Being a driving instructor

I know it’s been a while since I last wrote a post, however, the last couple of months have been rather difficult. I have never been fired in my life, however when I returned from vacation on June 30th this year, the two new business owners of the company called me and informed me, that they were going to close my department, meaning I should look to get a new job.

Frankly, that was not unexpected, digital signage doesn’t do well in Austria and at the current economic situation selling a single monitor a year is a success, the new owners bought the company on credit with variable interest rates, which kept going up and somehow they still had to make a living. Shutting down my department was what I would have done myself.

But I figured they’d wait until next year. I was casually looking for new jobs, but when they decided to kick me, there was nothing on the horizon.

Funny enough, the day they told me I should look for a new job, a driving school owner I knew and did a couple of lessons for called me, asking if I had a little time on my hands during summer. I told her I was just told to get a new job and didn’t really have time to think about a side job. What she said was this: If you need a job, you have one right here, don’t worry, I got you.

I can’t begin to express how grateful I am for these words. I was at the point of not knowing where to go, and out of nowhere a hand came pulling me out of the mud. I told her yes, told the company I’d be gone at the end of the month and signed up to be a full time driving instructor for the time being.

How I imagined it

Now, since the day I started working I can’t remember a single week I worked less than the time asked, honestly speaking, by now I am a couple of years ahead of most.

So what I figured was this, I’d scale down to a normal 40 hours job, be home early, given that I was only helping out, use the time for some sports and writing some job applications.

How it went

What it turned out to was this: 12 hours of work every day, right up to the legal limit. Why? Because the owner, just like all the others, overbooked her summer and needed every single lesson she could offer. Driving instructors are having a union in Austria, but honestly, they suck. 12 hours a day for a 38 hour job that doesn’t pay overtime, overtime is summed up over a year and only paid out if not consumed in spare time. You don’t get spare time when you want it by the way, you work your 60 hours when the boss wants to and between prime time they’ll take you down a couple of hours.

Anyway, driving instructors are paid shit and work more hours than anyone could expect.

But you are not here to hear me complain about working hours and payment. You are here for the juicy stuff. So what happened to me in this job?

It had it’s ups and downs. One of the ups was this, a student who had been driving with her father for a while on a learners permit and went back for the final lessons to take her exam. On our first two lessons she would never have passed and I told her. But she was one of those who listened and on our final lessons she drove perfectly. She was nervous as hell during the test, but she passed with flying colours.

But I also had the opposite kind of student, drove perfectly on all our lessons, but once the exam started, he threw his nerves.

So yeah, ups and downs, but here is the interesting stuff.

Wrong way in a roundabout

No, not my student, someone with a driving license.

One part of the needed lessons is doing a highway lesson. Enter the highway, leave it and overtake other cars. The student I was with here was one who could drive and for the most part this lessons went without hiccups.

But then we left the motorway and came up to a huge roundabout near Mistelbach.

We left the motorway and stopped at were the x is on the picture above. The reason? Well a car wanted to leave at the exit right after the exit, but missed it. So instead of doing another round, they decided to do a 3-point-turn and head back to the exit, as you do.
In this case the student stopped our car, let the other car pass and we went on

See picture above on where, the x marks the exit and the arrow circle where the 3-point-turn happened

30 km/h on the Autobahn

Again, you would think this was the driving student. But no. Someone actually having a license.

So, let’s go through this. On most Austrian Autobahns the speed limit is 130km/h, nothing higher than that, some slower. But in order to be allowed to enter the autobahn, your vehicle needs to be at least capable of driving 60 km/h.

On our way to the Autobahn we came across a car that was doing 30 km/h in an area where you are allowed to do 100 km/h. When we approached, they turned on their emergency indicators.

So obviously something was wrong, we had no way to overtake the car, so we stayed behind. At one point there was a chance to go on the motorway, so we took it. But the car decided to cut us off, go on the motorway as well and drive 30 km/h there, where everyone else goes 130 km/h at least….

45 km/h on the Autobahn

We are getting faster! But this time around someone decided to take a Moped to the Autobahn. These bikes only do 45 km/h and we got stuck behind it. The student was very much afraid of the accelerator and getting out behind that Moped was almost impossible, with everyone else passing at more than twice the speed. This one I called the police on and took my student off the motorway at the next exit. All the other cars honked at us and nearly hit us, given nobody would expect someone driving that slow on a clear summer day.

Where did you get your license?

I kid you not. Driving in Vienna with a student, the Student decided to change lanes, over three lanes. I reacted immediately and got us back to our lane, but there was a car about to overtake us on the right side. Within cities, this is legal in Austria, however I wouldn’t take my chances with a driving school car.
Any way, the other car stopped, lowered the window and started screaming at my student, where he got his license. Again, our car was labelled “Driving School” all around…

Deer and Traffic rules

This is a fairly common traffic sign in Austria, it marks areas where wildlife is known to cross the streets more often.

How you should behave here is reduce your speed, watch the sides of the road more carefully and move along. Or, you could do as one of my students did and almost kill us.

What she did was perform an emergency break on a country road, where cars approach you at 100 km/h
What you need to know is this. If the student breaks, there is nothing the driving instructor can do to move the car. So we stood there, behind a corner and with no way to move the car.

I screamed, get off the break, let go of the pedals, until she finally did and I could get the car moving. At the next town I stopped, parked the car and asked what she was thinking.

Answer: The sign means deer are crossing the road there and you have to stop to see if there are any…

Why bother stopping at all

At the town the driving school is at, there is one roundabout with multiple pedestrian crossings.

One of my students would have killed the same girl twice here, hadn’t I interfered. She was looking at her phone and didn’t see the danger she was in and he was looking at, well, no idea what he was looking at. Not her obviously. We approached the crossing, she went on, he didn’t stop, so I stopped the car. He asked my why. Me pointing at the girl in front of the car he: oh. We drove off, the passed the next crossing, and again I stopped the car. And again was asked why.
When we returned to the driving school we went through the mistakes made, but the final question was something I didn’t see coming: “Would I have passed the test if this was for real?”
Sure you would, you only killed the same girl twice…

When you have a police officer in the car

In Austria students have the option to get a learners permit to drive with their parents or a close person to learn driving after going through some basic training at the driving school. The last two lessons you drive with that person in the car, so they know what they are getting into.

One of my students showed up with his uncle. We drove off and and a narrow point a car came around the corner, on our side, way to fast, almost hit us (the student actually braked) and the other driver didn’t even notice what had happened. Why? He was on the phone. I was about to loose my temper when I heard a voice from the back seat. You know, I am with the police and I got his license plate, I’ll handle him, please continue the lesson.
I would have applauded him, if it was appropriate.

In resume

Was this a job I ever wanted to do full time: no.
Am I glad I did: yes

I learned a lot and learned a lot of patience, I didn’t make a ton of money, but I worked and that was the important part.
I also got a lot of kids to get their licences and most of them are proper drivers now and that still feels good.

Will I teach again: likely, but not full time.
It’s not the best job in the world, but far from the worst.