Are You Listening Enough? 

I passed the test yesterday, but youtube is still recommending me your vids ... i guess the learning is not over.

Sorry wasn't listening, what did you say?

When I moved from manual gearboxes to my auto Jags (well, I am getting on a bit) I initially found judging speed by sound difficult as I didn't have the extra info of what gear I was in. I became a beginner again and relied on the speedo. I'm getting a bit better, but tend to rely on the geriatric solution - go well under the speed limit (except on motorways. I've never had a speeding ticket, and it's not for lack of trying). Your story of covering up the speedo reminded me of when learning for my pilot's instrument rating when my ex RAF instructor, without warning, stuck his folder up to block my view of the runway on final. It certainly made me concentrate on my ILS rather than eyes, but required a subsequent change of underwear.

I heard rattle from behind my seat when driving and I let it go for a few days. Turns out a £2 coin had made its way under the folding bit of the rear seats. *BONUS!* Cheers for the thoughtful video. Be well 😁

Tyre noise can give a number of clues too:- Changes in surface (And surface quality), The sound of loose chippings, stones etc. being flicked up on a country lane. Furthermore, in the wet, the sound will change with standing water - A useful clue to ease off, and "prepare" to aquaplane.

I daily a 68 year old Morris Minor, there is no choice but listen, as for doing more than 60 mph... Also on the subject of listening having driven open top cars often long distances with the roof down, the sound of other vehicles is another helpful warning. Great posts, even for a life long petrolhead.

I find myself wanting to listen to my own music too much when driving, listening isn't something I consider enough while I'm learning. Thank you for the lesson

My LGV instructor used a rolled up newspaper shout "MIROR" then whack the nearside window everytime I forgot to use it at the correct time... It worked, Now many years later i can still hear him shout MIRROR then whack the nearside window in my minds eye everytime i think I might be lazy and not use it. A teaching method that keeps working and possibly saving lives.

That's why I like cruise control and speed limiter in my car - especially on highways and/or looong dull stretches of road because sometimes when the engine noise is constant you tune it out after a while (it's a human thing not only in cars) and then the speed can creep up slowly.

One habit I hold my hand up to is coasting up to junctions etc, picked it up early on and now its a habit I need to get out of again.

You can sometimes hear a parent shout after their child before they run out. My RoSPA tutor advised me to keep the windows down slightly on 30MPH or less and certainly in car parks. A couple of weeks later I was in a car park with window down and heard someone call their child back. I slowed, then saw the child in my mirror running out behind me (thankfully) a second or two later. The scraping or rattling of skateboard or scooter wheels is also a clue someone hidden behind a hedge or something may be on the approach. Witnessed that too as onlooker. I was parked in the same car park, I heard the scraping before I saw them, car approaching only just stopped in time.

I test my learners' listening by throwing in silly comments, and waiting to see if or how long before they query. "Do you have life insurance?" is a good one if they don't respond to hints to slow down. "Count the crocuses/daffodils, etc." Can sometimes take some time before a response, showing they hear it, but do not process it until later. For speed, I will sometimes cover the speedo. Other options, I drive, they keep their eyes closed and tell me if and how my speed is changing. Helps with some. The speed limiter can be useful, set it 1 mph above the limit, cover the speedo, and they'll feel if they're too fast as the car holds back. "If the car's making more fuss than me, probably need a higher gear." Windows cracked open when reversing can be useful, better to hear people scream before the bump.

Mind : some drivers and other road users may be deaf. When you switch to a new (more powerful) car, you may be driving faster than what you normally hear... I realised that my use of the clutch needed improvement when the bite started rumbling 😅 Finally, I have the impression that horns aren’t as loud as they used to whereas I have a feeling cars are more and more soundproof. I hope I’ll never have to use it at a high speed on a motorway

My car is a manual with no tachometer so I had to learn to hear and feel the engine to gauge how hard it was working to learn my gears. I've also got a cable throttle, so I get good vibration feedback through my gas pedal which helps too.

