Barriers to communication

Anything that stops you communicating with your pupil is a barrier. They may be "intrinsic" or "extrinsic", but you need to be aware of them and overcome or avoid them wherever possible. The biggest single barrier is usually the environment - the place you choose to conduct a lesson can be more important to the pupil's ability to learn.

Biting Point or Holding Point.

This is the term used to describe the point at which the clutch plates just begin to meet when raising the clutch pedal. At this point the engine tone changes and the front of the car may lift. (The rear if in reverse gear)

Blind Spots

Areas not covered by the car mirrors or caused by the style of the car bodywork (e.g. Door pillars)

Block gear changing 

Selecting the most appropriate gear for the situation and/or speed of the engine rather than changing up & down through each gear in in turn.

Blue Badge holders

These are people who are diagnosed as severely disabled and qualify for parking concessions. The qualifying disability would usually be one that in some way caused a difficulty for a person when walking. It should be noted that a Blue Badge may be held by a non-driver, but can be used on their behalf by someone driving them. For instance, someone with walking difficulties who is also blind would qualify for a Blue Badge but could not hold a driving licence.

Blue Badge holders - Parking

Where a parking bay is marked for disabled use, this means it has been reserved for Blue Badge holders only. The term 'Blue Badge holder' is sometimes used instead of disabled.

B.O.B.

Boy On Bike - a humorous way to remember to check the nearside door mirror before turning. There could be a bicycle approaching.

T.O.M.

Tom on Motorbike.

Brake fade

The term used to describe the condition when the brakes of a vehicle lose their efficiency due to overheating. There are generally two types of brakes fitted to modern cars. Disc brakes and Drum brakes. You may have ridden a bicycle before and know from this that when you squeeze the brake lever, the brake pads squeeze the rim of the wheel and cause you to slow or stop. This is similar to the effect that occurs when you squeeze the foot brake of a car that has disc brakes fitted Disc brakes are less susceptible to “brake-fade” than drum brakes due to their brake pads not being so enclosed and therefore are more effectively cooled. If vehicle's brakes are applied for long periods of time, perhaps during a hill descent, then the heat generated by the friction between the brake pad and disc or drum will cause the hydraulic fluid in the braking system to get extremely hot. This in turn can cause gas bubbles to occur in the fluid (think of boiling water) and make the brake pedal feel spongy as it starts to compress the gas instead of the hydraulic fluid. This can eventually lead to complete loss of the braking efficiency.

Briefing

Short explanation of what the person needs to do. Mostly used  when introducing a new topic to a beginner or novice driver and should do what it says... brief

Jargon Buster 3