What is a Pass Plus course?

In our opinion, its the best gift you could give to yourself or anyone you care about…

Pass Plus is a practical training course that takes at least 6 hours and is for drivers to improve their skills and drive more safely.

It can be taken at any time although it should be most useful to new drivers in the year after passing their test.

20% of all serious and fatal car crashes directly involve a young and inexperienced driver. Even more disproportionately, many such incidents involve the most confident drivers on the road, young males! If such drivers can get through the first 2 years without a serious crash, their chances of being involved in a crash reduce significantly.

A Pass Plus course is designed to give NEW drivers more experience as quickly as possible. It will ensure a greater understanding of motorways, driving at night or in bad weather and a much greater awareness of how good driving habits prevent crashes.

Let’s try to see fewer bunches of flowers tied to lamp posts!

Being the best driver you can be should be your main motivation for choosing a pass plus course, but there are massive savings on your insurance costs available to all new drivers who complete the six hour course.

Visit the governments pass plus website by clicking here

http://www.gov.uk/pass-plus

“In all pass plus courses I have taken, I genuinely feel I am being driven home by a better driver than the one who set off”

Alan Marsden, JDM instructor

How does it work? What does it involve?

The course has to last for a minimum of 6 hours. There is NO EXAM and your JDM instructor is qualified to take and assess you for the whole course.

The instructor will help you complete a form and providing you achieve all the targets, you will both sign the form and then order your official certificate.

We recommend you book at least one session of 2 or more hours, preferably 4 or even all 6 hours in one go so that the course can include a very thorough and taxing route over unfamiliar areas. Remember it may take half an hour or more just to reach a Motorway and a couple of hours to really get to grips with such roads.

The SIX hours must include SIX modules, but some can be covered in as little as 15 minutes, whilst other parts may need more than an hour each. We encourage our instructors to make pass plus interesting and to carry on driving at this stage with little road side instruction. In all pass plus courses I have taken, I genuinely feel I am being driven home by a better driver than the one who set off!

Post Test Tuition

When you go to school, you prepare for exams and then you might leave. Or maybe you will go in to further education. Post Test Tuition covers all the types of driver education you might do after passing your driving test.

The Pass Plus Course

All courses will include an introduction which will stress the target of improvement to observation, judgement and decision making! The course will include six modules, which will be repeated and may overlap to a degree but each part will also have to be discussed and practiced within the course. However, most discussion can take place whilst on the move.

• Module 1 – Town Driving. If you live, learn and pass in Sheffield, you are likely to have some experience of driving in Sheffield city centre. If not, this will be your chance. If you have experience of driving through the centre of Sheffield, then your instructor will take you to another town and encourage you to show independence in dealing with one way systems, dense traffic, confusing road layouts etc.
• Mod 2 – All Weather. We can’t book the weather, so if we’re mot “lucky enough” to have rain, fog, snow, ice and low sunshine in the same course, this will be a discussion on how to drive in these conditions, which lights to use, how to keep windows clear etc.
• Mod 3 – Out of Town / Rural. Winding, narrow or long straight country roads are mile for mile the deadliest roads. Anticipating bends, tractors, animals, hill crests whilst making good progress are key parts to this section. Sheffield is surrounded by such roads and a trip to Manchester via the Snake or Woodhead would be a great way to cover these elements.
• Mod 4 – Night Driving. A pass plus course in June might mean no actual night driving, but in December, most of the course will be in the dark. Things like dealing with junctions, parking and judging speed in the dark will be covered here.
• Mod 5 – Dual Carriageways. We’re not talking about Halifax Rd or Prince of Wales Rd here. Although such roads have a lot to teach you, this module is best covered on the A1, the East Lancs Road or other high speed routes. Planning ahead and judging whilst turning are among the main points to be covered.
• Mod 6 – Motorways. Learner drivers aren’t allowed on Motorways by law. Hopefully, you will book your pass plus to ensure your first drive on a M road is with your JDM instructor. A good long session means that you could well drive on several different M’Ways like the M1, M18 and M62.

As a past JDM customer, we hope much of the above has been covered already, well before you passed your test.
However, we are now aiming and hoping to reach a higher standard than before.

Never be afraid to admit you want more tuition, continuous and additional training is what makes JDM instructors better, so why shouldn’t pass plus make YOU a better driver?

My Favorite Pass Plus Route:

I have been doing pass plus since it was introduced.

Ideally, I will persuade my customer to book a six and half hour session starting mid day and finishing early evening to cover all six modules. The extra half hour will cover a lunch break and a coffee or comfort break.

From Sheffield I would ask the driver to follow A57 west to Glossop. This would cover the Snake Pass. From Glossop to Manchester via the M67, an easy intro to M’way driving. Now follow signs to Manchester Airport and then Chester (M60, M56) and then M53 up the Wirral.

My treat would be either fish and chips in New Brighton or KFC or McDonalds in Liverpool.

Under the Mersey Tunnel and now through the City and on towards St Helens and then Manchester via the East Lancs Rd. Home via M60, M62 and M1. Depending on time taken, additional town driving could be added in Manchester, Leeds, Huddersfield or Sheffield on the way home.