Falconer Driver Training

01/09/2026

I came across this question on a learner forum and it really stood out to me because I suspect plenty of learners have had exactly the same confusion.

The learner was practising with a friend and became stressed because the road signs appeared to show 30mph while the sat nav was showing 20mph. Cars were passing them, the speed limits seemed to be changing quickly and they were left worrying that something like this could make them fail their test.

So let’s clear up the first bit.
The road signs tell you the legal speed limit.
Your sat nav does not.

Sat nav speed information can be useful, but it can also be wrong or out of date.
Roads change.
Limits change.
Databases don’t always catch up immediately.

This is also a perfect example of why I strongly encourage private practice alongside professional driving lessons, rather than seeing one as a replacement for the other.

Private practice is brilliant. The more varied, good quality experience a learner gets, the better. A parent, partner or friend can give somebody valuable hours behind the wheel and help them practise skills they have already been taught.

An Approved Driving Instructor brings something different to that passenger seat.

We are trained to teach you how to identify the speed limit when the answer isn’t immediately obvious. We teach you where a new limit begins, what signs and road markings mean, how street lighting can be relevant, how to recognise the characteristics of different roads, how to plan for changing limits and, importantly, how to work things out independently when technology is telling you something different.

If you were sitting beside me saying, “The sat nav says 20 but I think this road is 30,” I wouldn’t want you to simply believe me when I told you the answer.

I’d want you to understand how YOU can establish the answer.

What signs have you seen?
What was the last speed limit sign you passed?
Has anything legally changed that limit?
What information is the road itself giving you?
Could the sat nav information be outdated?

That is teaching somebody to drive rather than teaching somebody to follow instructions.

There is another important point. The speed limit is the maximum permitted speed, not an instruction to reach it.
A 30mph road doesn’t automatically mean 30mph is appropriate at that moment.
Conditions, visibility, pedestrians, parked vehicles, bends and hazards may mean a lower speed is necessary.

This is why I love private practice when it is used properly.
Your instructor gives you the knowledge, understanding and strategies, then private practice gives you more opportunities to put them into action. You can bring the confusing situations back to your next lesson and ask, “This happened. What should I have done?”

That’s how understanding grows.
Eventually I don’t want a learner relying on me, their mum, their dad, their friend or a sat nav to tell them what to do.

I want them to be able to work it out safely for themselves.

Your sat nav can help you find the road.

Your training should teach you how to read it.

Teach to drive independently not pass a test !

🫶🏼

27/08/2026

🚘 IT’S THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN… THE PHANTOM REAR END RETURNS

The evenings are getting darker, autumn is creeping towards us, and one of Britain’s most mysterious seasonal creatures is beginning to reappear on our roads.

The car with daytime running lights.
From the front, it looks like it’s arriving at the Oscars.
LEDs blazing. Eyebrows illuminated. Looking like NASA has cleared it for take-off.

Then it passes you…
And the back is in 1847.
Not a bulb. Not a glimmer. Not so much as a Victorian candle.

The front is Blackpool Illuminations.
The rear is a power cut in a Northumberland village.

It’s basically two completely different cars welded together. The front has tickets to Ibiza and the back has gone potholing.
And every year I see the same thing.

Grey car.
Grey sky.
Grey road.
Pouring rain.
No rear lights.

Congratulations.
You’ve successfully camouflaged a family hatchback.
David Attenborough could narrate it.

Here we see the elusive British motorist in their natural habitat.
Glowing like Las Vegas from the front and disappearing up the road like a burglar avoiding CCTV from behind.
No manufacturers harmed in the making of this post. Especially VW. 😂

Daytime running lights are primarily designed to make your vehicle more visible during daylight. Depending on the vehicle, your rear lights may NOT be illuminated with them.

That means you can be sitting behind the wheel thinking everything is wonderful because the dashboard is glowing like a fruit machine…

Meanwhile the back of your car has entered the Witness Protection Programme

If visibility is seriously reduced, the Highway Code says you MUST use headlights. Generally, that means when you cannot see for more than 100 metres.

So as the evenings draw in, here’s a revolutionary idea.
Check your lights.
Don’t just look at the front of the car glowing beautifully and assume the rest of it has received the memo.
Walk around it occasionally.

Have a look.

Because driving around with DRLs blazing at the front and darkness at the rear is the automotive equivalent of wearing a lighthouse on your forehead and an invisibility cloak over your backside.

If somebody flashes you from behind this autumn, before declaring them an idiot, questioning their parentage and beginning a twelve-mile feud…

Check your lights.

They might simply be trying to tell you that the front of your car is hosting Eurovision Performance whilst the rear is camping without a torch.

SEE AND BE SEEN.