I am a relatively fresh driver with only a few years under the belt (had to have my mind to 'mature'), but sweet baby Jesus, are there loads of people ignorant. 1) Moms with their children in cars, with the ladies having their ears plugged in by earphones. WHY?! 2) Bicycle users with hoods and earplugs. WHY?! 3) Chaps in cars that rust like a tank, having music so loud not even their leaky, 'tuned' exhaust can overtake. WHY?! And I am just sitting here, with an exhaust leak soon to be patched, wishing to keep the sweet noise of the engine bay and suspension available - for I drive a car, noises are a feedback, and there are two ears for (mostly) everyone to adopt and pick up .. Thank you, Ashley. This is a critically important and useful ability!

Hi Ashley, great video. I'm actually about to change career's and train to become a driving instructor. So I've been watching your videos a lot. Back to this video about listening, especially with cyclists and headphones, I was once a Hgv driver doing deliveries in and around west london and I had a "run in" with a cyclist whilst I was in Kensington High Street. My truck was a bright orange 18t Rigid with all the bells and whistles regarding safety signs, extra mirrors and so on, I was up to date with my CPC and even went on the cycling part of the CPC course (those who know about the CPC training will know what I'm talking about), any way, I was making a left turn from Kensington High Street, as my truck was quite big and the turning quite tight I was in lane 2, indicating all the time, every one behind me knew what I was doing, all except this cyclist who decided to bomb up my inside just as I was turning. Fortunately I saw him and stopped but he didn't react in time and hit my passenger door, thankfully he wasn't injured but he started giving me the verbal shouting "didn't I see him" etc and I said to him " didn't you see or hear me" as my truck screams out "caution truck turning left" at a very high volume and the cyclist excuse was was that he was listening to music through his headphones at high level to "drown out the traffic" He never apologised, just carried on and even went through a red light. If I had knocked him off and injured him or worse, killed him, I would be at fault and arrested. Cyclist should not wear headphones, end of. I've taught my daughter and a few other people how to drive and one of those lessons is about listening to noise, learning is hard as they do concentrate a lot on controls etc but listening is a big part of this and when I start my new career I will pass this on to them and I will make sure they watch your videos for more information. Great work and enjoy passing on life skills.

My dad taught me to wind the window down at bridges like that when I was learning. I've never seen anyone else do it, glad to know he was right 40 years ago

One of the best things, I feel, when learning to drive is to do some cycling. It heightens your hazard perception and forces you to listen. Things I find myself listening to are engine noises (when they overtake) and even tyre noise when I cant hear the engine. It definitely helped me pass my test and also respect I feel that people would respect cyclists more if they tried it themselves

When I go out for a walk and want to listen to music, I always just have the one headphone in, I absolutely hate not hearing what's going on. Even if I'm on the pavement, how do I know someone hasn't mounted the kerb behind me and is about to knock me over. If I come to a junction, or need to cross the road, I always take both headphones out, you can pretty much always hear a car before you can see it. My mother hired a van a couple weeks back, and for having about 80bhp it was surprisingly quick. On the way back home we were on the motorway and asked her without looking down how fast she was going, she guessed about 60, in reality it was 85mph. Her excuse was that the 1.5l engine was a lot quieter than the 2l engine in her car, so it sounded like she was going slower. The most surprising thing is how far vans have come, I remember not that long back them being horrendous on the motorway, the one we had (a 20 plate Vivaro) was more comfortable and quieter than the car!

I really enjoy my music, especially on long drives, but I do go on stints where I listen to nothing but the sounds of the car and the road to make sure I know all's well with my vehicle.

In addvanced driving course, there is a huge emphasis on listening to the engine and not changing up gear too early or late. Or as they say, speed first then gear! Took a bit for me to grasp after getting into a bit of a bad habit!

I have the bad habit of maintaining the 3rd gear so much. I'm still not used to 4th, and it helps your engine to relax a lot!.

Ashley, I’d love to see a series where you teach an instructor - or just a lesson - is that feasible?

