I am now right in the middle of my 4 day Easter Break and loving the time off.
I love my job but at these times I enjoy being able to have a few glasses of wine with the extended family and not have to count how much I have drunk because....I will not be driving until Tuesday!!
One of the speakers at the recent FreshStart conference gave a presentation on drinking and driving and attitudes. It was really interesting and most people were shocked by his experiment showing that two of the delgates who drank a songle one pint can of carling lager were both shown to be over the limit when breathalysed.
For those of you who are interested the biggest risk for UNINTENTIONAL Drink Drivers is the fact that you could very well be over the limit the next morning.
As a general rule of thumb I count the amount of units (not drinks) I have had, check the time when I finished the LAST one and then don't drive for at least an hour per unit drunk. This is assuming normal conditions like being in good health, having eaten properly and having had a good night's sleep.
For a clear explanantion of how many units are in different drinks try this site
https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/understand-your-drinking/unit-calculator
So folks, remember...enjoy the holidays and stay safe :)
So was it worth going to Worcester to meet up with 130 other Driving Instructors at the FreshStart Conference?
You bet it was!
One of the aims of the day was to encourage us to take back our Profession from the "Offers" driving schools. Some even offer £5.00 for a lesson.
I live in a city and don't to travel too much to get to my learners but I still spend an average of £3.40 on fuel per hour of teaching. This does not include anything towards the cost of buying, insuring and maintaining my car so why should I be expected to work for nothing to attract customers?
My nail technician charges me £30 for 40 minutes of work and I won't tell you what my hairdresser charges and neither of risk their lives in their jobs. The responsibility of trying to produce a safe, skilled and mature driver should be recognised and reflected in the cost of our service.
So tomorrow I am putting my tuition fees up to £22 per hour. My learners have had 4 weeks notice and so far I have had no complaints.
Wish me luck :)
Here I am...back again after a long break.
So what has been happening in the world of Driving Instructing I hear you ask.
The most noteable event was a conference organised by an Independent Instructor in Worcester.
It was his first time organising an event of this type or of this size but he felt, and still feels, that out Profession is seriously undervalued by the general public, the learners and mostly by ourselves and he set up the conference with the aim of trying to change this from the inside.
He called it FreshStart...and it was attended by over 130
Driving Instructors from all over the country.
