Defensive Driving question I can't find an answer for

[The Stranger:Me]

I'm hoping I will learn something usefull soon but I doubt it.

I'd say that has more to do with the student than the course at a guess. In another thread people are talking about compulsory training. This is exactly the reason it fails. If people simply go along with an attitude of "I know everything already but I have to do this stupid course anyway" they fail to learn. I know I learnt from the DD course. Perhaps the only thing I retained that I can recollect was to not take off from the lights too quick - let someone else take out the red light runner. Simply by being a little slower from the lights it's helped me on a couple of occasions over the last 25 years. It only has to help once. Open your mind.

[The Stranger:Me]

Is the DDC like the Street Talk course I did where you have to identify physical, emotiional, and spiritual factors that affect your ability to drive a car?

spiritual? really?

[sinfull]

I'd say that has more to do with the student than the course at a guess. In another thread people are talking about compulsory training. This is exactly the reason it fails. If people simply go along with an attitude of "I know everything already but I have to do this stupid course anyway" they fail to learn. I know I learnt from the DD course. Perhaps the only thing I retained that I can recollect was to not take off from the lights too quick - let someone else take out the red light runner. Simply by being a little slower from the lights it's helped me on a couple of occasions over the last 25 years. It only has to help once. Open your mind.

The one thing i retained from a DDC i was instructed by the courts to take, back when i was a bad lad, was that when confonted with a head on collision, to stand on the seat of my motorsickle and prepare to be launced over the vehical you are about to hit !

Have no idea why that stuck with me, perhaps it was the amount of laughing i did !

[Genie]

...if you don't already know how to operate a vehicle in traffic.

hello, narrowminded is a word that springs to mind. One can always do with expanding their knowledge and if you learn but one thing from a DDC then it's worth it.
Has nothing to do with driving in trafiic but keeping oneself and others safer on the roads.

[Genie]

I'd say that has more to do with the student than the course at a guess. In another thread people are talking about compulsory training. This is exactly the reason it fails. If people simply go along with an attitude of "I know everything already but I have to do this stupid course anyway" they fail to learn. I know I learnt from the DD course. Perhaps the only thing I retained that I can recollect was to not take off from the lights too quick - let someone else take out the red light runner. Simply by being a little slower from the lights it's helped me on a couple of occasions over the last 25 years. It only has to help once. Open your mind.

for me...it's not looking at the indicators at the roundabout (like not all use them) but to look at which direction their wheels are pointing!!!!
That has been put to the test on many many occassions and not just at roundabouts.
I have even passed that on to my children while teaching them how to cross the road!! Have you noticed how many people don't indicate on suburban streets.

[Disrespective]

Thanks for everyone's replies. So it seems that my original certificate 'should' be okay to re-use but only if i'm lucky will they take it which is a shame. I'm not really keen to do another defensive driving course as i was taught by an old instructor in Tauranga as a kid and then did the full course so feel that i'm pretty well up with the play in that regard. But i guess if push comes to shove i'll have to do another.

Now all i need to know is the full license course for kilbirnie here in wgtn and i'll be away and laughing.

[Disrespective]

Okay, so i finally got a semi-straight answer from LTNZ on this.

As i was under the age of 25 when i did my first DD course i can NOT use it for both the Class 1 and Class 6 licences. One or the other only. On the other hand if i was over 25 when i did the DD course i would be able to use the certificate for both classes of licence.

I got the impression rules could change though and i got no answer to my question of Why? As in, Why would 10 years of driving experience in a car and using the DD principles every day not be as good as someone who was over 25 and had just done it a day ago?

Either way i have to pay another $200 so i can get my licence sooner before i'm too busy. Bummer.

[Bounce001]

That sound like Bullshit to me. I did a DDC 20 years ago to get my car licence faster and was under 25 when I did it. When I sat my licence they never took the certificate off me like they do now so I still had it.

When I sat My full bike licence in May last year they accepted my 20 year old DDC cert. They had to ring and check but it wasn't a problem. They also said they had another one the same in the prevoius week that went through without a problem.