I often hear (not too loud) music in the car, but one situation where I regularly turn it off is when entering a slip road / acceleration lane, especially if it is short and I can't accelerate early due to a sharp initial turn. Here traffic has to be accounted for in multiple directions at once: Approaching from behind on either the motorway (often running too fast) or the slip road (possibly accelerating faster than my car and looking at the traffic from behind), in front of me (possibly stopping when they're not able to merge), and of course in the lanes next to me where I want to merge. Being able to hear a signal-horn, hard braking or even just changes in the engine sound of other vehicles is quite important in this situation. Thank you for your "lessons"! I have my driving license for more than 28 years, but often learn something new. And I'm living in Germany, so it is interesting to see it in a different perspective, especially in multi-lane roundabouts :)

Where I live you wouldn't believe amount of drivers with stereos playing R&B ect so loud I can hear it over everything else when in a queue of traffic ---- I've got a few mates looking at these videos now and they share them on ---- everyday on the road you Learn ---- I have window open so can hear motorcycles -- usually hear them before seeing them . Bang on video AGAIN 🤗🤗

I listen to the radio when driving so it's 62MPH for Whiter Shade of Pale then 95MPH for Born to be Wild. ;-)

Great advice , for new drivers , and those who think they know it all already .

Due to time constraints and far too many interruptions..... the joys of a 50th Birthday lol.... I will have to look at this again later. Initial thoughts........ what you cannot see can sometimes be heard. That's a reasonable place to start. Stay safe everyone 🎂👍

Nice to see/hear you topped up your indicator fluid :) It is modern car design/consumer desire again. Cars have become so insulated for both noise and feel that outside has become a world away. Add a 3 million gigawatt sound system...... +1 for a window down, I always do that and never bother with A/C. Invaluable on narrow country lanes with blind corners, being able to hear what I cannot see. As for speed control, I find that to be more visual. Lampposts, motorway marker posts, road markings. Perhaps because I drive a wide range of vehicles, sometimes only once or twice, relying on noise/feeling is pointless. A glance down at the dashboard is something I do routinely as part of the mirror cycle, not just for speed, but all those other potential warning lights. And as a response driver, if you can hear my siren, but not see my lights, use ears to consider where I am, where I may be going. I may even be in an unmarked vehicle with less visible lights 2 cars behind you! I guess this could lead to a debate on "loud pipes save lives".

I drive without the radio on, because it can help hear things before you see them. Such as motorcycles, emergency services, perhaps in maybe a very slim circumstance; someone sounding their horn (perhaps around a sharp bend where an accident may have just happened), maybe a defect in your tyre such as a bulge you weren't aware of, and so on. It can make you do things sooner rather than leaving it later. For example I saw an ambulance coming from a roundabout in the mirror, perhaps half a mile away. We got to the lights a good 20 seconds before the ambulance came over the hill, but I had already moved over to the left knowing it'd be coming. Sure I saw it, but by the time I could hear it, nobody seemed to be reacting until they saw it come over the hill. Hearing and observations go hand in hand, and in my opinion the radio interferes with that. If it were up to me, I'd ban radios, or at least ban them from being too loud.

I passed in January and my car has tyre pressure monitoring system but I still wouldn't depend on this as I could feel and hear the difference if a tyre was flat or needed air as I've already had a flat tyre from a horrible screw in my tyre 🙄 lucky it could be repaired and didn't need replacing but I knew straight away and I check regularly if they need air and to see if there are any cuts or bulges to the tyres. Safety is key not just for yourself but for everyone around you! Great video Ashley 👍

Cracking the window open to listen for cars at a closed junction is useful for deciding when to emerge.

I had gotten pretty good at judging speed in my last car but now my new car has a speed limiter so I just keep my foot firmly on the pedal and let the car do the work. I only use it motorways or long 30 roads mostly, I find I can still tell the difference between a 30 and 40 road and when I glance at my speedo I'm around 35-40 (on the 40 roads)

I honestly thought I needed to start lessons again even though I've been driving 3 years and done 40k miles in those years because the car kept stalling... Turns out my clutch has absolutely had it 😂

I was behind a cyclist on a single track road the other day that did not move over for ages to let me past, when he finally realised I was there he moved over into a passing place but as I went past he had headphones in, but he did wave to me as to apologize as I went past.

With the radio on, you may miss engine sounds. If you miss the sound of the engine then you may not know of a problem that you may have or about to have.

