Learner Drivers - Use of interior rear vision mirror

[hawke]

A group of us are mentoring some young disadvantaged drivers in NSW to get their 120 hours of Learner Driver experience.

We are not driving instructors, but we're just in the passenger seat to ensure they dont run into anything.

During a formal information session on what needs to be done - Working with Children Checks etc - I mentioned that when I mentored some of my young relations, I always got them to disregard the use of the internal rear vision mirror. My view was, that as young drivers are disproportionately represented in crashes where they run into the car in front, they should focus all their time and energy on what is in front of them. They have some control over stuff in front, and bugger all to zero control on what happens behind them.

Some of the other mentors thought that this was the silliest idea, and you should always be looking behind you, as there could be someone getting too close. While that is true, the learner driver can do little to control it. They cant speed up, perhaps they can pull over, but I think that they should be concentrating on what happens in front of them, as they can control that.

I also suggested that in multi-laned traffic, you should travel in a lane that has not a lot or nothing in front of you, provided it was legal to do so. After-all, you cant run into something that is not there. Again, there were different views on this.

Does anyone have any constructive comments? I'd like to hear them.