Is a Safer Drivers Course the same as a driving lesson?

By Nicola
Driving

Many learner drivers assume that the Safer Drivers Course is the same as a driving lesson, but they’re actually not!

In a traditional driving lesson your instructor will focus on the driving skills you need to acquire in order to pass your driving test, including: 

  • The mechanics of driving and controlling your car – steering, road positioning and changing gears
  • Understanding and following the road rules – how and when to merge, using roundabouts and when to give way at intersections
  • Parking skills – parallel parking, 45 degree parking and reverse parking
  • General driving skills – three point turns and hill starts

Once you have completed 50 actual logbook hours of real driving hours (not counting the 3 for 1 bonus hours) you will then be eligible to enrol in a Safer Drivers Course.

 

What do you learn in a Safer Drivers Course?

The Safer Drivers Course teaches you how to reduce road risks by developing safe driving behaviours that your parents, supervising drivers or professional driving lessons may not have taught you.?

The course is held in two separate modules (5 hours total) where you will learn about:

  • Safe speed management ?
  • Staying alert and aware?
  • Hazard perception
  • Maintaining a safe following distance?
  • Driving methods to avoid tailgaters?
  • How to avoid high risk situations and car crashes?
  • Driving strategies to help avoid risks on the road ?
  • How driver behaviour and drugs and alcohol can increase the risk of a crash?
  • Strategies to deal with peer influence, passenger behaviour, lifestyle pressures, high-risk behaviours? and other distractions?

The course includes ways to cope with real life scenarios, such as when you have your mates in the car or if you're running late, and shows you ways to practise your new habits every day so they become tools for a lifetime of safer driving.?

You’ll come away more prepared for the various real life situations that may occur once you have your licence and you’re driving unsupervised, as well as 20 logbook hours for your 5-hour course.

 

Do you have to complete the Safer Drivers Course course modules in a set order?

Yes you do. The Safer Driver Course has two modules and module two has to be completed within four weeks of finishing module one.

Module One

This is a 3-hour interactive group workshop and discussion of up to 12 learner drivers where you’ll explore the strategies and behaviours that will help you to become a safer driver.

You’ll learn about hazard management, speed management, gap selection, external and internal influences, following gap distance, etc.

Module Two

This 2-hour practical coaching session is conducted in a vehicle with another learner and a qualified driving instructor..

Both you and the other learner driver will take turns to drive on a set route where you will both practice the skills you discussed in Module One, such as low-risk driving, recognising and responding to hazards, etc.

 

What are the benefits of the Safer Drivers Course?

When you complete your Safer Drivers Course, you’ll know how to ?implement strategies that make you a ?safer driver and place you at less risk of having a serious or a fatal car accident.

You’ll also receive 20 logbook hours for completing the a 5-hour Safer Drivers Course, making it faster and easier to achieve the required logbook hours you need to sit for your provisional P plate licence.

You can even take the course for free if you are under the age of 25, from a disadvantaged background or an Aboriginal community, have a valid learners licence and have completed at least 50 logbook hours of actual driving (not the 3-for-1 bonus hours).

At ADTA we teach you how to be a safer driver, a confident driver AND a better driver ... all in a 5-hour course that gives you 20 hours in your logbook.

Book your Safer Drivers Course online today! 

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