Driving Instructor Collette O’Donnell.
By Dionne Meehan
A DONEGAL driving instructor has appealed to motorists to show a little more respect to learner drivers and to have more patience on our roads.
Collette O’Donnell, from O’Donnell School of Motoring has been a driving instructor in Letterkenny for the past 30 years and has become so used to encountering disrespectful drivers, she says she could write a book on it.
Two weeks ago Collette encountered a case of impatience while she was out on a lesson with a learner driver.
“There was a girl behind us the whole way from Lismonaghan to the Oldtown Bridge and every time we stopped at a junction she put her hand on the horn,” she said.
“She put her hand on the horn every time as if to say we should be away, but you have to stop at stop signs.”
Even though Collette was in her ‘O’Donnell School of Motoring’ car, this still didn’t stop the impatient driver.
When Collette and her student came to the roundabout at the old Dunnes Stores, the driver beeped her horn again despite there being no chance to move off.
For the first time in her 30 years of instructing, Collette had to get out of the car to ask the driver to have a bit of respect for the learner.
Unfortunately, this case is just one of many.
As Collette was coming around by Century Cinemas during another lesson, the lights started flashing amber.
“It took a while for the student to move off and a man behind us in a van began blowing his horn,” she said.
Continuing the lesson, Collette and her student were caught in traffic waiting to turn right to go up Convent Road when the same man pulled up along their side.
As he became aggressive towards Collette, she reminded him she was dealing with a learner driver.
Still not receiving the message she was trying to get across, the man displayed a disrespectful gesture before driving off.
In another case of impatience, Collette said she also had someone drive into the back of her car.
“They were blowing the horn which resulted in my student panicking and stalling the car.
“He was that close behind he went to move off as well and went straight into the back of my car.
“His impatience cost him then, he had to fix my car,” she said.
With impatient drivers making learners more anxious, Collette said that is when students are more likely to do something silly that could result in an accident.
“People are taking chances, overtaking on a solid white line to get in front of you.
“You are faced with it all the time, people cutting out around you, cutting in in front of you trying to get past just to get away from a learner car,” she said.
However, this behaviour isn’t just happening during lessons, Collette said it is happening during tests too.
“Drivers should have a bit of respect because everyone has to learn how to drive.
“If someone stalls the car, that couple of minutes that person is being held back is not going to make a pile of difference.
“I think people need to have a bit of understanding and compassion for the learner drivers, it could be their son, it could be their daughter and would they do that to a member of their own family?
“It is just a bit of arrogance that is all it is, if they are like that out on the road then they are like that in all walks of life,” she said.
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