In today's episode, we're going to talk about something that we call being an active passenger. And this is something we talk about quite a lot in our workshops. And I think we've referred to it in podcast episodes as well. Haven't we care we have, and it's something I definitely do on the road and get people to do. You know, in lessons potentially, or even after lessons between lessons. So what do we mean by being an active passenger? Yeah. this is all about if you are a learner driver. Or if you are a nervous or anxious driver, Using that time, whenever you're a passenger in a car to work on your skills, your knowledge or confidence around driving Yeah. It's about making the best use of that time, isn't it? Yeah, absolutely. And there's some really strong reasons for this. So one of the things about being an active passenger or active passenger in, as we, as we often find ourselves saying. Is that this is an opportunity when you're a passenger instead of a driver to take in all of that information around you related to driving, but you're reducing the load. You're reducing that cognitive load because. You're not having to think at the same time about steering, changing gear, signaling yeah, you're giving yourself that. I suppose you'll be in kind to yourself and just relaxing the amount of effort required to complete a task. You're breaking that skill down on you. Yeah. You're reducing how much you have to do. So it gives you that chance to do the observations, to think about what does that mean? What are the implications? What would you do in a scenario without actually having to do it? Yeah. And it's. It's building up your database, isn't it? Yeah. This. And that's what you're doing. You're building your database of information in your mind, all around driving. And if you're doing this in your local area, then you're also building up that database of knowledge about. Junctions roundabouts one way streets, different things that you may have to do regularly in your local area. So you're building up that data bank of information so that when you are driving. You haven't got that. I don't know where I am. What do I do here? What, what do I do? Which is always causes so much anxiety. Is given yourself that stored information that you can draw on and go, actually, I know what to do here. It's just a great way to, to learn, isn't it? Yeah, it really is. And if you're being an active passenger, if you're spending time between drives or between lessons doing this. Then this is going to help you with not only build up those data banks of information. But actually is going to help you to retain the information you need in your working memory. So it's going to help you embed that. What do I do? In your short term working memory. So if you're somebody who has one lesson a week and finds that in between lessons, you've completely forgotten. What you're doing, what you did. In the lesson beforehand, then what that suggests is that everything you've learned, you may have it. You may think you've nailed it in that one lesson. But it hasn't embedded into your longterm memory and it can take quite a long time. For things to go into your long-term memory. But so what it means is you've got it there in your short term, working memory. One of the problems with that is that then every time you learn something new or have a new experience or do something different, It gets overwritten. So it's a bit like only having a certain amount of memory on your. I know US-based on your USB stick or on your phone for, you know, however many pictures you can save or videos you can save. And so you have to overwrite that information and that's why it's gone the next week. Now, if you're continuing to use that information from your work in memory, in between drives, then you're making sure it doesn't get overwritten. You're making sure that you're retaining what you've learned so far. And the more you're using it, the more likely you are to get that embedded into that long term working memory so that it's there whenever you need it. And that's the beauty of this. You could even do this when you was walking. You can literally do this when you're not driving. Yeah. In any situation you might be a cyclist. Yes. All these sort of stuffs is. It's one of the most simplest things to do, but we don't do it enough. Yeah. It's something is learning through observation. Yeah. It's and it's something that we've been doing since we were children. We've this is how we learn lots of things about turning into grown up adults, to make our own decisions is we're learning from the things around us, people around us all of the time. And you can do that with your driving. And so it's about learning through observation, and this is one of those confidence building factors as well. Well, so while the biggest factor in confidence is probably your own experiences and your own successes. Ah, Learning through observation comes a really close second. So you can gain quite a bit of confidence about what to do. Through observing others. And that's what you're doing as an active passenger. And that's what we're trying to do here. Isn't it. We're trying to get people to look at things. And start thinking, how would I do that? Yeah. So let's look at, ways that we can bring this in to being an active, passenger. And we've mentioned watching. Yep. From the passenger seat. We've mentioned a start with that one first. So when we're sitting there as a passenger, What do I do? Yeah, well, you don't sit looking at your phone the whole time. That's a star. It actually is what we were trying to get people away from, especially if you're learning. or building. Confidence on a new skill. It's doing it more often. Yeah, the more often you do it. The more, it will become natural to you when you actually do it. So what chin could be watching around about how does it work? How does aroundabout work? what lane do people get into? What speed do they approach? You know, what are they looking for? So you're basically what Tim for. Everything that's going on. Aren't you? Yeah. And that's what we want to try and get people to do. When there are passenger, even if they're sitting in the back of the car. It's still okay to do it. I mean, this is something that when you, we didn't do it