Location Overview – Reading is the largest town that does not have city status. It is located in the county of Berkshire in Southeast England. Readings main attractions, apart from the medieval abbey ruins and minster church, but also the rivers Thames and Kennet and the surrounding countryside of the Berkshire Downs and Chiltern Hills. Reading is a major retail shopping centre with many restaurants and pubs. Reading is 40 miles east of Swindon, 28 miles south of Oxford, 40 miles west of London and 16 miles north of Basingstoke.

Reading is in the heart of a beautiful area of the Thames Valley amid green hills and thatched cottages and is surrounded by many pretty small towns and villages such as Caversham, Thatcham, Pangbourne, Purley on Thames and Streatley. Much of Reading is now part of the Chiltern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, with the Cotswolds being easily reachable.

All our bespoke driving courses are made to your needs and requirements, whether a full or half day or multiple half days or if we are training one driver or many.

Here are the things we cover:

* Observing the road ahead
* Having an improved appreciation for speed
* Developing a positive mindset for continual improvement when driving
* Understanding what you need to do as a driver to become safer on all roads
* Looking at specific vehicle controls – including new technology and how it has been created to help you.
* Understanding the rules of the road
* How to deal with the issues of road rage – and how to manage other drivers’ emotions
* Reversing and manoeuvres – ideal for vans but also useful for cars
* Being aware of the extra safety precautions when driving in urban traffic
* How to identify and deal with skids – and, more important, how to stop them before they start
* Eco-safe driving to save fuel (effective use of speed, gears, and planning)

We offer courses including; general advanced training, Pre-court sessions, confidence training, motorway courses, young driver, van training, fleet driver training (cars and vans)

Once the training has ended, a PDF report will be sent usually 3-5 days after the course, with specific things assessed such as confidence, forward observations, attitude, speed awareness and much more. We rank a driver from Poor to Excellent in these areas at the start and after training. This report is instrumental as it’s bespoke to the driver and gives valuable tips for safer driving in the future. Each report is verified and documented with us – proof a driver has had training with a DVSA (Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency) registered professional driver trainer.

The personal benefits of our advanced and defensive driver training:

* Increase your levels of skill and overall confidence
* Remove any risky driving characteristics
* Consider issues that may be specific to your driving
* Increase car control on all types of roads
* Reduce wear and tear on your car
* Improve your MPG – get more miles from your car

Looking for fleet driver training? Driver training for business clients offers a range of benefits that include:

* Taking control of your occupational road risk
* Demonstrate your Duty of Care
* Qualify for possibly reduced fleet insurance costs
* Show your drivers you care
* Help drivers who may be having specific issues with their driving
* Save on fleet fuel costs – advanced trained drivers can reduce their fuel costs by 20% or more

The M4 motorway serves Reading from London to Bristol and South Wales – perfect for motorway training. It is about an hour’s drive from Central London. With the A33 running into the centre of Reading, it is an ideal spot to take driver training as we can easily reach not only dual-carriageways and motorways but also rural areas and town driving. In recent years, we have carried out training for corporate and private clients in Reading and the surrounding areas such as Shinfield, Caversham, Sandford and Calcot. You do not have to attend a centre for our training; the tutor will come to your home or site address taking you out in your own vehicle.

Half or Full Day?

The half-day is ideal for those with many drivers to train and want to take advantage of the time and cost savings associated with such. The full day is suitable for drivers who wish to experience an intensive advanced driving course and iron out bad habits.

We tend to find many clients opt for the full-day session – and book one driver for the morning session and one for the afternoon – there is no additional charge for this, and it works well.

When we train drivers, we look at building the course around their specific needs. We initially let them drive for a short period. Then after a friendly debrief, we introduce several advanced driving techniques such as forward planning, car control, advanced observation, and much more.

The main part of the course is designed to improve the driver – and we find the best approach here is to work on their specific driving style and requirements and adjust the training to fit their needs.

Contact us:

If you have any specific questions you need help with or would like to enquire further, such as looking at date options or more information on training in a particular area of the UK, please get in touch. Our team is here to help you, whether by email or phone. If you prefer to email, we aim to get back to all enquiries within 2 hours during working hours.

Road Safety Risks and Information – Reading

Reading has very high accident statistics compared to other towns of similar size. The grounds at Crow Lane bring hundreds of thousands of visitors yearly through the town, leading to long delays on the nearby roads.

Reading is located on Junction 11 of the M4, where it meets the M33; this intersection has numerous collision sites, and as the main route into Reading, it will attract unfamiliar drivers at certain times of the year. One of the main issues with travellers to Reading Festivals is that many of them are young and inexperienced drivers. As the statistics show, numerous accidents along this route involve younger drivers. Many of these accidents occur around the same time as the festivals. Another significant issue is the number of coaches flooding into Reading simultaneously, making many more minor roads very congested and adding to collision statistics.

The A33 is a very fast and dual carriageway for most of the route into Reading, which can be extremely congested during festival times. There are numerous collision sites along the way, some fatal and many severe and life-changing; these occur at nearly every traffic light system, roundabout and road crossing, suggesting that it is a driver’s lack of observation to blame. Some of the worst affected areas are the Imperial Way roundabout and the traffic lights at Rose Kiln Lane. Oxford Road to the west of the town centre and Kings Road to the east are extraordinarily high and vastly above average for collision rates. All drivers, especially those unfamiliar with the areas, must be extra vigilant during these high-volume traffic times.

If you have any specific roads you travel on in the Reading area, you are keen to discover what parts are at higher risk of collisions. Please get in touch with us. We offer a free-of-charge service to anyone interested.