🫶🏼

20/08/2026

🚦 TEMPORARY TRAFFIC LIGHTS THAT APPEAR TO HAVE FORGOTTEN THE MEANING OF “TEMPORARY”? 😂

You’re driving along quite happily when you see the sign. ROAD WORKS. Temporary traffic lights ahead. Fine. No problem. We’re British. We’ve been training for this our entire lives.

You pull up red light, engine off, handbrake on lovely a minute passes. Then another.
Still red cars start arriving behind you, at first everyone is relaxed because we all still believe we’re participating in a functioning traffic-management system.

Three minutes later, things start to change. People begin leaning forward in their seats as though getting six inches closer to the traffic light might influence negotiations.

Five minutes. Still red. I’ve now studied the entire roadworks site.
There are 14 cones, three barriers, a wheelbarrow and absolutely no evidence that a human being has been anywhere near it since the Industrial Revolution.

Seven minutes.
STILL RED. At this point I’ve watched seasons change. The leaves have fallen. Winter has passed.
Spring has arrived.
Two swallows have returned from Africa and built a nest in my passenger-side mirror.

The driver behind has started doing that little sideways head movement to see past me, because obviously I may be concealing an entire convoy of moving traffic for my own amusement.
Then someone three cars back BEEPS.
Oh excellent.
That should do it.

The temporary traffic light has been red for nine minutes but thankfully Derek in the Vauxhall has discovered the ancient British traffic-management technique of HONKING AT IT. 😂

Nothing happens.

Ten minutes. I’ve raised a family. The children have left home. One has gone to university. The other has married someone I don’t particularly like. I’ve paid off the mortgage, taken up gardening and started looking at cruises.
STILL RED.
Then somebody gets brave.
They edge forward approximately four inches.
Everybody watches.

This person has become our explorer. Our Christopher Columbus. Our Bear Grylls. They have volunteered to discover whether civilisation still exists beyond the traffic light.

They stop.
We all stop.
Nobody actually knows what we’re waiting for anymore. We have simply formed a small roadside community governed by a red plastic box.

Then suddenly…
GREEN.
OH MY GOD.
GREEN!!!
Engines start. Handbrakes release. People sit upright. After 17 years of captivity, WE ARE FREE.

The first car moves.
The second car moves.
I move.
And just as the fourth car gets through…
RED.
😂😂😂😂😂

The queue behind has now entered a period of national mourning.
But the absolute best temporary traffic lights are the ones where you finally get through and discover…

NO ROADWORKS.
Nothing, just cones, vibes and betrayal.
Not a worker, a digger or even a hole.
Just 47 cones guarding empty tarmac like it’s the Crown Jewels.

WHAT IS THIS?!
A crime scene?
A performance art piece?
A cone-based cult ritual?

Somewhere, in a control box beside the road, I swear a tiny traffic-light computer is laughing at us
because they call them “temporary” traffic lights.
Temporary.
I’ve had sandwiches with more commitment.

By the time these ones disappear, I’ll be retired, slightly confused, and living off tea and resentment.

My grandchildren will drive past and say:
“Why do you flinch at that junction?” and I’ll whisper:
“Because I grew old there.” 😂😂😂

Please tell me it’s not just me who has sat at temporary traffic lights so long you start considering moving in.
🫶🏼

19/08/2026

Massive well done to the gorgeous Paige Amy Spark passing today with only 2 minors and lovely feedback from your examiner. See you on the road 🚗👏🏻🫶🏼

17/08/2026

ABSOLUTES HAVE NO PLACE IN DRIVING.

One thing I see constantly in conversations about driving is the use of two words: always and never.
But driving rarely works like that.

Driving below the speed limit is not automatically dangerous. The number on the sign is a limit, not a target. There are times when driving considerably below it is exactly the right decision because of weather, visibility, pedestrians, cyclists, horses, traffic, road conditions or simply what you can see ahead.

Choosing whether an indicator would actually benefit another road user does not mean “never indicate”. It means assessing who is around you and whether that signal is useful and remembering that situations can change in seconds.

Not every cyclist jumps red lights.
Not every driver obeys them.
Not every cyclist is uninsured.
Not every motorist is insured.
Not every driver pays for road tax , but cyclists get labelled for not having it.

Having insurance, a licence, a helmet, four wheels, two wheels or twenty years of experience doesn’t automatically make somebody a safe road user.
People make decisions.
That, for me, is where road safety really begins.

The road you drove yesterday isn’t necessarily the same road today. It might physically look identical, but today there could be a child near the kerb, standing water around the bend, a cyclist you haven’t seen yet, an ambulance approaching, low sun destroying your visibility, a horse around the next corner or traffic behaving completely differently.
We even had an eclipse recently proof that occasionally even the sky decides to change the driving conditions.

