somewhat dazed state in the middle of the road; my teacher got him into our car and convinced him to sit still. Then he went back across, and started working on getting the other driver out.

She was wedged in between the steering wheel and the seat, but somehow he managed to pull her free and get her to the side of the road. She was barely conscious, and trying to fight him off. I think she didn't really understand what had happened to her. But not five minutes after he got her free, the car she was in burst into flames. If we hadn't come along, she probably would have died.

The ambulances and fire department came after not too long. I never did hear what happened to the two drivers. But I will never forget what my teacher said as he climbed back behind the wheel of our car.

"That is why you always watch the road, and you never take your eyes off it even for a minute."

I took that advice to heart.