Karl asks for 'qualified' driver training instructors

A qualified trainer teaches you to fly a plane. Why is it okay, then, for almost anyone – regardless of proficiency – to teach you to how to drive a car?

It’s a fairly obvious statement, but cars are safer than planes. If your car’s engine stalls, then you come to a halt and that’s about it. If a plane’s engine stops working, it’s a whole lot harder to come to a halt safely.

Despite this, I learned to fly before I could drive. I actually received my pilot’s licence before my driver’s licence. What struck me was the difference in training and testing between the two. In particular, the training.

Just because someone had their pilot’s licence didn’t automatically mean that they were allowed to teach me how to fly. No, they had to be a qualified trainer and assessor, someone who was tested as to fitness themselves on a regular basis. Yet, if you obtain your driving licence, you’re welcome to teach someone else how to drive.

What kind of backward way of doing things is that? For starters, the most common person who will teach you how to drive is your parents. Of course, we all love them, but it only takes a modicum of honesty to admit that our parents probably have picked up one or two bad habits over the years. And then there are the one or two bad habits when they’re driving!

Indicating around roundabouts, tailgating, sitting in the wrong lane, failing to signal when changing lanes – you name it, and there will be a lot of things they do which they’ll invariably pass on to you when you start driving. And then there’s the aspect of driving and taking into account the latest in safety and technology features fitted to cars these days. Would your parents know how to use ABS to their advantage? Or what stability control feels like when it cuts in?

What would happen if a pilot who had only trained in a Cessna 152 tried to teach someone who was going to be flying an Airbus A380? Sure, the principles are the same – flaps, ailerons, transponders, etc. – but the mechanisms and motions are so wildly different that it seems preposterous.

Our parents learned in machines whose safety technology was limited to lap-sash seatbelts. But somehow they’re qualified enough to put us in charge of a one-and-a-half tonne killing machine when it’s not in the right hands.

Here’s the bottom line: if your parents are teaching you the mechanics of driving – the clutch operation, gear changes, take-up points – then that’s fine away from public roads. But, as soon as it comes to mingling with other road users and pedestrians, please employ the services of a qualified trainer. But surely it’s going to cost me too much? Well, it depends on how much you value your life. Can you really put a price on that?

I’m told that, in India, finding a qualified trainer may be a bit of a challenge too. So, don’t just go to the “driving instructor” next door, ensure that you use a reputable driving school. After all, life is too precious to leave up to chance – and it’s no secret that India has the highest road fatalities in the world. So, get the right training – and get started on the right road to driving properly...