Habit pattern errors in driving instruction—when practice doesn't make perfect.
A fresh approach to improving learning and transfer of driver training, eradicating bad or unsafe habits,
correcting technique faults, accelerating skill transitions, correcting misconceptions and other persistent errors in driving
rapid behavour change | old driving habits die hard | habit pattern errors | driver education and training problems | habit patterns demonstration | Old Way/New Way learning | driving instruction model | proof of concept | driver behavour change protocol | ordering

This behaviour change program can

  • quickly correct bad or dangerous driving habits
  • speed up transition and conversion training
  • greatly improve transfer of learning and reduce negative transfer
  • increase trainee flexibility and adaptability to change.

This program

  • is used by both large and small corporations, government departments and small businesses
  • uses a learning method proven in workplace trials at ALCOA and other workplaces and backed by published research in refereed international journals
  • is readily adopted by trainers and instructors as part of their professional toolkit
  • is available on CD (Windows computers) or a Flash-based online course (Windows & Mac)
  • includes a video demonstration of how the method was used to correct a common vehicle handling problem (view a preview below).

Content on this page requires a newer version of Adobe Flash Player.

Get Adobe Flash player

-up

Driving instructor's dilemma

One of the most time consuming and frustrating tasks in driver education and training is trying to correct a driver's technique difficulties, misconceptions and poor attitude towards driving.

Instructors find that, despite quality instruction, experienced drivers as well as beginners tend to develop their own way of doing things. Sometimes a driver's "own way" is suitable for the driver's physique, performance level and temperament but more often it isn't.

You can't watch all of them all the time so, for one reason or another, imperfections develop and technique errors inevitably creep in. If not detected and corrected early, these technique faults soon develop into bad habits and are then much harder to correct. Consequently, even though you try to get it right the first time you inevitably end up spending a lot of time trying to undo technique and other problems that have developed.

Sometimes, when drivers start with a new instructor they bring with them or later develop minor or major bad driving habits that have become entrenched because they were not picked up and corrected early enough. This makes it difficult for the new instructor to make good progress in the short time available.

Professional drivers transitioning from one employer to another, or from one racing team to another, often have great difficulty changing over to new rules, new strategies, new techniques and new skills. In addition to such technical difficulties, decision making can also suffer, making the driver uncompetitive and unable to function well in a team situation.

What all this means is that for one reason or another, the driver sooner or later has to change what he or she is doing. Although most of the discussion here concerns driving technique difficulties and mental barriers to performance as being the reason to change, the driver does not necessarily have to be doing something "wrong" before the time comes to change. What was perfectly OK one day can, with the introduction of new rules, new procedures or new vehicles, become outdated and no longer leading edge performance and make the driver less effective or even unsafe. Importantly then, we are talking about any kind of change in driving habits, whether it be forced or voluntary.

Driving technique problems often lead to a prolonged and frustrating adaptation period during which old concepts and skills first have to be unlearned before new understanding and skills can be developed.

You, as an experienced or aspiring instructor, know that special teaching sessions, skill drills and practice do not fix established technique problems quickly. Sometimes it can take weeks or months of intense practice before the difficulty is overcome. Sometimes it does not fix the technique problem at all.

This, then, is the driving instructor's dilemma.

-up

Habit pattern errors

Driving instructors and drivers try to get it right the first time but invariably end up spending a lot of time trying to correct errors, misconceptions, non-compliance, technique faults and bad habits that somehow develop.

Because these errors were not corrected early, and were inadvertently repeated over and over, i.e., practiced, many error patterns are actually learned, habitual and automatic and therefore much harder to eradicate.

For example, Susan always follows cars too closely, Geoff always turns in too sharply when parallel parking and Brad fails to indicate his turns.

We all know that old habits die hard and many habit patterns are resistant to conventional change methods.

These limitations of traditional driver training programs are apparent in other settings apart from driving, e.g., sport, workplace training, education, therapy and personal development.

Re-training or re-education, the typical solution to these problems, improves things only slowly, if at all.

Although drivers may appear to pay attention during instruction, the next day when placed under performance pressure or when unsupervised and left to their own devices, they seem to have forgotten what they’ve learned and the same habit pattern errors, e.g., old entrenched attitudes, beliefs, misunderstandings, faulty procedures, poor techniques and unsafe driving behaviours, resurface.

