Driving Excellence

📣 It's my last week as a driving instructor.

The last few years with A1 Driving School have been fantastic. I'm proud of the hundreds of students I've taught who have mastered the dreaded parallel park, learnt to actually turn their head to blind spot check, or flawlessly signal on roundabouts! It's been a joy seeing students pass their restricted and been immensely rewarding when they come back a year later to do a assessment drive with me before their full and I discover they still have pretty good driving habits.

I'd like to thank Harald Leeuwenburgh for taking me on at A1 and for putting up with my nagging or crazy ideas and suggestions! Sorry for always keeping you on your toes!

I've enjoyed discovering every road, every street, cul-de-sac or quirky intersection on the North Shore. I've enjoyed the flexibility of the role and adapting my classroom teaching methods to coach one-on-one practical skills. But whenever l've taught a group of school students on the RYDA programme or taught the Street Talk defensive driving course l've found myself feeling at home in a school classroom setting so I knew a return to science and physics teaching was inevitable when the right time and opportunity came along.

I'm excited to start at Carmel College next term - a school that I have long aspired to and admired. I'm looking forward to putting on the lab coat and teaching science once again.

So my final message to all the drivers out there: slow down, drive calm, drive focused, avoid distractions, be courteous, allow more space and importantly enjoy every drive and make it a learning opportunity.

Matt 🚗

It’s Road Safety Week! 🎗️

Today I was facilitating the Speed and Stopping sessions as part of the RYDA programme with an awesome year group of girls from St Mary’s College. 🚸

A fantastic day teaching how speed affects stopping distances, looking at car safety features and understanding safe following gaps. 🚗 2s 🚙2s 🚗

And the rain mostly held off too! ☔️

Check out my interview with RNZ about the problems with free driving test resits

Wait time for driving tests up to 2 months Learner drivers are booking their tests before they are even ready because wait times have stretched out to over a month, a driving instructor says.

Great to be teaching in the classroom today facilitating the Street Talk Defensive Driving course with a great bunch of Kristin School and Pinehurst School students!

Today they learnt how human risk factors, thoughts and emotions affect a driver’s actions, explored how “slippage” can cause deterioration of good driving habits and how to reframe mistakes as positive learning opportunities.

Looking forward to the final (and my favourite) session on hazard recognition and the importance of “getting the big picture” next week… Better stock up on more snakes and Freddos!

Bookings are now open for my next Street Talk Defensive Driving Course in May!

📍 Rawene Centre, 33 Rawene Rd, Birkenhead
⏰ 4:00pm to 6:00 pm
🗓️ Wednesday 1 May, Friday 3 May, Wednesday 8 May and Friday 10 May 2024

🚗 Street Talk is a Waka Kotahi NZTA approved advanced driving course that reduces the restricted licence period by 6 months for drivers under 25.

⚠️ The course teaches how to recognise hazards on the roads and how to avoid dangerous situations that lead to accidents

📝 It is an intensive and interactive course comprising of 4 x two-hour classroom sessions followed by a one-hour practical on-road session (completed in your own vehicle). The course is best suited for students on a restricted driver licence.

Book online here:
https://www.a1drivingschool.co.nz/book-now/