Good driving isn’t memorising a collection of absolutes and applying them regardless.
It’s observe, assess, decide and then reassess.

Again and again and again.
Because the decision that was perfectly safe five seconds ago might not be the right decision now.

Perhaps we’d have far better conversations about road safety if we stopped arguing about what drivers, cyclists, motorcyclists, pedestrians or any other group “always” do and started talking about the decisions individual people make.

What driving “absolute” do you hear all the time that actually isn’t absolute at all!

🫶🏼

16/08/2026

NERVES can undoubtedly play a part in whether you succeed or fail a driving test, yet lots of very nervous people pass their driving test 1st time every day, HOW?

Well, firstly remember, instructors don’t teach you to fail, so stick to what they have told you and what you have been taught! Forget what uncle Bill says about his test in 1975 it’s not relevant.

Don’t listen to horror stories from others about how bad their tests were, people love a bit of drama and they will always make things sound worse! Instructors are at the test centre far more times than family and friends!

Keep the date of your test and time to yourself, if you are nervous why have an audience?

Now this is important, STICK to the routines you have been taught, go through the procedures in your mind, mentally plan your manoeuvres and how to deal with junctions! Mental planning is so important, it helps you focus on the positive not on the possible negatives!

Remember your lane discipline, three reasons to be in the right hand lane:
Turning right
Overtaking
If ONE arrow tells you that you must use that lane.
Otherwise stay left!

Watch for road markings and signs they are like a silent instructor in the car!

The test lasts about the length of an Eastenders episode, just make sure you don’t have to go back for a second episode 🤣!

Whoever you are, whoever you are learning with, I hope this helps and good luck!

🫶🏼

12/08/2026

01/08/2026

A lot of people get confused with speed limit signs, if you remember that speed limits up to 60 mph are marked numerically!
The national speed limit sign means 60mph on single carriagways and 70 mph on dual carriageways and motorways!
Dual carriageways are the roads that are divided by either a barrier or sometimes grass verges etc!
Remember that the speed limits are the maximum speed you are allowed to do, not the speed you are required to do, the current road situation, weather conditions etc should influence the speed you do!
A good way to look at speed is to think that if the car is going quicker than you can think and respond, then you need to slow it down!
Be particularly careful this time of year as lots of children are out on bikes and playing on the streets, drive to the conditions not the speed limits!
If you are driving past parked cars, look to see that their are no little people between them, if you can’t see them, they can’t see you!
STAY SAFE.
🫶🏼

29/07/2026

🚦 Rolling Through a Stop Sign? It Only Takes One Time.

I still see drivers treating STOP signs like GIVE WAY signs.

Slow down… quick glance… keep rolling.

The problem is, that’s not stopping.

A STOP sign is there for a reason. It usually means visibility is restricted or the junction has a history of collisions. If you keep the car moving, even slowly, you’re more likely to miss a cyclist, motorcyclist, pedestrian or a vehicle approaching from a direction you didn’t expect.

Stopping completely gives your brain time to catch up with what your eyes are seeing. It only takes a second, but that second could make all the difference.

For learner drivers, a rolling stop is also likely to result in a serious fault on your driving test because you haven’t complied with the road sign.

So next time you reach a STOP sign:

🚗 Stop completely.
👀 Look properly.
✅ Move off only when you’re certain it’s safe.

One second of patience is far better than a lifetime of regret.

🫶🏼

25/07/2026

This is a really important one. It is happening more and more with black box policies and telematics.

“I Have Just Passed And My Insurance Has Been Cancelled For Phone Use.”

A newly qualified driver.
Black box policy.
Phone in the car.

Passengers using with the phone that was connected to the telematics.

Driver not physically touching it.

Insurance cancelled.

Here is the uncomfortable truth.

It does not matter who is holding the phone.

If the policy states the phone linked to the telematics app must remain secure and stationary during journeys, that is a condition of the contract.

Most black box insurers monitor:

• Phone movement
• Screen interaction
• Acceleration patterns
• Braking
• Time of day
• Speed

If the phone moves while the vehicle is moving, it can register as use.

The insurer does not see context.
It sees data.

New drivers often do not realise this:

Your phone must be secured properly in a holder.
Not loose on the seat.
Not passed between passengers.
Not handled at traffic lights.
Not interacted with while moving.

Even if someone else is touching it.

Telematics policies are strict.
A cancellation is serious.

It can:

• Increase future premiums significantly
• Make insurance harder to obtain
• Require declaration for years

This is not about punishment.
It is about contractual conditions.

Before you drive with a black box policy:

Read every clause.
Understand the app.
Secure the device.
Explain the rules to passengers.

Passing your test is freedom.
Insurance is a legal contract.

Both require responsibility.

🫶🏼