A prolonged adjustment period and poor transfer of learning are the two most typical outcomes of driver education and training efforts worldwide.

All this wastes talent and resources and makes change and transition programs so much less cost-effective. There has to be a better way.

Fortunately, a cognitive science discovery called Old Way/New Way® Learning offers:

  • A new perspective on the transfer of training problem in driving
  • A cost-effective and user-friendly method for rapid driving skill and technique correction and habit eradication
  • A fast and practical method of transition and conversion training

This page describes the Old Way/New Way® approach to driver education and training.

-up

What's wrong with driver education and training?

You've tried different driving instruction courses and seminars over the years, picked up a few useful ideas but none of it was really "new" to you because you've been around the driver training scene for quite a while. If there was anything really valuable around, you'd have heard of it by now, wouldn't you?

You're busy and don't have time to spend on things that don't work.

You've found that most instructional science research is not very practical, requires specialised knowledge, equipment or facilities to make it work, is too involved and takes too long to implement and is manipulative (carrot and stick) stuff that oversimplifies human motivation and learning powers.

You know from bitter experience that drivers often fall back to old ways, despite quality instruction and being highly motivated to improve.

You use skill drills to try to improve skill development and correction but you're looking for something more.

You're looking for a better way but it has to be supported by evidence, be affordable and it must be cost-effective

Your own approach to skill development and correction, refined over the years, goes something like this. You:

  • Make the driver more aware of what he or she is doing wrong, perhaps using videotaping or other methods to improve awareness
  • Explain why the driver needs to change and why it's important
  • Demonstrate the better technique or action and then have the driver copy this
  • Provide corrective feedback and reinforcement until he or she appears to catch on
  • Provide plenty of skill drills and practice sessions to assist the learning process
  • Tell them to practice the new technique or action until it becomes "automatic" for them.

This is quality instruction at work. However, there comes a time when even the best instruction is not enough to help a driver overcome an established technique problem, misconception, or attitude problem.

You can easily recognise established driver education and training problems because they just refuse to go away. The typical sequence of events is something like this:

  • Despite quality instruction, when the trainee finishes for the day and goes back to their normal driving environment, he or she appears to forget what they've learned and falls back to old ways
  • You explain that this is simply a period of adjustment to the new skill or technique during which relapses are supposed to occur, and you tell the driver just to keep practicing, to not worry about the outcome and instead to just concentrate on the technique
  • You explain that there's a thing called "muscle memory", developed by practice, which makes it harder to unlearn old, established, automated movement patterns and actions. "Just keep practicing and eventually it will become easier," is your best advice. After all, we all know that old habits die hard.
  • Your job as instructor is now done. You've provided the training, the support and the encouragement, so now it's up to the driver to make the effort and improve. It's no longer a driver training problem.
  • This roller coaster ride of improvement during training followed by relapse in normal driving sometimes goes on for months, even years
  • This is very frustrating for you as an instructor, far too time consuming, certainly not cost-effective, and possibly even bad for business.

You also realise what the driver is going through, during all this intensive and prolonged skill correction and development work, i.e.,

  • To the driver, the new action feels strange, having done it the other way for so long
  • At first, it takes a deliberate conscious effort to focus on each part of the action
  • While the instructor is alongside, giving cues and feedback, the driver can do the right thing
  • But the driver falls back to old ways during normal driving or when under pressure in difficult driving conditions
  • This roller coaster ride of "highs" and "lows", of being able to do it "right" during practice followed by relapses to the "wrong" way during normal everyday driving goes on and on, for months, even years
  • Despite the driver's best efforts, lasting improvement is slow in coming.
  • Being told that this is a period of adjustment to the new skill or technique, during which relapses are supposed to occur, does not make it any easier to take
  • No longer safe or effective, the driver's frustration increases as the months go by
  • In a slump and no longer in control of his or her own performance, the driver feels helpless
  • The driver starts to blame him- or herself for the lack of progress. "I've had the best instruction and I'm well motivated, so now it's up to me to improve"
  • It's not long before self confidence suffers and he or she begins to think, "Perhaps I'm not cut out for this game, after all. Maybe it's time to give it away and concentrate on other things".