before you were a driving instructor. I think once you started your training as a driving instructor, it. It's something that we, we all did as a family, actually. So pretty much since then. We used to encourage the kids to do it. Didn't we, we used to certain roundabouts. We'd talk about, okay, where are we going? What lane do we need? What's that car ahead doing? What's you know, we have the children observing things long before they rolled enough to drive. Which leads us lovely onto, the next stage of that probably. And it's noticing, so yes, you're watching. But what have you noticed? Yes. There's no point in watching, if you're not going to start noticing and re you know, sort of like thinking about it, it's that. Interpretation. It's that analysis? It's that? So war, so you've, you've watched something, you've seen something. So what, what does that mean? And that is you might notice a sign. Yeah. Let's go with a speed sign. So you notice a speed sign of 20. This is quite a nice one. Cause I quite like that. So you notice this sign of 20. What does that mean? Yep. So what most people would say it means I can't go above twenties, maximum speed limit of 20, and you're a hundred percent correct with that. Yeah. But what else does that mean? What are you noticing? What buildings are around you? Yeah. What's the environment like why is this road to 20? So that's part of, you know, just thinking about being an active passenger, start giving yourself time to notice those things. Yeah. So, you know, you might be watching, you might be noticing. What can we, you can also bring in here is starting to talk. No, your, your person that is driving might well be, uh, talking to you. Telling you what they're doing. Which again is fantastic. Cause it might be different. To the way that you would do it. Yeah. And I think that's a great thing of noticing. Is, oh, no, I would signal a little bit earlier, but what's the difference? Why. You know, Yeah, that why question is, is quite interesting in this. This topic we're talking about. But you could talk for it. Yep. The person might be doing things differently to you, but you could actually talk yourself. Through a situation approaching something on around about or whatever it may be. You'll notice in and you're saying it. So your sign. I see that sign. It's a triangle sign. That means a warning. It's warning me of this. This means a circle sign. And that means it's a, no, it gives me an order. Oh, I can see a roundabout. I've got a giveaway to the right. There's no one at the right. And so you literally can do whatever you want when you're talking. There is no rules to this. No. Apart from maybe contracting with whoever is driving. So what is okay with them? What isn't okay with them and then agreeing not to fall out over any differences. Um, so, but yes, otherwise, aside from that, It's high from sort of having that agreement, but you maybe wouldn't do this out loud with every driver. So if you've got somebody who's really supportive of you and you learning to drive or build in your driving confidence, Then they may well be really happy for you to talk aloud your thoughts. Cause that's going to open up conversation. If you've got somebody who would prefer you didn't then. Do it in your head? So still talk it, but talk it internally so that you're, you're doing it for your benefit without upsetting them. And what that leads to is you start explaining what you would do. Yep. Or the person that's driving. Might explain what they do and why they do it. So again, you're getting an explanation as well from yourself or from others. And this again, puts it into. I'm watching. I'm noticing all these things I'm talking, but they're not getting an explanation from someone else about what they're doing as well. But you're not actually doing much. You're just sitting there. Yeah. But what it means is that you're, you're thinking about it all the time and. That's what's keeping it in that short term work in memory for you. And you then draw on that when you are driving. Now, one of the things I would say here is try not to compare. Yourself and your drive in to somebody else's driving, because it may well be that they've been driving for years or that they are more confident or that they have a different set of expertise or skills. So. The idea of this isn't compare with others and then think, oh, I'm never going to be able to do that. The idea here is not comparison is looking at the road and it's looking at. What happens here? How does it work? Is understanding those roads skills, not trying necessarily to mimic what somebody else does, because like, like you just said that, okay. If you might look and think, how would I do that different that would suit me. Yeah. But I suppose taking that, you know what you've just said there about, comparing yourselves to others. What you might notice is, oh, I liked the way they did that. They stayed in this lane and did that. That would be quite nice. And you you're taking the good things out. You're noticing what's good. You'll probably notice, um, if we're talking roundabouts here. That people don't signal off roundabouts. But you could you, is that something you you've, you've just noticed it is. But would we need a signal? Why. What's the reason they're not circling. You're using that information. is it benefit to have a signal? If you think about putting a signal on. Would I need a signal there. Is it going to benefit others? That's the reason why we give a Sukkot is to tell others what we're doing. So you can start questioning. Other people's driving and related to yours and take the good things. Yeah. Take the good bits and then add in more good bits. But also use the bad bits to go. Yeah, I wouldn't do that. Yep. Very definitely learned from the bad bits about what not to do or what situations you don't want to get yourself in. And actually that can be as valuable in building your confidence. Yeah. The good bays. Because you've seen the buildup to what's happened. That's that's the, and you can say, well, I would have done that. Much earlier. I would have changed lanes way back then that would've been so much easier. That's the sort of thing we're after here. Yeah. Being an active passenger. Yeah. I'm doing a bit of dissections, so