Do you need a refresher?
Remember when you first learned how to drive? No, I mean do you really remember when you first learned how to drive? For some of us, it’s hard to remember everything we did to get our driver’s license. I was one of the lucky ones. I got my beginner’s license on December 9th and my driver’s license on January 7th. Four weeks of learning and I was on my own! I was so excited.
Seven years later I was learning to become a driving instructor for Young Drivers of Canada. I thought I knew everything about driving. After all, I had my license for a long time right? I drove every day and had already experienced many driving situations. I was sadly mistaken when I was on the instructor course. When we reviewed road signs and the general rules of the road, I didn’t know as much as I thought I knew. I was very disappointed in myself.
I see the same thing with licensed drivers I’m re-training. They feel they have a grasp of the laws of the road, but they tend to forget a lot over the years. With over 23 million drivers on our Canadian roads, my guess is a lot of them need a refresher of the rules of the road and road signs.
I once had a licensed driver who argued with me about a certain rule of the road. I handed him the driver’s handbook that explained the rule and they still said it was wrong. I then handed him the provincial’s Highway Traffic Act and he still argued with me! Sometimes it’s better to admit you’ve forgotten something and re-learn the information than to do something wrong for the sake of your pride.
My recommendation to all drivers is to review the rules of the road every now and then. Use the provincial or state driver’s handbook to review the meaning of signs and rules of the road; or go to the provincial’s or website to review your knowledge. Ignorance of the law is no excuse for breaking the law and driving poorly. You could be putting you and others at risk.
I remember years ago taking a course to become a classroom teacher for driver training. There were a lot of people on the course from across Ontario. As we progressed through this three week training course, I realized that there were a lot of people who didn’t know all of the rules they needed to know as a driver; let a lone as a driving instructor. Luckily, they realized this soon enough and got the information they needed. If you feel you need a refresher, look up the information. A problem is only a solution that hasn’t been found yet. If you know the solution, you can use it.
Knowing what the road signs mean is one thing, knowing the solution is something else. If we’re going to play the game of driving, we need to know the rules.