Those unique individuals who have the inner strength and enough support may persevere and after many months and sometimes years of frustrating drill, practice and training they will eventually improve and regain their lost glory. Like Lazarus, they will rise from defeat and once again be competent, safe drivers.

For many drivers, though, the onset of technique difficulties and other performance problems, especially once they become established and resistant to change, spells the end of a promising career. Alternatively, they press on within their limitations, until they into trouble in difficult circumstances and their limitations are exceeded, often with tragic consequences.

This familiar scenario is played out every day all over the world. The repeated inability of conventional driver education and training methods to deal quickly and permanently with established conceptual, skill and attitude problems in driving represents a monumental lost opportunity and a terrible waste of talent and life

But isn't this is how it's always been? Aren't we supposed to, "Do the hard yard". After all, we all share the universal suspicion of anything that comes, "Too easy". After all, "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is." Above all, there is the work ethic that says, "By the sweat of thy brow ...." We are supposed to struggle in order to achieve.

Perseverance by driver educators as in other achievers is highly valued and admired. Life is meant to be a struggle. And even if you don't subscribe to all these beliefs, we all know that old habits die hard - that's how it's always been since time began, so why should we expect anything different?

In short, accumulated conventional wisdom tells us that improvement and change are supposed to come slowly, after lots of effort, frustration and expense. Drivers, like other people, understand this and while they do not like the fact, they still accept it as being a normal part of life's struggle.

Fortunately, it really does not have to be that way. Driver education and training problems have an alternative explanation along with a corresponding practical and user friendly solution that comes to us from new research into the psychology of learning and instructional science.

The alternative explanation for the persistence of technique problems and other performance difficulties is based on the well researched brain mechanism of proactive habit interference and the phenomenon of learned errors patterns or habit errors. A detailed reading list of published research into new methods for accelerating skill development and correction is located in this web site.

-up

Driving instruction and habit pattern interference

To fully understand and appreciate how old knowledge and skills can interfere with and slow down the learning of new knowledge and skills, you should now do the words in colour activity which demonstrates this powerful, universal and involuntary obstacle to learning.

-up

Interpretation of your scores on the colour chart

Having done the activity, you have just experienced proactive habit interference, also known as the proactive inhibition (PI) effect, through the words in colour activity and therefore better understand the powerful effects of prior learning on new learning.

From the point of view of the driver who is trying to improve, the explanation of how proactive habit interference blocks or slows down learning and change is like this:

  • The new technique, concept or attitude feels strange having done it the other way for so long
  • Because the new technique differs from the old familiar accustomed way there is a conflict or tension between them
  • Your brain detects this conflict and instantly activates proactive inhibition (PI for short) or proactive habit interference, a well researched knowledge protection mechanism
  • PI protects all your learned knowledge and skills, right and wrong, and strongly resists and slows down any attempt to change or improve your prior knowledge and skills
  • We all have this knowledge protection mechanism but it is stronger in some people. It is an unconscious mechanism and we have little or no control over it
  • The level of PI a person has is not associated with their intellectual ability or "IQ"
  • PI is why old skills, habits and techniques die hard and why self-improvement is so difficult, slow and frustrating under conventional training methods
  • PI causes accelerated forgetting (within minutes or hours) of the new way and this is why you revert to your old incorrect technique when you are competing
  • You know what you're doing wrong and what you should do and you're highly motivated to improve but your brain (force of habit, i.e., PI) won't let you change
  • Forget about "muscle memory" and such things because there is no real research support for these explanations - the real cause of your technique problems is PI
  • Technique difficulties, then, are caused by what you already know, not by what you don't know
  • It is a sobering fact that with conventional methods it can take you up to 2,000 repetitions of the new way before you are comfortable and competent with the new technique and it replaces your "old" way.

Proactive habit interference is a major cause of a wide range of driver education and training problems including:

  • technique difficulties
  • problems of skill development
  • poor transfer of learning to normal driving situations
  • transitioning problems
  • performance slump
  • anger management
  • problems learning mental skills
  • problems with focusing and coping with distractions.

