Welcome

The Essential Driving Test (EDT) Course

 

 

You might be shocked with what you will read further

on but all of it is true and require that they be

treated with respect. The truth is that those who

carry the highest risk of getting into vehicular

accidents are the young and new drivers. These

accidents often result in the loss of limbs and

life. It is because of these statistics that the

Road Safety Authority has made it mandatory for

those who plan to get a driving license to first

go through driving lessons and wait for some time

before they can sit in their driving test.

 

These new measures include the enactment of the

essential driver training, also known as EDT. The

intention of the EDT is that the learner, or the

one who wants to get the driving license, should

have reasonably gained knowledge and acquired

appropriate skills to be a good defensive driver. The EDT now requires everyone that has received a first car learner permit on the fourth of April 2011 and onwards to take a minimum of 12 hours of essential driving training. An approved driving instructor, or ADI, would have to facilitate these lessons. The 12 hours are considered requisites if you want to sit through your driving test. While 12 hours are the minimum amount of time needed for the EDT, some learners need more time than this to be confident in their driving skills, and filler lessons may be taught. 

 

 

The idea is that while your ADI would be responsible in introducing you the basics of driving, you would need to practice on each skill and that requires that you pick out a sponsor. This sponsor has to be someone you rely to supplement what you have learned from your ADI. Once you're done with a certain EDT lesson, it would then be your sponsor's responsibility to help you practice the skill that you've just learned. The time that you spend with your sponsor in practice will seriously help you become more confident in the road. For a person to be eligible to become a sponsor, he or she should be a holder of a full category B license for more than 2 years. With the help of your sponsor, you should be able to pass all 12 lessons in the EDT in order for you to pass the course. While only an hour per lesson, it's important that you properly space out these lessons -- the ideal is two weeks in between. You are encouraged and expected to practice in between lessons. In a bid to ensure that you have really learned all that has to be learned before you sit through your driving test, you have to wait for six weeks from first getting your learner's permit. The main reason for with the six-week rule was instituted is because it prevents the fast tracking of EDT lessons and compromising the entire course. Both the Road Safety Authority and the ADI that you will work will take the EDT course seriously so it's expected that you be fully prepared when you attend each lesson.

 

 

The first thing which the ADI will do is to check your learner's permit, and inspect your vehicle for the necessary documentation, i.e. Insurance, motor tax, NCT and roadworthiness, should you decide to make use of your own vehicle in the lessons. Anything awry with regards to the documents and condition of your vehicle could cause your ADI to not move forward with your lessons. With regards to the NCT, a vehicle will only require one once it hits four years old. 

 

 

The first time that you and your ADI will meet, the

latter will explain to you the rationale behind each

lesson and the goals that you have to accomplish

throughout the entire course, and then give you your

logbook. It's important that you take care of your

logbook since it will be on this notebook that the

details of each lesson will be written on. Once each

lesson is done, your ADI will then record your progress

using the logbook, sign and then stamp on it. Because of

the way that each lesson you go through is chronicled,

you need to be completely prepared before you move

forward to the next lesson. You may ask your ADI if he

or she feels that you are prepared enough to move on to

the next driving lesson or spend more time on practice.

It is important for lessons one to eight to be taken

chronologically, with the lessons covering car controls and safety checks, correct positioning, changing direction, progression management, anticipation and reaction, sharing the road, and driving safely through traffic. When you've successfully gone through lessons one to eight, you can then take lessons nine to 12 at whichever order you think is necessary since by then you should have already accrued enough skills and experience to be able to go through the lesson without much difficulty. Lessons nine to 12 include changing direction in complicated situations, speed management, driving calmly and night driving. For a more detailed explanation of each lesson covered by the EDT course, learner drivers are advised to peruse the RSA booklet. The Essential Driver Training, learner driver information booklet, will be given to you by your ADI or you may also download it in the RSA website. 

 

 

You are expected to achieve certain outcomes once you are able to go through each driving lesson, and it is the role of your ADI to track your progress and provide you with specific recommendations on how you can do better for the next lessons on your EDT logbook. For this reason, it's crucial that you bring your EDT logbook with you during every driving lesson. Your ADI's practice recommendations will be the basis of your sponsor's involvement in the learning process. The documentation goes on even when you practice with your sponsor as the latter is obligated to write down in detail what happens during these practices. You should also complete the self-analysis part of the logbook which you must show to your sponsor every time you meet to practice. Basically, your logbook will allow you and your sponsor to find out what needs to be practiced. 

 

 

Once you are ready to move forward with the next lesson, take the time to read the relevant sections in the rules of the road. Doing so will allow you to be familiar with the integral driving concepts that will be discussed by your ADI during your next session, accelerating your progress. Another way that you can keep a step ahead is by asking your ADI what the next lesson will be so that you can do some advanced reading. 

 

 

RSA has come up with a manual called Learning to Drive a Car which is written with the goal to help you learn how to drive and is available in bookstores. With the help of this manual and the combined efforts of your ADI and sponsor, together with your eagerness to learn and practice how to drive, the EDT course should be able to develop the necessary skills in you to help you become a better, safer and more responsible driver. To ensure that you are still on the right track of learning how to drive, make sure to check in with your ADI periodically and don't be afraid to ask for comments. To do this, simply visit My EDT on the RSA website, which will then allow you to review your personal records. 

 

 

When you are done with the entire EDT course and you have held your learner's permit for six months, you may go through your driving test. Applications for the practical driving test can be done online through the official driving test website -- RSA.ie. Of course, the odds of passing a driving test has become slimmer but your cause isn't lost yet; click on the driving test page on upper part of this website to find out why every post EDT learner we've had has always passed the test in just one attempt.