Lesson 6: Anticipation and Reaction
The lesson where you stop driving the car and start driving the road.
View Lesson 6
Back to the walkthrough
EDT Session 7 of 12
Sharing the Road.
The vulnerable road user lesson. Cyclists, pedestrians, buses, Luas.
Lesson 7 is the hour where the car stops being the centre of attention and the road opens up to everyone else on it.
- 60 minutes
- One learner, one instructor
- RSA-set syllabus
- Logged on MyRoadSafety within ten working days
Around 6 minutes to read.
One metre under 50. One and a half above.
Ireland's minimum passing distance for cyclists is 1 metre where the speed limit is below 50 km/h. 1.5 metres where it's higher. Hitting a cyclist who was given less is a criminal offence, not a traffic fault. That's the whole rule.
Pedestrians and cyclists together make up a significant share of annual road fatalities in Ireland. Lesson 7 is the hour that takes that statistic and puts it in the seat next to you.
RSA Rules of the Road and Road Traffic Act.
What the lesson covers
8 things you leave with.
Pulled faithfully from the RSA's Lesson 7 syllabus. Each concept is a short, specific beat.
-
Vulnerable road users.
Pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists, e-scooter users, horse riders. Children, older people, anyone moving slower or smaller than a car.
-
Safe passing distance for cyclists.
1 metre below 50 km/h. 1.5 metres above. No shortcuts. No "close enough."
-
Passing parked cars.
A door's width of clearance. Slow the approach. Watch for feet visible under the car.
-
Pedestrian crossing types.
Zebra is pedestrian priority. Pelican is push-button with a signal. Toucan is shared with cyclists. Puffin uses sensors. The differences matter on the test.
-
Giving way at crossings.
Always to anyone already on the crossing. Usually to anyone waiting at a zebra.
-
Emergency vehicles.
Pull left when it's safe, don't obstruct, don't brake hard in panic. Nobody is helping if you add a second crash.
-
Buses and trucks.
The blind spots are huge. If you can't see the driver's mirror, the driver can't see you.
-
Luas and bus lanes.
Dublin-specific. Bus lanes have posted operating hours. "All bus lanes are 24-hour" is wrong on most of them.
What goes wrong in this hour
The mistakes that come up every time.
-
Cutting a cyclist too close.
Overtaking at 50 km/h with 80 cm of space is a criminal fault, not an instructor quibble.
-
Ignoring the pedestrian at the zebra.
Driving on because they haven't stepped off the kerb yet. They have priority as they approach.
-
Drifting into a bus lane during operating hours.
Fixed penalty. The signs are at the start of the lane for a reason.
-
Freezing at the siren.
Sitting still with the siren closing instead of indicating and pulling left when safe.
-
Passing a stopped bus on the wrong side.
Children may be stepping out in front of it.
Practice
Quiz 1. Crossing-type identifier.
Four crossings. Four names. The test will ask.
Crossing-type video quiz. Coming in the next release.
The toucan is the one learners miss. It's shared with cyclists. Different priority behaviour, different approach.
The hour, walked through
How Lesson 7 runs.
The route for Lesson 7 is picked for density of vulnerable road users, not distance covered. The Phoenix Park on a weekend morning. The docklands around the Luas Red Line. College Green at lunchtime. The learner is forced to share the road with cyclists, pedestrians, and buses in real time.
The first twenty minutes are usually a slow circuit. The car is deliberately slowed before overtaking a cyclist, modelling the passing distance and the approach. Learners tend to mirror that behaviour inside a few attempts. The middle of the hour stacks the pressure: a pedestrian crossing, then a cyclist in a narrow cycle lane, then a bus pulling out. Decisions layer on top of each other.
The lesson closes with the Luas and bus lane awareness, drilled on specific city-centre streets. A logbook stamp and written feedback. The feedback names the exact junction where the learner held back correctly, and the exact one where they went too close.
Between this lesson and the next
What to practise with your Sponsor.
- Drive a route with three different crossings. A zebra, a pelican, and one of the others. Name each one as you approach.
- Overtake five cyclists with proper clearance. On a 50 km/h or slower road. Counted, not guessed.
- Read the Rules of the Road on pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists, buses, and emergency vehicles. Short chapters. Read them twice.
Practice
Quiz 2. Cyclist clearance tool.
One metre under 50. One and a half above. Show us where you'd pass.
Cyclist clearance slider. Coming in the next release.
Most learners undershoot by ten or fifteen centimetres. That's the margin between a fine and a broken collarbone for the person on the bike.
Pairs with the theory test
What this lesson overlaps with on paper.
Practice
Quiz 3. Emergency vehicle decision.
Siren behind you. Four options. One right answer.
Emergency vehicle multiple-choice. Coming in the next release.
Stopping in a yellow box is not pulling in safely. Braking hard on a bend is not pulling in safely. Nobody arrives any faster if you cause the second crash.
Around Lesson 7
Keep going.
All twelve EDT lessons
- 01 Car Controls and Safety Checks
- 02 Correct Positioning
- 03 Changing Direction
- 04 Progression Management
- 05 Positioning, More Complex Situations
- 06 Anticipation and Reaction
- 07 Sharing the Road
- 08 Driving Safely Through Traffic
- 09 Changing Direction at Volume
- 10 Speed Management
- 11 Driving Calmly
- 12 Night Driving
Book it
Ready for this one?
Lesson 7 runs for sixty minutes and sits in the block of Lessons 2 to 8 that can be taken in any order after Lesson 1. If you've already booked Lesson 1, Lesson 7 slots in when the diary allows. If you haven't, Lesson 1 is where you begin.
Dublin pickup, D1 to D18. Dual controls. Logbook stamped and uploaded within ten working days.