Discussions

We have a new driver in the family. I would love to know if there are lessons out there that go beyond the basics. I'm thinking of "Canada's Worst Driver" series - is there any place that teaches these kinds of skills?

According to many eBrandon rants, just take your new driver out onto any street in Brandon and you will experience some of Canada's Worst Driver's...those kind of skills only come with driving experience, try the merge on 18th approaching the bridge for starts. lol. In all seriousness, this is a stressful time for new drivers, any and all developed skills will be helpful in the future, not sure if instructors here provides that service.

I really wish someone would! I would sign up all of my grandchildren!

I heard that they are expanding their program to teach a lot more difficult situations people find themselves in. Including gravel road driving and highway driving. About time. It was ridiculous how drivers ed in rural situations only concentrated on city driving and never even mentioned gravel roads which are everywhere in Manitoba. More concern was put on parking. Unless your downtown who does that. And who goes there.

Check with autopac office. There use to be a course with driving through wet spots and around stuff plus stopping and turning. Of course before only available after you had tickets against you. Shutting the barn door after the horses escape.  
 
Not sure if still done worthwhile to check.

I was one of several driver education instructors - lesson 6 (of 8 lessons) was highway driving - we almost always had students drive towards Carberry on #1 and turn onto PR 351 to finish the drive. While it wasn't on the curriculum at that time we all agreed to incorporate some gravel road driving during lesson 7 - had each student drive at least 10 km on a gravel road near Brandon featuring some loose gravel sections and washboard sections - talked about how different the car felt and handled on gravel appropriate speed and how to handle dust when an approaching vehicle kicked up a lot of dust - we thought it was very valuable. If these scenarios aren't part of the current curriculum - they should be.  
 
Taught many students over a 5 year period - can only recall one young lady failing her driving test - consistently rolling through stop signs - one day as we were rolling through another stop sign I stomped on my brake hard and she jerked forward somewhat - "What did you do that for?" she asked - well because you didn't stop again and I needed to demonstrate to you what a complete stop is. Even that "lesson" didn't sink in - she was a very good driver from the start and a great parker but no amount of encouragement or gentle admonishment changed that one fault. One the day of the driver testing I went back to the driver examiner office and the examiner said they all passed except one - before he told me her name I knew who it was - was she the one that rolled through stop signs - yep. I hoped that was the one lesson that might actually correct her driving behaviour.  
 
It's crucial that students learn driving skills in a variety of challenging situations.

unfortunately there is a lot of liability issues teaching extreme driving but there is a skid control course that industries put some of their drivers through, im not sure the prerequisites tho and imo i would recommend it for someone whos had a few years under their belt not a new driver, its expensive and they need to know the basics before they would get anything out of an extreme course  
 
If your child is enrolled in drivers ed they do get some experience on gravel city and hi-way ect, depending on the child and instructor comfort level and what they have the chance to encounter might be some icy, snowy, low visibility sessions as well BUT quite frankly drivers ED is a starter course, you can not teach everything in 8 hours of driving, especially if they have never driven so it is up the the parents to teach their own children, I try and teach mine everything I know so, take yours to a parking lot in the winter, to a field when it rains ect, that way they can practice in a safer environment while you are there for guidance

Sort of sad that so many people are raised in the urban areas, not being allowed to learn extreme driving from an early age. Myself as well as my brother and sister learned to drive in fields where you could make mistakes with no damage done. Our children all learned the same way, they were given the opportunity to learn about not just staying between the lines on a road, but also how to drive on surfaces that were snow covered, or on a frozen slough.  
It''s sad to hear instances where a person rolls a vehicle because a tire hits the shoulder and the noise or feel of the vehicle is not familiar.  
Guess I''m just a big kid at heart, I still love going out on a frozen slough and driving like a bit of a nut, sometimes driving on a frozen slough teaches you driving skills that you will never get anywhere else. I wonder at times how many drivers could control a vehicle in a spin, or recover from sliding sideways without ever getting off the accelerator.  
The hiway department does a great job of maintaining the gravel shoulders along hiways, but who ever asks their kids to pull onto the shoulder at the speed limit, how much driving is done on gravel or loose gravel or washboard roads, sort of sad that learning how to drive doesn''t allow students to learn not only how to drive, but how to control a vehicle.  
My better half always tells me it''s a good thing that we live away from the city, otherwise I''d be doing dumb things like teaching things like vehicle control on a frozen slough.  
 
Edited for terrible spelling tonight.  
 
Edited by don brown, 2018-09-06 21:11:22

In the Province there was a shop in Winnipeg that put on a winter driving program. They also offered performance winter driving and performance driving. I do not know if they used Southport or Gimli. I have tried googling ever version. Skid control school etc. I bet someone out there knows of a Manitoba one but it may use another name. While I have done my share of extreme driving it is by guess work. Q good mandatory winter driving course with skid control should be a license requirement in my opinion or offered by or demanded by MPI after your first accident. Fault or no fault.

In the Province there was a shop in Winnipeg that put on a winter driving program. They also offered performance winter driving and performance driving. I do not know if they used Southport or Gimli. I have tried googling ever version. Skid control school etc. I bet someone out there knows of a Manitoba one but it may use another name. While I have done my share of extreme driving it is by guess work. Q good mandatory winter driving course with skid control should be a license requirement in my opinion or offered by or demanded by MPI after your first accident. Fault or no fault.