085 XXX XXXX Book Lesson 1
Back to the walkthrough EDT Session 4 of 12

Progression Management.

Don't crawl. Don't race. Match the road.

Lesson 4 covers reading speed limits, matching pace to conditions, stopping distances, and the gear-speed relationship the driving test will check.

  • 60 minutes
  • One learner, one instructor
  • RSA-set syllabus
  • Logged on MyRoadSafety within ten working days
Book Lesson 4 Book full EDT

Around 6 minutes to read.

Stopping distance at 50 km/h is about 24 metres. At 100 km/h it's over 78.

Doubling the speed doesn't double the stopping distance. Thinking distance grows linearly, but braking distance grows with the square of speed. So 100 km/h is roughly three times the distance, not twice. In the wet, everything doubles again.

Failure to make reasonable progress is a scored fault on the Irish driving test. Going too slow counts against you. So does speeding. The target is the middle.

RSA Rules of the Road, AA Ireland.
What the lesson covers

8 things you leave with.

Pulled faithfully from the RSA's Lesson 4 syllabus. Each concept is a short, specific beat.

  1. Reading the speed limit.

    Circle with a number, in kilometres per hour since 2005. Defaults where no sign is up: 50 in built-up areas, 80 on regional roads, 100 on national roads.

  2. Progression versus speed.

    Progression is a pace that fits the road and the traffic. Hesitation is a fault, speeding is a fault. The target is the middle.

  3. Stopping distance, rule of thumb.

    At 50 km/h, about 24 metres on dry roads. At 100 km/h, over 78. Wet roads roughly double it.

  4. Thinking versus braking.

    Thinking distance grows linearly with speed. Braking distance grows with the square. Doubling speed from 50 to 100 quadruples the braking distance.

  5. Reading the road.

    Speed drops before tight bends. Speed drops near schools, 20 km/h zones. Speed drops approaching pedestrian crossings.

  6. Gear-speed relationship.

    First gear to move off. Second up to about 25. Third from 25 to 50. Fourth from 50 to 80. Fifth above 80. Not rigid, but the instinct needs building.

  7. Eco-driving.

    Early upshifts. Gentle acceleration. Coasting where safe. It saves fuel, it's better for the engine, and it's also a theory test topic.

  8. Harsh braking.

    What it does to passengers, the car, and the driver behind you. How early observation makes it disappear.

What goes wrong in this hour

The mistakes that come up every time.

  • Sticking to one speed.

    Refusing to hit the limit on a clear road. Counts as failure to make reasonable progress.

  • Overshooting the limit.

    60 in a 50 because nobody's looking, except the camera is.

  • Late braking.

    Not reading ahead, so the gentle lift that would have done the job becomes a stamp.

  • Wrong gear for the speed.

    Driving 60 km/h in third because the upshift never came.

  • Ignoring the changing limit.

    In Dublin, a road can drop from 80 to 60 to 50 in 400 metres. Missing the sign is common.

Practice

Quiz 1. Stopping-distance visualiser.

Pick a speed. Watch the car stop on dry road, then on wet. The gap is bigger than most learners expect. That's the point.

Stopping-distance visualiser. Needs a bespoke slider interaction. Coming in the next release.

The big jump happens above 80 km/h, because braking distance is squared against speed. Double the speed and the braking quadruples. That's the whole reason the limit drops when the road gets narrow or the weather turns.

The hour, walked through

How Lesson 4 runs.

The route for Lesson 4 varies between 30, 50, and 80 km/h zones. You're asked to call out each limit change before the instructor does. Early in the hour the instruction is verbalised: limit's about to drop, sign's in fifty metres, start easing off now. By the last twenty minutes of the hour the lesson covers calling those limits without being prompted.

Stopping distance gets demonstrated physically, not from a table. The ADI picks a quiet stretch with no one behind, asks you to brake to a stop from 30 km/h, then does the same from 50. The feeling of the distance is the thing that sticks. The numbers are for the theory test.

Gear-speed is drilled on uphills and downhills so that the gear choice is built into the road reading, not read off a dashboard.

The lesson ends with the logbook stamp and upload.

Between this lesson and the next

What to practise with your Sponsor.

  1. Drive a mixed route. At least three speed-limit changes. Call the limit before the Sponsor sees the sign.
  2. Feel the stopping distance. On a quiet road with no one behind, stop from 30 km/h. Note where you stopped. Repeat from 50. Compare.
  3. Read the Rules of the Road on speed limits, stopping distances, and eco-driving. Short chapters. Read them twice.
Practice

Quiz 2. Speed-limit spotter.

Limits drop without warning in Dublin. See the sign first, react first. Five clips.

Speed-limit spotter quiz. Coming in the next release.

The 50-to-30 drop in school zones is the most commonly missed one. The 30 zone is signed, but if you're reading dashboard instead of road, you'll miss it.

Pairs with the theory test

What this lesson overlaps with on paper.

Practice

Quiz 3. Gear-speed matching.

Wrong gear wastes fuel, wears the engine, and costs progress marks on the test. Pick the gear.

Gear-speed matching quiz. Coming in the next release.

The one to watch is the 50 km/h to 30 km/h drop. Fourth gear to second is the usual move, not fourth to third. Pick the gear that matches where you're going, not where you are.

Around Lesson 4
Previous lesson

Lesson 3: Changing Direction

Mirror, Signal, Mirror, Manoeuvre. Four steps in that order. Always.

View Lesson 3
Next lesson

Lesson 5: Positioning, More Complex Situations

The turnabout, the reverse, the parallel park. The manoeuvres the test will pick from.

View Lesson 5

All twelve EDT lessons

  1. 01 Car Controls and Safety Checks
  2. 02 Correct Positioning
  3. 03 Changing Direction
  4. 04 Progression Management
  5. 05 Positioning, More Complex Situations
  6. 06 Anticipation and Reaction
  7. 07 Sharing the Road
  8. 08 Driving Safely Through Traffic
  9. 09 Changing Direction at Volume
  10. 10 Speed Management
  11. 11 Driving Calmly
  12. 12 Night Driving
See the full walkthrough
Book it

Ready for this one?

Lesson 4 is sixty minutes. Book it any time after Lesson 1 is logged. Most learners take it between week two and week six of their EDT, depending on how the week lines up.

Book Lesson 4 Book full EDT

Dublin pickup, D1 to D18. Dual controls. Logbook stamped and uploaded within ten working days.