Let´s Look At Turning Left First!

(Mirror Signal Position Speed Look)

Firstly you need to check your mirrors, 10 - 12 car lengths before the approaching junction.

In a separate action - You then signal 6 – 8 car lengths, again before the junction.

Let´s look at this stage by stage now!

Mirrors in pairs, so when turning left it’s the rear mirror first (true view behind) and then left door mirror. (BOB - Boys on Bikes)

Signal, using the indicator to inform traffic of our intention of turning left)

Position: Depending on the width of the road, normally about a metre from the kerb, so if we are further out we need to move over to the left.

Speed: We now need to slow down to an appropriate speed in which to turn into the new road. This will depend again on the width of the road, traffic & weather conditions etc etc, but generally down to about a gentle jogging pace! With the speed good to go, we then need to select an appropriate gear – for now, this will usually be 2nd or possibly only 1st. We will keep discussing this as you progress. You need to ensure your clutch is fully engaged i.e. raised up / released, before we then:

Look into the new road, & gently turn into the new road, checking for pedestrians / traffic etc. As we complete the turn, we again check our rear mirror, to see if anything has followed us into the new road, and our F/O/S door mirror to see if anything is trying to overtake us. (TOM – Teenager on Moped)

If we are still good, we can then consider increasing speed to match traffic in the new road! (Simple ? )

Now Emerging Left!

(Mirror Signal Position Speed Look)

We spoke about ‘Open / Closed’ junctions, and the need to identify early what type of junction we are approaching. For now – let’s concentrate on ‘Closed Junctions’. With this type of junction – we need to approach the junction with a view to stopping. The first part of the manoeuvre is as above so I won´t go back over that now!

Mirror (then)

Signal,

Position is next, and again as above. The ‘minor’ road is generally narrower than the major road, so keeping a metre may not be possible – we will keep going over this to get you 100% happy, so don’t worry over this! We then need to consider:

Speed that should be nice and easy, as we are going to stop; we don’t need to change down gear to do this, simply stop in the gear we are approaching the junction! (About 3 car length from the junction, you can dip your clutch pedal to disengage the gears, and gently brake to a stop using your foot brake!) If possible – to help us into the new road, slightly turn the wheel to the left immediately before the car stops. (Again don’t worry too much about this – practice makes perfect). With the car stationary – we will consider using the handbrake, and start:-

Looking right & left. Remember we also spoke about judging the speed of approaching cars, and why it is necessary to also look into the road we will be moving into! (Lot’s to take in here – but again, we will keep revisiting this) Selecting first gear, going back to our previous lesson (POM) we:-

Prepare the car, and when happy to move off,

Observation (Bob & Tom Mirrors this time &)

Move! New road, again check rear mirror to see if anything has followed us into the new road. F/O/S mirror – anything overtaking, (TOM) and then increase speed to match traffic in the new road! (Relax – you’ve done it)