Driving, Community, Values, Identity
Driving as a Community Practice, a Values Exercise, and an Identity Formation
Learning to drive has long been framed as a technical challenge: master the skills, memorise the rules, pass the test. But if we step back and ask what driving really is, the picture changes. Driving is not merely about moving a car from a to b. Driving is a community practice, a values-driven exercise, and a powerful moment of identity formation. Recognising this as trainers shifts our understanding of what driver education should be. And it points us toward one unavoidable conclusion: coaching must be at the centre of how we develop new drivers.
Driving as a Community Practice
Every time we enter the road system, we enter into a collective. Roads are shared infrastructures, and driving is a social negotiation. Each decision we make affects not just ourselves, but dozens of other people—some in cars, some on bikes, some on foot. Yet most training treats driving as an individual skillset: turn the wheel this way, press the brake at this point. That approach misses the essence of driving. What young drivers need most is perspective-taking and cooperative awareness: the ability to see through the eyes of others. And that skill doesn’t emerge from rote instruction. It comes through coaching. Through guided reflection that asks, “What did you notice about how that cyclist behaved? How might you make space for them? What assumptions were you making about that pedestrian?” Coaching develops a mindset of awareness and co-responsibility, preparing drivers to become assets to their communities.
Driving as a Values-Driven Exercise
Driving is one of the most visible everyday expressions of values. When we cut someone off, block the entrance to a Give Way, or speed through our 20mph residential neighbourhoods, we communicate disregard. When we give way to others, slow for pedestrians, or practice patience in traffic, we communicate care, fairness, and respect. Rules alone cannot produce these habits. Values must be internalised, and that requires reflective practice. Coaching makes this possible. A coach doesn’t simply demand compliance but draws learners into conversation: “Why did you feel frustrated in that moment? How might your reaction ripple out to others? What value do you want to embody as a driver?” This transforms driving from a checklist of legal obligations into an exercise in moral practice - helping new drivers connect their behaviour with the kind of society they want to live in.
Driving as Identity Formation
Learning to drive is more than a rite of passage - it shapes identity. For many, a driving licence is a symbol of freedom, a coming-of-age, and participation in society. But identity is not formed by passing a test. It is formed through reflection, self-definition, and integration. Coaching is uniquely suited for this. A coach helps learners narrate themselves into their new role: “What kind of driver do you want to be known as? How do your decisions reflect that identity?” This kind of dialogue fosters ownership and maturity, enabling new drivers to see themselves not simply as machine operators but as stewards of public space.
If driving is about community, values, and identity, then traditional methods of instruction (lectures, rote rules, isolated skills training) are inadequate. They may produce licensed drivers, but they do not produce citizens of the road. Coaching, by contrast, provides the toolbox that ties it all together: perspective-taking, value reflection, identity integration. It is not just another tool in the instructor’s kit; it is the framework that makes real driver development possible. If we want safer roads and more responsible drivers, we must reimagine driver training as a coaching-led process of civic, moral, and personal formation.