Now you know what the problem is and what it feels like, you are ready for the solution. Being aware of PI and it's effects, however, is not enough to overcome it. Simply re-teaching a skill or action, even when supported by specific videotaped feedback to improve awareness, is unlikely to work quickly, if at all. You need an alternative training method that bypasses habit interference altogether in order to accelerate learning and skill development. This training method is called Old Way/New Way®.

Old Way/New Way® can overcome driver education and training difficulties permanently and more quickly than conventional, i.e., currently available, driver education and training methods.

-up

Old Way/New Way® Learning

Personal Best Academy uses and teaches Old Way/New Way® to anyone who works at trying to improve human performance. This includes, driver education and trainers, sport coaches, players, athletes, physiotherapists, sport medicine practitioners, sport psychologists, workplace trainers, safety trainers, therapists, and other individuals seeking to improve performance and facilitate change.

Old Way/New Way® has been taught to sport psychologists and coaches at the South Australian Sports Institute (SASI). SASI coaches are using Old Way/New Way® to coach soccer, hockey, basketball, squash, kayaking, baseball and other sports.

It is used at the Research Institute For Olympic Sports in Finland to improve skilled performance of Olympic athletes in individual and team sports such as hammer throwing, soccer, javelin and sprinting. This research with Olympic athletes was published in The Sport Psychologist.

Swimming coaches have used Old Way/New Way® to cut six seconds off the best 100 metre time of promising young athletes.

Old Way/New Way® is not like behaviour modification, brainwashing or hypnosis, nor is it psychological conditioning

It is readily incorporated into what instructors and normally do and is well-accepted by both novice and experienced drivers - it is very user-friendly

Based on a novel interpretation and synthesis of well researched and accepted learning principles, Old Way/New Way® is far superior to conventional approaches to correcting technique and conceptual problems and developing new skills

Old Way/New Way® is done in practical, hands-on situations where the instructor works with the driver to change driver behaviour and understanding.

With Old Way/New Way® there is no need for special equipment, although the use of video feedback, stop-motion analysis and kinaesthetic feedback can be helpful with complicated performance skills.

Old Way/New Way® works with the brain, not against it, to accelerate the natural process of change.

Old Way/New Way® can help whenever long established automated skill routines need to be changed or improved, i.e., in all areas of driving and driver behaviour.

-up

Driver education and training—change tools for rapid skill development and attitude change | course content on CD or Flash-based online course

  • course introduction, learning objectives, and rationale for the course structure
  • background reading for the practical assignments, with self administered tests of understanding of the main concepts, accompanied by model answers
  • demonstration of the universal brain mechanism that slows down change and improvement, and makes old habits die hard
  • a practical assignment that teaches you the steps in Old Way/New Way® driver training
  • practical assignments that guide you, step by step, to use Old Way/New Way®, first to change your own behaviour and driving performance, and then to change a driver's performance
  • a ten-minute video demonstration and video transcript that shows you how to correct a specific driving skill using Old Way/New Way®
  • other practical assignments that show you how to use Old Way/New Way® to change the performance of fleet drivers, and work with a group of drivers
  • a generic Old Way/New Way® protocol template that you can modify to suit many different kinds of technique correction and other performance problems
  • stepwise comparison of Old Way/New Way® and conventional driver training, so you can quickly understand where they overlap, and see the important differences
  • numerous case studies of how Old Way/New Way® can improve skilled performance in non-driving areas.
  • examples of how Old Way/New Way® can be used to accelerate the learning of mental skills, improve driver understanding, and change driver attitudes
  • how to use Old Way/New Way® for upgrade and transition training
  • list of published research that underpins this methodology
  • implementation support options, including e-consultation and on-site consultation.
-up

New model for driver education and training

Old Way/New Way® offers an entirely new approach to skill development, technique correction, conceptual change, attitude change and other driver education and training difficulties, whether these be physical or mental. Although highly innovative, this methodology is readily integrated into what instructors and drivers normally do in their quest for skill development and continuous improvement.

