Lancashire is a heavily populated county, coming close to Yorkshire. Lancashire’s outline runs up the west coast from the Mersey to Morecambe Bay, with a further part north of the sands at Furness. Lancashire is a county with much beauty and jarring contrasts, its traditional shipyards and industrial towns against its lakes and fells, forests and mountains, forming part of the Lake District. Lancashire also claims Coniston Water, the west bank of Windermere, attracting thousands into the county each year.
Fylde reaches westward between Morecambe Bay and the Ribble Valley, where its inland parts are mostly rural, but at the coast, a mix of holiday resorts centred on and around the most famous, being Blackpool. The southernmost part of the county contains Liverpool and Manchester, two of the greatest cities in the UK, whose suburbs spread across not just Lancashire but into Cheshire too. Lancashire has some of the UK’s most challenging road networks, with a few being in the top most dangerous roads in the UK, coupled with being some of the busiest roads to drive, it is no wonder that Advanced Driver training in this area has spread rapidly over the last few years. The A666 between Blackburn and Darwen is the worst offender.
During our advanced/defensive training, our highly skilled tutors instruct a wide range of driving systems, including:
a. Creating increased powers of anticipation and planning
b. Higher awareness of speed limits and managing speed
c. Improving overall attitudes to driving on UK roads
d. Safe driving on motorways, rural roads and in the town
e. Educating drivers about all up-to-date rules of the road
f. A better understanding of the many reasons for road rage
g. Slow manoeuvres, reversing and parking
h. Driving in adverse weather
i. Risks linked to urban driving
j. Being aware of at-risk road users
k. Learning about vehicle control and skids
l. Gaining more skill and learning to drive in a more economical way
m. How to anticipate the actions of other motorists
Bespoke Reports:
After training, you are sent a full driving report, so you can see the standard of driving at the start and end of the training and see improvements made and in what areas. Each client’s unique driving report will provide some beneficial and insightful information. Every report is fully documented and has a unique verification number. The report is instrumental if an employer has asked an employee to take driver training.
Road Networks and Routes – Lancashire:
The network of motorways connects most of Lancashire, M6, M60 and M62 into Manchester and through to Yorkshire. The area is littered with fast A roads and more minor B roads throughout the county and is a perfect location for any driver wanting to get experience and confidence on all types of roads.
Here at Drivers Domain UK, we understand the locality and transport networks of Lancashire and work towards the specific needs of each driver. All our courses are customised to the individual driver’s needs, whether for larger corporate fleets or individuals who want to ensure they are safe and sound on the road. At Drivers Domain UK, we have some of the UK’s best Advanced Driver tutors carrying out courses for us in Lancashire, all with a great deal of local knowledge. We have had brilliant documented results and great feedback from those who have taken courses with us.
Drivers Domain UK provides advanced and defensive driving courses around Lancashire for many reasons; to build confidence after RTA, motorway training, and for younger or mature drivers. We also have trained a great many of the company drivers on the road in Lancashire. We have trained many clients located in and around:
Ashton-under-Lyne
Blackburn
Bolton
Clitheroe
Lytham St Annes
Rochdale
St Helens
Liverpool
Manchester
All training is taken in your own vehicle, and our tutors will come to you.
Course Duration
We offer full or half-day training options. We also provide multiple half-day options.
3.5 hour Half -day
This is ideal for a course to covering the critical elements of driver training (such as general advanced and defensive driving, confidence, motorway, refresher, pre-court etc.).For our private clients, this can be a great insight and assessment session, whether you want to take extra sessions at a later stage or have polished off your driving with just the half day, as many will do.
7hr Full day
This is ideal if you need more than a half-day session but want to complete it in one day. There are a couple of half-hour breaks included in this course, where you can grab a coffee or lunch, and your tutor will be able to talk through some of the training. The course is 7 hours from start to finish but with 6 hours of actual driving. It’s an intense day, but a lot is covered. Compared to the half-day session, there is more time to identify and remove bad habits and longer to introduce and practice various advanced/defensive driving techniques. The driving report will also be more detailed than the half-day session.
Business clients tend to opt for the 7-hour full-day session should they have a driver with specific issues such as speeding, a high collision rate, or an inexperienced driver. The full-day option split between 2 drivers is very cost-effective and popular for business clients training many drivers back to back, as we can offer AM/PM slots from your business premises.
When considering a pre-court advanced driving course, the full-day is more suited than a half-day session if a driving ban looks probable.
Contact us
Our team are friendly and experienced. They not only advise on the course information and how they work but also offer a non-judgemental approach for those who wish to open up and discuss specific issues. For those who may be facing a court hearing, talk to us. There is no situation we have not come across, and, in many cases, we have helped clients on pre-court courses to avoid a ban. We also understand that chatting to us is the first step for unconfident drivers when reaching out on their journey to confident driving and the courage that can often entail.
Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us online or call us. We aim to reply to email enquiries within 2 hours during working hours, or our driving course team members are available, 9 to 5, Monday through Friday, for a chat.
Road Safety Risks and Information – Lancashire
The accident rates over the motorways covering Lancashire are high, and the worse affected areas are the Preston Northern Bypass of the M55 from Blackpool, where numerous fatal collisions have been recorded, and the intersection of the M55 and the M6, where there is a challenging junction to be aware of. The stretch of the M6 from junction 34 towards Carnforth is also another high-risk area for accidents, so extra caution should be given along this patch of motorway. The M65 from junction 8 through to 11 past Burnley is another hot spot for collisions, with many accidents involving multiple vehicles and fatalities in the past few years. The M58 from Ormskirk into Wigan is another accident-prone area for such a slight stretch of motorway. Knowing the high-risk areas for accidents for your planned trips is vital, as knowing in advance can make your journeys safer.
The leading fast A roads that cross Lancashire are the A585, Kirkham to Fleetwood, the A583, Kirkham to Preston and the A59 from Aintree through Preston and onto Harrogate and beyond. These are littered with severe accident sites, with the worse being Mains Lane on the A585 at Skippool, the Kirkham Bypass and the A59 surrounding Preston. The A683 from Lancaster to Cantsfield, where it joins the A687, is another hazardous route with many severe accidents documented over recent years. The urban routes leading into the busy town centres, such as the A59 and the A6 ring roads at Preston, are concentrated with collision sites along with the more minor roads leading onto the retail centre, such as Moor Lane and Walker Street. Similar collision rates are seen in Lancaster along the one-way system of the A6, George Street and Brock Street. Driving in busy urban areas requires good observations and indications with patience and being able to anticipate the actions of other drivers; this will always help aid your own road safety.
Lancashire has many miles of rural roads, especially over the Forest of Bowland, where accidents have been rife, and these are higher in the summer months when tourism is more popular. The B6480 across Bentham is particularly perilous and has seen many collisions. Another high-risk area is the roads surrounding the popular area of Hebden Bridge. Rural driving is fraught with issues, and drivers unfamiliar with rural routes should always check the accident rates when considering their journeys, as this will help extra caution is paid in certain high-risk areas.
These are only a very broad outline of collision sites in the county. If you have any specific roads you travel on in the area and are keen to discover what parts are at higher risk of collisions, don’t hesitate to contact us. We offer a free-of-charge service to anyone interested.