Toms Tips, No.2, Approaching and Turning Corners.

Welcome to Toms Tips.

Now you’ve had a little practise in getting safely seated. moving off under control and stopping accurately, it’s time to get to grips with approaching and turning corners.

Your driving instructor from John Lowe Driving will brief you on the best way to approach this lesson and will describe the different types of junction that you will encounter, (open junctions or closed junctions.)

Here are the vital ingredients that you should remember from this lesson:

Turning Left,

  • Always use mirror – signal – position – speed – look. (M S P S L)
  • Check your mirrors.
  • Give correct signal.
  • Position about a meter from the kerb.
  •  Adjust speed. Slow down by braking gently.
  • Select correct gear.
  • Use block gear changes and avoid coasting.
  • Look for cyclists, pedestrians, emerging traffic and obstructions.
  • Judge the point of turn accurately.
  • Check mirrors again in the new road.

 Turning Right,

Again, use M S P S L.

  • You will cross the path of other traffic.
  • Position about a tyres width from the centre of the road.
  • Either stop or turn just before the centre of the road you are driving into.
  • Do not cut the corner!
  • Look for cyclists, pedestrians, emerging traffic and obstructions.
  • Do not risk anything – if in doubt, don’t go!

There are a lot of skills involved here and it can’t be mastered quickly, but if you follow the coaching of your driving instructor, your confidence in tackling junctions safely will grow.

“Approaching and turning corners is a vital skill to have when you are learning to drive. My driving instructor, Tom Lowe, explained the safety requirements to me and then we practised turning left. Next time we did emerging left and soon I could turn and emerge left and right. It takes some time to get used to, but it’s important knowledge to have.”

Shannon Brown, Gloucester.

If you would like to start your driving lessons in Gloucester and The Forest of Dean, call us on 01452 313713, or use our contact form.

Next in Toms Tips, we will look at Emerging at T Junctions; Zones of Vision and Roundabouts.