Older drivers who learned on a 3 or 4 gear gearbox tend to in my experience dwell in the wrong (lower) gear long after they should have shifted up. Moving off in second is going to be great for your clutch, hence why I try to only do it when driving on snow. A humming or rumbling sound whilst driving _could_ indicate a failing wheel bearing (wheel may come off if you ignore it). A scraping sound _may_ indicate cambelt failure in progress. Or it could indicate, as in my case that the drive belt needs properly re-seating.

Why I never use my radio, and also why I catch faults before they get expensive to fix.

Some interesting thoughts there. A few things to mention: 1) I very rarely listen to the radio these days as I actually like listening to the car. I also stopped listening to cricket whilst driving because I found concentrating on the words being spoken was a distraction. 2) Mechanical sounds can be important although sometimes faults develop slowly and the difference in sound can be very subtle and difficult to detect as it builds over time. I'm trying to think of an example and can't. But back in the day when cars weren't so tightly managed by engine electronics you could hear and feel quite a dramatic difference when you'd just had them serviced. Thinking back to my Cortina Mk 5 that used to feel like a new car! 3) Finally speaking of development of vehicle technology electric and hybrid cars are of course much quieter. We're all going to have to train ourselves to listen carefully for them. Thanks for getting us thinking again Ashley.

Modern sirens are highly directional, so much so that reflected sound can be louder than the straight line sound if the vehicle is coming at a angle to you. The sirens are fairly quiet until directly facing you which can be too late. That is why I think fire engines should be allowed more use of their air horns, then you know you are looking for a large vehicle and the air horn is less directional, so appears loudest from where it is actually coming from. Pet peeve, as the local fire authority rather frowns upon air horn use as it disturbs the neighbourhood. Totally agree about motorbikes, some of the new ones particularly BMW are too quiet (the gear click is louder than the exhaust). If I can hear the bike I know where he is and the changes in sound give you warning of what he is about to do.

I had a listening but not listening moment in my last lesson. We were coming up to a roundabout where to go straight ahead or right you meed to be in the right hand lane. On my lessons, 9 times out of 10 we go right, this time my instructor said to go straight ahead. I acknowledged him as i didnt put my indicator on, but my brain went to fluff and i turned right and my instructoe was like what you doing. It took me a min or 2 to work out what I had done. I knew he told me to go another direction, but automation overtook as soon as i was on the roundabout and i missed my instructors que to leave and turned right 🤷🏼‍♀️

I can only do 62 when going uphill on the motorway...70 if its downhill! I am listening!

I'm sure that was really useful for the hearing folk. I am profoundly deaf and have driven for 20 years and the listening is not something I can do. I know when the vehicle is over or under revving by the sensation that the car/lorry gives off. As for emergency vehicles, because of my constant use of mirrors and observation skills I can pick up emergency service vehicles without any issue, i'm often pointing out to other drivers to make them aware of such vehicles approaching. your observations skills are REALLY important! I would say more important than hearing skills. just my take. stay safe out there.

I don't think I hear it. I think I feel it... I can feel the revs via vibration. My father, who taught me to drive, many, many years ago called it 'driving through the seat of your pants' it covered everything from oversteer, understeer, road surface, ice, punctures, misfires etc etc. Really new his stuff my dad...

After driving for 49 years I find although listing for engine nose to change up and not labouring engine to change down my new diesel can cope with variable speeds so have been looking at speedo to change gear. I find I can’t judge speeds around speed limits so have to glance to make sure not exceeding speed limit and have learned in last 6 years the speed that is optimal for gear, flat, uphill, downhill etc. Don’t tend to open window to listen, never thought of this. I also find I can’t hear the emergency services until they are close.

I have a pair of nice in-ear headphones. They pretty much absorb all of the noise around me and allow me to focus on the music. Especially useful on a crowded rush-hour bus or train. However, whenever I'm actively participating in traffic, e.g. walking, I'm always switching to a pair of old-style earbuds that allow me to hear the traffic around me. Wouldn't feel safe with the other ones.

