The Instructor's Brake

I hate using my instructor's brake.

I hate it because when I was 15 years old my driving instructor absolutely loved to use his. He used his brake the same way a dog-handler uses a choke chain. I'd be driving along and out of the blue the car wouldn't respond to me anymore. When that happened I'd think I was not pressing on the gas pedal correctly, so I'd press harder and rev the engine a bit more than Mr. Nuccio liked. Then he'd get upset. Then I would get even more upset.

Thus I use my instructor brake only to keep my students from hitting things when it appears that they are on a collision course. I use it quite a bit, but never as gratuitously as my instructor did back in 1971.

Yesterday afternoon was rather warm - over 80 degrees. You know how you get kind of sluggish and dopey when the temperatures jump, especially when you're acclimated to 65 degrees.

The higher temps just put Devlyn, my first student, into a torpor. Well not exactly a torpor, but she wasn't really at her best. She was slow in spotting a few dangerous situations and slow to react once she recognized them.

I ended up using my brake about 4 times in 90 minutes with her behind the wheel. That's not something I usually do even with the worst of my drivers. With Devlyn this was even more extraordinary because up until yesterday she was always on the ball.

"What's wrong with you today kiddo? I'm helping you out a bit too much."

"I'm sorry. I'm just so tired. This heat is killing me."

"That makes sense. Did you know when you're tired you tend to look down and to the right? You need to force yourself to look through the upper half of that windshield. Pick up on those cars stopped up ahead so you can slow down softly and I don't have to do your braking for you."

"OK. I'm sorry."

"Don't sweat it. Now you know why "Aim High In Steering" is so important. And you know how it feels to drive when your tired. Now you know what you have to do to compensate. You've learned some important lessons today."

Really a good session. I'm glad I could point these things out while she was training with a safety net.

Yep, a safety net beats a choke chain any day.