This may seem like over-kill for some of you, it certainly does for me, but then, I’ve been driving and associated with cars for 42 years. Part and parcel of every practical driving assessment is an understanding of the basic controls facing you from the driver’s seat. Your Driving Examiner (DE) will ask you about TWO (2) items which constitute these basic controls. The basic controls are defined in the Q-Safe Manual as:
- wipers;
- washers;
- demisters;
- air-conditioner;
- hazard lights;
- seat adjustment; and in regard to automatic transmissions;
- gear changing from fully automatic mode to low range gears 1 and 2.
For the purposes of illustrating these controls in my car – a 2015 Kia Rio – have a look at the following graphics:
Here are some close-up views of those controls:
INDICATOR STALK – RIGHT OF STEERING COLUMN
INDICATOR STALK – TOP VIEW
WASHER/WIPER STALK – LEFT OF STEERING COLUMN
WASHER/WIPER STALK – TOP VIEW
ELECTRONIC LOW RANGE GEAR SELECTION
AIR-CONDITIONING CONTROLS
Here is the internationally recognised symbology:
For automatic transmission equipped vehicles with electronic low-range gear selection – in this case, the 2015 Kia Rio – the gear selector when in the Drive (D) position, simply push the selector to the right and the transmission will select first gear (1) while stationary. Push the selector forward from that position, and it will select second gear (2) while stationary. If the vehicle is moving, pushing the selector to the right will merely result in the transmission locking into whatever gear the vehicle happens to be in at the time, say 4th or 5th gear. To change down the gears, simply pull the selector back.
I cannot stress enough how important it is for new drivers looking to undertake a Practical Driving Assessment to download, read online or print out and read the Q-SAFE Queensland Driver Licence Assessment – Driving Examiner Assessment Procedures Manual . This document was recently updated in December 2016, and now contains advices to DEs as to how to assess the various processes and tasks in this colour of text.
Please, PLEASE, READ THIS DOCUMENT. Doing so will give you, the trainee, a much more thorough understanding of the methodology behind the assessment.