One of my listening skills is around town to have the drivers window open. I listen for motorcycles around me, that I might not have seen, but can hear, and as you mentioned, you get a few seconds warning of an approaching emergency services vehicle. I'm sure very few drivers aged 30 or less have any sense of mechanical sympathy towards how their engine, brakes or transmission sound. Your son's cambelt noise being a case in point.

although im still learning to drive on the roads i was first taught how to drive in a tractor where i had to listen to a lot of different things whilst using it so i listen all the time to the sounds coming from the car, though that doesnt mean i dont miss stuff

Headphone on a bike? Suicide! I cant observe enough when cycling, so listening is crucial. I tried headphones once in my youth, and didn't like how much awareness I lost. Dropping the window for the bridge to listen for other horns is good advice - also listen for other engines or any other sounds as clues (I suspect most other drivers DON'T use the horn because its acquired this perception of aggression rather than just attracting attention) over bridges, and do the same around blind bends, pulling out of a narrow alley or garage across a pavement, and anywhere you don't have a clear view before proceeding. Listen for tractors and harvesters in fields - there might be trucks shifting crops on the narrow lanes nearby. You can even sometimes hear horse hooves before you can see them.

The bit where you talk about strange noises. I get my car checked by a more experienced driver before going to the garage but if i'm not happy with their judgement I still get it checked in garage even for the slightest sound change. And with my csr being a 3 cylinder 0.8L engine it struggles at times. I belive the car to be currently in a state of needing the garage because the car seems to struggle after a 15 mile journey with 12 miles of 60-70MPH driving. The car loses power and has a slightly lower engine sound which is concerning as I don't like the remaining things left to change (Basically the timing, exhaust or the whole engine) Kinda love the little thing after all that it has done. And I do puch it outside of it's limits by going on the motorway and 60-70MPH roads. (it's top speed is 89MPH)

Engine roar but slow acceleration is usually a sign that the clutch is on its way out. Best not leave it too long getting that looked at either as once it's gone you get the noise but you'll be going nowhere.

great video as always Ashley. I would add that many newer cars, e.g: electrics and hybrids will have little to no engine noise on the road. As a learner driver who has recently switched to hybrid automatic, it's done wonders for my confidence but I do have to be extra aware when driving slowly around housing estates etc that my presence on the road is virtually silent and poses an extra hazard for pedestrians and other cars.

With regards to people with headphones they are so small these days you can't always tell if someone has them, great point though for those you can see

One of the first things instructor told me years ago was to listen to the engine.

When you start driving or get a new car you need to calibrate your ears to 30 mph, 40 mph etc. in 3rd, 4th gear etc. No end of times your new car arrives and you drive it and end up on average faster everywhere because it is more modern has a quieter engine for the same speed in your old car. If this is not sorted out you will get done up for speeding at a camera or pulled by the police particularly if you were chancing doing 35's and 45's previously.

Actually it was easier for me to start with listening. Everything that comes with learning is through listening. Maybe it's because I play violin since I was 8 😅

I’m amazed your a BMW driver that uses indicators.

I have a black box in my car and I passed in August of last year, it's a horribly bad habit but I must admit that I spend the MAJORITY of my time looking down at the speedometer, you're so right about listening but as I live in Wales and do a lot of driving up and down hills, I find that listening to my car for speed reasons can be very unreliable. So honestly, there's not much I can do, obviously as my driving career has lengthened I've found it easier to visualise speed instead but honestly, it worries my family the amount of time I look at the speedometer, my friends with black boxes have the same problem, great in concept but you constantly drive as if you're being assessed - sometimes a good thing, sometimes a bad thing.

ohh no! what will i do driving electric :P nice and quiet car even on the motorway :)

I only passed my test 10 months ago and had to get a black box in my car to make the insurance more affordable. Because of that black box I feel almost forced to look at the speedo to make sure I’m not speeding.

When I drive j always have the window down it helps listening out coming out of an almost blind unction turning onto the main road aswell

Listening is great and really important, but I will say - when you are driving a truck with a Fridge on the back, its either listen to the radio, or listen to the freezer. There isn't much other option :P

I sometimes listen to an audio book when walking, but keep one of the headphones off the ear (the one nearest the road if there is one I wouldn't be constantly switching them to maintain that) and keep it low enough to hear through it. Even with occasional music I'll forego some fidelity to keep an ear clear.

