It is reckoned that a novice driver, learning by hourly tuition once a week, can take up to fourteen months to achieve driving test standard. On intensive driving courses many learners pass their practical test after only a week of driving experience. Passing the test is only one step on the road to becoming a good driver, but an intensive course provides an excellent foundation. With the opportunities these courses present to save both time and money, they are rapidly growing in popularity.

These courses typically run daily from nine a.m. to five p.m., during which the learner driver can expect concentrated one-to-one tuition in a vehicle provided by the driving school. There are, of course, different options available to cover almost every learner driver’s requirement. These range from instruction for those who have never been behind the wheel before, to shorter courses for those who have recently failed the driving test and wish to improve specific skills in order to retake it as soon as possible.

For many, it is the convenience with which driving skills can be learned and improved that attracts them to intensive driving courses. Many people find it difficult to put aside enough time to learn to drive when trying to juggle other demands on their time, such as school, or work, or travel commitments. Rather than expending time and money attempting to organise weekly lessons over a prolonged period of time, intensive courses offer learner drivers and their families great peace of mind. Learning to drive by the intensive method everything can be arranged in advance, including the test if desired, and the student can concentrate on developing into a safe independent driver without other distractions.

The convenience of these courses is not their only advantage. When undertaking less regular driving lessons it is tempting, desirable even, to practice newly acquired skills between lessons. Well-meaning friends and relations who offer advice are often able drivers themselves, but are normally far less well qualified than professional driving instructors. Confusion can arise in the mind of the learner with conflicting advice being given and can even lead to poor technique becoming ingrained in the learner’s mind. The benefit of intensive driving courses is that such faults can be corrected straight-away, before they set firm. From this point of view, the expert environment in which intensive courses take place is an excellent setting in which to learn to drive.

With less intensive tuition it can equally be a problem that a learner does not have access to a suitable vehicle on which to practice between lessons. The cost of insuring a learner on the family car can be prohibitively high for many people, especially considering the length of time that can be needed to prepare a learner for a test using weekly lessons. This can mean that from one week to the next basic skills and ‘cockpit drill’ must be repeated before they are finally learnt. It is important for learners to build on the control and finesse which they acquire while learning, rather than have their driving confidence dented because they forget basic skills between lessons.

These types of intensive courses are used by the emergency services, the military, and even by driving instructors themselves. They are cost-effective and enable the rapid acquisition of skills. So, whether you have recently failed a test, need to pass quickly for work, or have never driven before, intensive driving courses can quickly make you a safe and responsible driver.