Before they took the cert off me this time I photocopied it so I still have proof that I had done it.

[Ixion]

No , that may be correct. The 25 year old thing is important,as I noted below.

The alw says that if you are under 25, you have to have held your R licence for three months BEFORE starting the DD course. The OP presumably met that requirement when he sat the course. But he didn't have ANY class 6 licence then, so , even though he is now over 25, the certificate cannot be taken to apply to a later class six application.

[Rev DJ]

Okay, so i finally got a semi-straight answer from LTNZ on this.

As i was under the age of 25 when i did my first DD course i can NOT use it for both the Class 1 and Class 6 licences. One or the other only. On the other hand if i was over 25 when i did the DD course i would be able to use the certificate for both classes of licence.

I got the impression rules could change though and i got no answer to my question of Why? As in, Why would 10 years of driving experience in a car and using the DD principles every day not be as good as someone who was over 25 and had just done it a day ago?

Either way i have to pay another $200 so i can get my licence sooner before i'm too busy. Bummer.

No! You are being mucked around! Simply take yr DD cert - even if its minus the stub - into the lic place. They will photocopy it and put it with yr full lic application. Done. If they wont then they need to sort their systems coz heaps of us have done exactly as above!

[pritch]

The one thing i retained from a DDC i was instructed by the courts to take, back when i was a bad lad, was that when confonted with a head on collision, to stand on the seat of my motorsickle and prepare to be launced over the vehical you are about to hit !

Have no idea why that stuck with me, perhaps it was the amount of laughing i did !

Ummm are you sure they weren't telling you to stand on the pegs?

[jono035]

No! You are being mucked around! Simply take yr DD cert - even if its minus the stub - into the lic place. They will photocopy it and put it with yr full lic application. Done. If they wont then they need to sort their systems coz heaps of us have done exactly as above!

I just went through this yesterday and it doesn't work.

I got my DDC 10 years ago (holy hell!) and since then they have obviously changed a lot of stuff. They have to enter the cert number, course operator number and the issue date. This failed on all accounts and took 2 trips to the AA (and 4 hours) to get sorted out. The official word that I was given was that they expire after 6 months. I know this is bull, but when they enter the issue date into the computer and it's over 6 months ago, the system won't let them complete the process.

Thankfully in my case I had already done the practical test because I showed up 45 mins early and didn't make it to the front of the line in time. This gave them a pretty good incentive to get me through. The only reason that this was possible was I said that I had been told by a NZTA helpdesk person that they could be re-used but it still took escalation through 3 different people at NZTA. Apparently they also note every phone call made vs your name/license number so they straight off could see every time I had called (back to 2007) and what questions I had asked, so that very nearly didn't work either.

In short, I would have just re-done the DDC!

[Ratti]

I did the dd thing 22 years ago for my taxi drivers licence.

It was really interesting. I'd be keen to do another one even tho I dont have to. there are alot of things pointed out that one would not necessarily think about in day to day drivng. I am well aware that I know a little bit, and that there is a lot more that would be good to know. Brings things to the front of the brain for a while, maybe to make new pathways and become habit

[jono035]

I did the dd thing 22 years ago for my taxi drivers licence.

It was really interesting. I'd be keen to do another one even tho I dont have to. there are alot of things pointed out that one would not necessarily think about in day to day drivng. I am well aware that I know a little bit, and that there is a lot more that would be good to know. Brings things to the front of the brain for a while, maybe to make new pathways and become habit

Certainly, there is always more to learn or at least to be reminded of. Even just hearing a different point of view on the same idea can help stir things up a bit.

[Disrespective]

Yeah, i just finished the course last week. It was different to the first time i did it and the woman who took it specifically said that it wasn't about teaching you new ideas or techniques, rather it was about reminding you of good habits you should be using every day when driving.

There were definitely a few younger people there who would have learnt a lot of new things, but i don't think i did at all. In saying that i agree that it was a good thing to do again and now want my lady to do one as i've always felt she had a few bad habits that needed to be ironed out but won't listen to me because what would I know...