My car doesn’t have a a Rev counter so I normally go on how the engine sound when changing gears (there is also the way of just 1st up to around 15-200mph, 2ndup to 30 etc) but my instructor did keep mention about listening to the engine, but she never covered the speedometer 😂😂😂😅😅😅

I'm often listening to my car to hear if it's breaking lol And also listening for emergency vehicles

some headphones (like ones i have) can take outside audio and put it through the speaker so i can listen to music or podcasts while also hearing just a well with everything around me.

You should have a go of my delivery van. Someone who drives a keyboard for a living has decided in their infinite wisdom to fit it with parking sensors, a piece of tech that I absolutely disagree should be in any vehicle, but have also decided that wasn't enough and have also fitted an ear-piercing *STOP* alarm. What's the problem? Well, when you're reversing a 3.5 tonne refrigerated van out of a narrow dead-end street on to a busy main road at night, it would be nice to be able to listen for oncoming traffic. This lost skill, which I would argue is vital in this situation, is now near impossible to use thanks to the *FOUR* parking sensors and the continuous high-pitched stop alarm going completely ape shit because they think you're about to hit literally everything that has ever existed!

I personally think it is better for a student that an instructor should say it more often and a bit louder, so that the student does what is asked, than that the instructor has to intervene every time, by braking or grabbing the steering wheel . Some will think, what a jerk of a person, but this jerk also wants you to drive in such a way that you get through the traffic safely, and get the insight yourself.

I've been driving 3 year's I can't have music on and drive it's very distracting

Yep yep and yep....all of that 👍 I have seen a few people wearing headphones while driving..... I heard a faint werring sound, very faint...on my prev car (vw) - took it to the garage...they went on a test drive in the rush hour and said they couldn’t hear it......you wouldn’t I told them. After much insistence they took it apart, found the bearing gone and the splines on the drive shaft worn away. Car was dangerous to drive. Had to take the loan car home! Once they replaced it all, no more noise. O, indicators....yes. Going to work, at the big roundabout....old type ford KA on the right hand junction, indicating left.....so I’m clear to go....then the KA comes straight on. He should have turned into the road I was leaving according to his indicator. I had space, so no bump...but I didn’t like that!

I automatically know what speed I'm going just from the sound it's like second nature I like to down shift towards a junction to engine brake and keep it rolling at a few mph if it's an open junction and down shifting in a proper way is actually good for the engine as when your breaking in an engine they told me to down shift and accelerate smoothly

We have a CVT in our car. Unless you're going slow, the engine is designed to always spin at the same RPM. I also wonder what it's like for drivers who are hard of hearing.

I drive a van and often have music on and sometimes I dont hear or see ambulances I feel bad when I dont see them I only have my side mirrors and theres alot of blide spots unless there directly in site in my mirror I cant see them

It's funny that you mentioned cyclists not using the bells on their bikes, i had a situation today, walking through a narrow underpass, i could hear the motion of a bike behind, he never pre warned us, just as well i had my ears open, so to speak.

my first driving instructor always put the radio

Very important video

I'm guilty of listening to loud music in the car. But having an old engine i can still hear most things going on in the engine bay.

I don't have children but I do know that it is possible to get them to go to sleep purely by the sound of the engine on long trips. I tend to find diesels do this best.

My brothers car had its cam belt changed and head gasket and was out of timing and started ticking and tapping on the top end of the engine so the cam lobes and shell wear scored

I'm not a driver myself yet but I'm pretty good at listening to things. I think I've just learnt a lot of what you brought up here from just being cautious, though looking for pedestrians wearing headphones isn't something I do - probably because I'm not driving yet that. Listening to the engine is something I think I picked up from my interest in racing games and car shows - finding the best point to change up and suchlike - but our car's an auto so I've kinda ignored that. I think I'm just sort of a co-driver with how much I pay attention to as a passenger - I try not to be a backseat driver though :P

I love the idea of covering the speedo, but bearing in mind that most of your pupils won't be buying a modern 3 series beema, and are much more likely to be buying a petrol powered Corsa, I think you would do better to ask them how fast they think they are going by looking at the speed of the scenery passing. That way, you can get into a 3 cylinder Citroen or 6 cylinder Audi and the scenery passing will be EXACTLY the same...?

people seem not to hear or react to the sirens of emergency vehicles or hear stones in the tyre.

