29/10/2026
Please be patient. Our learners are doing their best!!! 🙏 You were a learner once!🚘
"Bl**dy learner drivers!!! Get out of the way! How dare you be on the road".....and because I want to show my impatience and fury at said 17 year old L plater, I'm going to literally drive right up to the bumper of their car or maybe do a manoeuvre past them that falls well short of acceptable driving standards. Like overtaking them whilst they wait to turn right or something silly like that.
It was a long time since I learnt to drive and I don't remember much of it. It was in Cornwall. The busiest it got was Truro and that's tiny compared to even Exmouth and about twice the size of Ottery.
But there are way more cars on the road now and we are all in more of a rush. We do get reports from driving instructors of bad driving but, as someone who is currently teaching a family member, its downright scary how impatient some other drivers are and the appalling manor of driving that they demonstrate. I mean, what is the point in honking impatiently?! What does that achieve?
That 'L' plate means that the driver is the newest, most nervous, least experienced, driver out there. They are going to stall. They are going to roll back. They are going to go under the speed limit. They may not say thank you as their sweaty white knuckles grip the wheel for dear life. And they are defo going to drive a ton worse when another vehicle is pressuring them. Ironically they will drive better than the people that this message is targeted at🤣
If you see an 'L' plate, give the vehicle time and space. Expect unexpected manoeuvres. Expect mistakes. Expect slow junction starts. We were all learners once.
*Putting an L on a police car is potentially opening up a line of comment comedy so Ill brace for that😉
