17/09/2026
🚘 WHY DO DRIVING INSTRUCTORS GET THE BLAME?
I hear this one all the time:
“Look at the state of drivers these days. Must be the instructors.”
Really?
Driving instructors don’t hand someone a licence with a complimentary packet of bad habits tucked inside the glovebox.
We teach the foundations: observation, planning, awareness, responsibility, patience, judgement and respect for other road users.
We spend hours saying the same things until they probably hear our voices in their sleep.
“Check your mirrors.”
“Slow down.”
“Leave space.”
“Look further ahead.”
“Don’t rush.”
“Think about what could happen next.”
We teach far more than manoeuvres and test routes too.
We talk about drink-driving, drug-driving, speeding, distraction, peer pressure, fatigue, aggressive driving and the very real consequences one stupid decision can have for somebody else’s family.
We explain it. We demonstrate it. We repeat it. Then we repeat it again for good measure.
But here is the bit people conveniently forget.
Once that driver passes their test, we are no longer sitting beside them.
If they later choose to do 50 in a 30, sit six inches from someone’s bumper, fly through an amber that turned red sometime last Tuesday, use their phone, drink and drive or treat the middle lane like they’ve taken out a mortgage on it, that is THEIR decision.
Their instructor did not teach them that.
Imagine blaming a school teacher because one of their former pupils behaves badly ten years later.
The teacher gave them knowledge, boundaries and guidance. What they chose to do with it afterwards was down to them.
Driving is no different.
As instructors, we can teach safe habits.
We can build confidence. We can challenge bad attitudes.
We can explain risk until we are blue in the face.
What we cannot do is permanently occupy the passenger seat like some sort of road-safety guardian angel with dual controls.
At some point, personal responsibility has to enter the conversation.
A driving licence is a privilege, not a right.
Passing a test proves you met the required standard on that day.
Remaining a safe driver afterwards is a choice you make every single time you get behind the wheel.
Driving instructors do not create bad drivers.
Bad decisions create bad drivers.
💬 Do you agree, or do you think instructors should carry more responsibility for the way people drive after they pass?
Please like, share and tag someone who will have an opinion on this one. 🫶🏾
I appreciate if you share and do not copy and paste my posts 🙏🏾