Literally today, this guy was facing away from me, massive headphones on, walking his dog, his dog decided to just lunge out to the right, and he did even attempt to pull his dog away from the road. I moved well out because there is no distinction between road/path over the railway lines, but had there been an oncoming car, I fear I would have hit it. People with children/dogs, are infuriating when they walk them on the roadside. I even had some idiot walk a puppy on a narrow pavement, on the outside and had I been a bit faster, the puppy would have been under my wheels, because it just leapt off of the pavement and onto the road. I was on a lesson at the time.

Great advice 👍. Funny how big newer the car 🚗 German or not, seem to suffer from having that tick tock sound problem! Selfishness? Master class video 🎯 Warwick 🚦🚸

My instructor has never really shouted at me hes retired now he said I was his last first time pass with only 1 minor fault I was always looking forward to driving so I passed with only 25 lessons but about 10 private in industrial estate and car park

Hi Ashley again great video, on the listening front I tell my pupils when approaching a stop junction as a restricted view open the windows and when looking listen as well. What do you think

Here’s one. I learnt to drive in a 4 speed Petrol Vauxhall Nova in 1987. I find today aged 50 with poor hearing, that in my 6 speed 2015 Honda Civic Diesel that I miss out 5th gear changing up, and often find myself sat cruising in 5th if I have used that gear rather than changing up to 6th! What can I do to correct this?

Back in the days when the children were in the car and liked very different music I tried using ear buds to listen to my music. Really bad idea, my sense of speed was significantly impaired. Never did that again (no accident, no fine, but a real quick wake up). Would a CVT give me the same problem?

Non related question; do you teach your students to not disengage the hand/parking brake when moving off? I’ve wondered this since owning a car with an electronic handbrake because I mix it up so much myself. Sometimes depressing the brake pedal and flicking the switch and sometimes just moving off and allowing it to auto disengage. Neither of which seem to be a conscious decision.

In regards to engine noises, personally find not understanding the different sounds of the engine hard, when my drive shaft went i never heard anything before until it went clunck 🙈 also instructor cars are newer cars not everyone is in a position to get a newer car they have could end up with grannys old car that knocks more than a postie does!

I've been keeping an eye (or ear) on a couple of noises on my own car, the read drums appear to be a little rusted I'm guessing from being idle for a few months but also listening to my gear box that has been usually loud recently. But I must not get fixated on those noises too often, which can be hard to do when they sound expensive.

Doesn't seem to work in my Leaf.

If you have headphones on and you can't hear what's going on around you then you have them TOO LOUD!! Not only endangering yourself but your hearing will suffer. Turn them down; you should hear your music (or whatever) but if you can't hear the birds singing then turn them down till you can. I've got to say that hearing your car is not just an acquired skill generally but you need to know the normal sounds of your car too; and that does take time; I'll be getting a new one soon and I know it will likely take me weeks to learn exactly how it sounds to know if anything doesn't sound quite 'normal'. Also you mention the Emergency services but don't you think they are very quiet to what the old 2 tone horns were? I can remember as a youngster you could hear them from miles away; now even as a pedestrian sometimes they are very close before that stupid modern siren becomes audible. We should have kept the old 2 tones; much better than the American import garbage on our ambulances etc. now.

This was how I was taught many moons a go.

Ashley how come you don't use rotational steering? Is it just personal preference or something else?

I need to get better at using by bell on my bicycle

Ashley, when there is 1 lane closed due to roadworks on an A road which has 2 lanes and a national speed limit of 70mph for cars, is the lane that is left open now classed as a single lane thus reducing the speed limit to 60mph or is it still 70mph as it has a central reservation?

I've been mentioning the importance of listening for things with the windows down in my comments on here for quite a while now if anyone looks back, looks like everyone has caught on, but I also blast music in busy pedestrian areas so " they "can hear me before they see me.

I am listening to my car more these days, knocks and bangs mostly (or what’s just fallen off lol), but I do listen to rev speed and clutch pick up. You do here older folk Revving the balls out of the engine and slipping the clutch, difficult for people with harder hearing.

If I'm on my bike and wearing headphones, I will always only ever have one ear bud in. That way I can enjoy my podcasts and listen to what around me. Also reducing the volume of whatever you're listening to. I'd rather have mono sound, than not hear what's around me.