Making New Drivers Safer Drivers

Once you have passed you may be considering what other options are out there to enhance your learning. Pass plus is a scheme for newly passed but inexperienced drivers. It has been designed by the Driver Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) with help from both insurance and driving instructor industries.

Why do Pass Plus

Statisicially, new drivers account for almost 30% of all accidents on the UK's roads. New Driviers are also more likely to be involved in an accident in your first year of driving than at any other time. Pass Plus has been created to lower your chances of being involved in a serious accident and to offer valuable extra experience with a trained instructor.

Pass plus not only saves lives, it can also save you money. Because Pass Plus has been designed in association with the insurance industry, most insurance companies offer discounts which effectively covers the cost of doing a Pass Plus course.

Syllabus

Unlike a formal driving test, there is no test at the end of the Pass Plus course. Instead, your driving is constantly assessed by the instructor during the lessons. You must successfully complete all the modules in the course to an achieved or exceeded standard upon which you will be presented with your Pass plus certificate.

Pass Plus consists of six practical modules comprising of at least an hour for each and will cover some scenarios that you may not have experienced in your driving lessons before, such as Motorway driving. The six modules are:

• Town driving - Aims to teach you how to safely navigate busy town streets and traffic.
• All Weather driving - various weather conditions explained, advice on how best to drive in these conditions safely and what to do should you encounter problems such as skidding and aquaplaning.
• Rural driving - teaching how to apply your knowledge to rural areas with a focus on observing the roadhead/bends/blind hills and slow moving vehicles.
• Night Driving - aims to teach how to use lights correctly, how to be aware of pedestrians and other road users at night time and how parking is affected by poor vision
• Dual Carriageway - teaching how to safely join and leave a dual carriageway, over take, maintain speed and judge distance with a focus on lane discipline.
• Motorway Driving - With an emphasis on courtesy to other road users, observation and safe speed. Signage, motorway fatigue and breakdown procedures are also covered in this module.

While you may have covered some of these topics during your driving lessons, either with your instructor or friends and family, Pass Plus aims to strengthen all areas of your driving and ensure that you are approaching driving in a safe and considered manner.

Benefits of Pass Plus

Pass Plus allows you to gain additional driving experience with a qualified instructor - helping you to become a safer driver. Pass Plus driving lessons also have other practical benefits. Many leading insurance companies offer a discount or bonus to drivers who have passed the Pass Plus course so you can save money on your insurance. Here are some leading insurers who should be able to offer you a discount on your premium after doing a Pass Plus course.

• AA Insurance
• Zurich
• RAC
• Churchill
• Norwich Union
• Direct Line
• CIS (Cooperative insurance)

Click here to book a Pass Plus lesson.