yeah. How would I make sure that doesn't happen to me? And that's not just with your drivers. That might be. Being an active passenger. You're looking at other cars around you as well. So this is, this is a conversation again, we used to have with the children. Isn't it. It's sort of like, okay, well what was happening? What do we think that driver up ahead is going to do? Or we think they're going to do X, Y, Z. How would we make sure that that doesn't happen to us? Yeah. So, you know, it's sort of like that it's doing, doing the detective work and sort of putting in the groundwork and how do we make sure we don't get into that sort of situation? Or if we do, how do we safely navigate our way out of it? That's another one. And there might be situations where you're, you know, you're being this active passenger. Where you think. I don't know that. I don't know. What, what does that mean? Take a picture. Yeah. We'll be in a passenger. You allowed to use your mobile phone. Take pictures on it. And then ask someone, what's this feel like, you know, what's, what's this, I don't understand this. Explain this roundabout to me, there's so many lanes on it, but they're not. Singled lines, what their I's dotted lines. And I can't. Even video it. You know, video situations, video. Turn in writer, author, Juul, carriageway, you know, that can be something that you can then use in your database of junctions. Yeah. You've written you. I think of it. It's revision. Yeah. So, you know, anything that you think, or am I going to be able to remember that I really need to be able to remember that if you've taken a video of it. That you can watch back and play again and again, then you've got that repeated observation to help you. Revise and remember, and there might be a particular roundabout. I mentioned roundabouts cause it's nearly, always roundabouts. where it's like, what lane do I need? Well, if your instructors can do this for you or your friend, that's driving. Why don't you get them to show you and you video it. So you can actually review it later and go, all right. Okay. I've noticed this now there's actually road markings that have got the name of the road where I'm going or the number of the road as it is. So again, you know, you'll notice a little bit more sometimes. From reflection and watching those videos back. Yeah. Definitely. We mentioned talking, talking to yourself and talking out loud. But there's one that we've, we've missed off here and that's pretending to be an instructor. Trucked in someone else. And this is so good because you'll notice so much more about what you would normally do. And if someone actually plays the role of a, a learner driver with you. always make sure it's safe. You know where you're doing that, make sure it's safe and, but yet be an instructor for two minutes. Or a roundabout or a junction or whatever it is you want to practice. But get them to do what you tell them to do, but please make sure it's safe. Yeah. Um, but it's, it's, it's another fantastic way. To learn. to be an active passenger, but also consolidate what you've already known. Yeah, it's really using the information that you've gathered. That's in your working memory, your revising it by being an instructor and sharing it with somebody else you noticing when you're trying to show somebody else or teach somebody else how to do something. That's when you spot the gaps, that's when you spot what don't, you know, what don't you understand? So it's a fantastic technique. If you've got somebody who's willing to do it with you, for you to be the instructor, again is active passenger in your not actually doing the driving, but what you're doing is you're checking. Your knowledge and understanding that you know what to do, and then you can apply that when you are drive him. Yeah. And if you can build your understanding of what you're doing. it may be wrong. But what you're doing is you're building that understanding to be able to change it. Or you're building that knowledge of, I now know how to deal with roundabouts that have got four lanes on them. Yeah. It's all of the sort of things that can help you. In the future, not necessarily. For what you're about to do in your lessons or what you want to practice, but when you are going to different places at your unfamiliar with. These are those schemers. These are the things that we want to you to build, and we want you to create things that you can use again and again and again. Yeah. It's those transferable skills. It is. It's understanding that that piece of knowledge works in a whole range of different situations. And most people, I suppose, if the training. It's one hour a week. That's all we get. But what happens is you have. The whole week between lessons. To still drive. Even if you are sitting as a passenger. Yeah. If you are. You know, you're a passenger at the moment and you are you're, you're listening to this. What do you notice? You know, if you've passed your test and you're, you know, you're just a little bit worried about doing a new journey. Be an active passenger with the person that's driving. You. Yeah, it can really build or start to build that confidence in your knowledge that you know what to do the understanding of what might happen and how you would deal with that, which builds the confidence for you to say. I'm going to give it a go. Yeah. Definitely use those opportunities. Keep that knowledge fresh and in your mind, don't allow it to get overwritten and forgotten. You don't have to drive to be able to learn to drive. So, what do you think has that given you a bit food for thought, is this something you've ever tried? Is it something you've found? See, given a go, now that you've heard us talking about it. Let us know what you think. Be an active passenger. So we hope you found that episode helpful. And if you have, it'd be great. If you could share this episode with anyone else that you think it might help out. And obviously it'd be great. If you could press the subscribe button or leave us a nice review. All of that really helps us get in front of new listeners and help more people on the road. All of our contact details are in the show notes as always. And so that leaves us to say is until next time, have a great day, whatever you're doing.