  1. Old Way/New Way® is a unique example of successful collaboration between researchers and practitioners to design the most effective training protocols.
  2. Old Way/New Way® is basically a Neo-Constructivist model - the driver is the one who is responsible for learning, understanding and changing.
  3. The instructor's ability to identify and diagnose the error or technique problem is critical, as is his or her ability to identify, explain and demonstrate to the driver the "correct" technique. This befits the instructor's role as the expert.
  4. The driver can be empowered through Old Way/New Way® to take on personal responsibility for improving.
  5. The driver's prior knowledge and skills (incorrect as well as correct) must be incorporated into any instruction strategy.
  6. If no conflict is likely between new and pre-existing knowledge and skills, then a conventional instruction strategy is OK and new knowledge and skills will consolidate and build on old.
  7. However, when prior knowledge and skills are likely to conflict with the new, the driver needs to follow prescribed Old Way/New Way® procedures and not just attempt to practice the new while ignoring pre-existing knowledge and skills.
-up

Proof of concept—users | published research | case studies

Driving instruction program users

AcciDON'T Ltd (UK)
Alberta Collision Avoidance (Canada)
Atlas International Engineering Services Nigeria Ltd (Nigeria)
Caulfield Grammar School (Australia)
Driver Training Academy (Australia)
Fraser Coast Training Employment Support Service (Australia)
Nice4Price (UK)
One to One Driver Training (Australia)
Pacific Gas and Electric (USA)
Streets Ahead Pty Ltd (Australia)
The Transport Company (Qatar, Middle East)

-up

Driving instruction—research evidence

All kinds of technique difficulties can be corrected, including physical skills as well as mental skills. These examples are drawn from sports coaching, a skilled performance area similar to driving in terms of both mental and physical demands.

Old Way/New Way has successfully corrected errors and faulty technique, unlearned habits and developed skills in a wide range of sports, for example:

Olympic javelin and sprinting
Abstract of a paper published in The Sport Psychologist, 2002, 16, 79-99.
"Exploratory studies examine the effectiveness of Old Way/New Way, an innovative meta-cognitive learning strategy initially developed in education settings, in the rapid and permanent correction of established technique difficulties experienced by two Olympic athletes in javelin and sprinting. Individualized interventions included video-assisted error analysis, step-wise enhancement of kinaesthetic awareness, re-activation of the error memory, discrimination and generalization of the correct movement pattern. Self-reports, coach's ratings and video recordings were used as measures of technique improvement. A single learning trial produced immediate and permanent technique improvement (80% or higher correct action) and full transfer of learning, without the need for the customary adaptation period. Findings are consistent with the performance enhancement effects of Old Way/New Way® demonstrated experimentally in non-sport settings."
Yuri Hanin, Research Institute for Olympic Sports, Finland. Tapio Korjus and Petteri Jouste, Finnish Sports Association, Finland; Paul Baxter, personalbest.com.au, Brisbane.
Sheffield Shield Cricket
Jason Gillespie's early return to pace bowling as described in The Advertiser, Adelaide, 13 November 1997.
Rugby League
Ball passing technique; team communication; kicking skills; tackling skills
Swimming
Stroke correction and tumble turns.
Track and Field
Correcting poor starting technique.
Golf
Golf grip, stance, head and arm position and swing; controlling anger and refocusing after a bad shot (mental skills)
Australian Football
Goal kicking technique of players in the Queensland Rail State Under 18 Australian Football Team; hand ball and marking technique in the Palm Beach Currumbin High School Sports Excellence - Australian Football Program.
Martial Arts
Defensive and offensive techniques in Aikido
Mental Skills
Controlling anger in golf and learning to re-focus on the game after a bad shot.
-up

Orders—purchase an instructor's change tool

There are four delivery formats, as follows:

On CD—Driving instruction | rapid behaviour change program including a video segment
Flash based course containing all course material and a ten-minute video demonstration. For Windows computers. AU$59. Order form
Online course—Driving instruction | rapid behaviour change program including a video segment
Flash based course containing all course material and a ten-minute video demonstration.Same content as on the CD but delivered online through your web browser. Windows & Mac. AU$59. Order form
Online course with implementation support—Driving instruction | rapid behaviour change program tailor made for you
Online instructor development course including step-by-step guidance and email support in a course that is customised just for you. AU$395. Order form
Workshop—Driving Instructor development workshop
One-day instructor development workshop tailor made for driving instructors and organisations. Email us.
-up