How many driving lessons will I need?

There is no simple answer to this question. Everybody is different. Learners come to driving lessons with different experiences as a passenger and different rates of learning. Some learners have more opportunity for practice outside of their driving lessons than others too.

Some learners claim to have needed as few as five to ten driving lessons with an instructor, so it’s assumed that they have been taught most aspects of learning to drive by a friend or family member. Some learners spend many years learning, and find combining the skills very difficult or are very nervous. The average learner is somewhere in the middle of this continuum, requiring in the region of forty hours of lessons with a qualified instructor and about twenty hours practice with a friend or family member.

It’s important to remember that we are talking about being in sole control of a vehicle weighing at least one tonne and capable of travelling in excess of seventy miles per hour. Learning to drive isn’t all about being able to pass the test in the fastest possible time, but about teaching you to drive safely and confidently. It’s surely better to take a couple of extra lessons and pass safe and confident, than to squeeze through too quickly to save money and time, and end up either failing, or not being a safe driver and potentially causing an accident.

A few factors that might have an impact on how many lessons you require include:

• People who live in congested urban areas, or who usually have their driving lessons at rush hour are likely to need a few more lessons. They are spending more of their driving lesson time sitting in traffic, and less time driving at normal speeds learning to read the road, or practising manoeuvres.
• People who live further from the test centre may need a few more lessons because they get less practice on the test route, or spend more of their lesson time travelling to and from the test area.
• Nervous drivers will need more lessons because they need to feel completely confident at each step before they can be moved on to the next, and driving lesson time will be spent going over material that’s been covered and reassuring the learner.
• Learners who don’t have the opportunity to practice between lessons may need more. They don’t have the chance to embed their learning with a friend or family member, and will probably need to recap the last lesson before continuing. On the other hand, it’s possible that those who do practice with a friend or family member could be picking up bad habits, or becoming frustrated and tense with their driving between lessons, and time may need to be spent undoing this damage, leading to more lessons being required.
• Learners who have spent more time in the front passenger seat, or who have ridden a bike regularly may need fewer lessons, as they have more understanding of the rules of the road and more experience reading the road ahead.
• Having two or three lessons each week will also probably reduce the number that you need, as you’ll not be forgetting what you have learned in between your lessons and needing to re-cap.

Before you start driving, there is no magic way of telling how many lessons you’re going to require, and it’s certainly not worth trying to scrimp and save on something so important. Spending some time reading and learning The Highway Code before you start, and paying more attention to the way other people drive will all help to prepare you for your lessons.

Contact TX Driver Training on 0141 764 1213 to start your driving lessons now.