Making Sense of the Goals for Driver Education · Part 1 of 14
Every instructor knows the feeling. A learner passes with a handful of minors, you shake hands in the test centre car park, and a few months later you hear they have had a bump, a near miss or a scare on a dark country road. Nothing on the test sheet suggested it. They could control the car, read the junction and follow the route. So what was missing?
This series sets out to answer that question using a framework that has shaped driver education across Europe for more than twenty years: the Goals for Driver Education, better known as the GDE matrix. Over fourteen articles we will work through it level by level and column by column, and link each part to everyday lessons, to the coaching approach in my book Coaching for Driver Development, and to two important European reports: HERMES and the CIECA RUE report.
The problem we are trying to solve
In Chapter 5 of Coaching for Driver Development I describe a pattern every experienced ADI will recognise: a learner who can explain perfectly what they should do at a junction, who has done it correctly dozens of times, and who still hesitates or misjudges it the moment the pressure goes up. It is not a lack of knowledge, and strictly speaking it is not a lack of skill. It is the gap between knowing and doing.
That gap does not close on test day. If anything it widens. The instructor has gone, the dual controls have gone, and the new driver is now choosing when to drive, where, with whom and in what state of mind. Those are exactly the decisions the driving test cannot see and traditional instruction rarely reaches.
What the GDE matrix is
The matrix came out of European research at the end of the 1990s and was set out by Hatakka, Keskinen, Gregersen, Glad and Hernetkoski in 2002. Its central idea is simple: driving happens on several levels at once, and what happens on the higher levels shapes everything below them.
It has four levels, read from the bottom up, and three columns that run across every level.
| Level | Knowledge and skills | Risk-increasing factors | Self-evaluation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4. Goals for life and skills for living Who the driver is | Lifestyle, values, personal motives and how they shape driving | Sensation-seeking, peer pressure, impulsiveness, risky habits | Knowing your own tendencies, impulse control, honest self-assessment |
| 3. Goals and context of driving The journey | Route choice, timing, purpose of the trip, planning | Tiredness, alcohol, time pressure, passengers, night and weather | Recognising your motives for a trip and your fitness to make it |
| 2. Mastery of traffic situations Other road users | Rules, hazard perception, positioning, speed and space | Poor anticipation, close following, vulnerable road users | Awareness of your own strengths and weak spots in traffic |
| 1. Vehicle manoeuvring The car | Controls, steering, speed control, vehicle safety systems | Poor grip, worn tyres, driver aids misunderstood | Realistic view of your own car control |
The four levels move from the car, to the traffic around it, to the journey, and finally to the person. The three columns ask three different questions at each level: what does the driver know and do, what increases their risk, and how well can they judge themselves?
The word that matters most in the matrix is hierarchical. A driver with excellent car control and good hazard perception can still drive dangerously if they are late, tired, showing off to friends or simply the kind of person who enjoys a bit of risk. The higher levels decide how the lower-level skills get used.
Where most training sits
Look at a typical course of lessons against the matrix and most of the time goes on Levels 1 and 2, and mainly on the first column: controls, manoeuvres, junctions, roundabouts, rules. That is not a criticism. Learners need those skills, and a learner who cannot yet control the car is in no position to reflect on their lifestyle.
The difficulty is that most of what the test can observe also sits in those lower levels. The examiner can see whether a candidate checks their mirrors. They cannot see whether that candidate will drive home from a party at two in the morning with four friends in the car.
The European research behind the matrix points in one direction: the factors most closely linked to young driver crashes sit higher up, in the journey and the person, and in the driver’s ability to evaluate themselves honestly.
Three sources for this series
The GDE matrix. The framework itself, and the backbone of every article that follows.
HERMES (2007 to 2010). An EU-funded project that asked how instructors could actually reach the higher levels of the matrix. Its answer was coaching. It called for less reliance on short-term instruction aimed at passing the test, and more active learning that prepares learners for solo driving and keeps them learning after it. HERMES produced a coaching course for driving instructors and a set of coaching scenarios for the car and the classroom.
CIECA RUE (2015). The Road User Education report brought experts from fourteen countries together to agree what driver education should cover. It placed the GDE matrix at the link between education and responsible behaviour, described the client-centred approach as an important bridge, and set driver education within lifelong learning.
It is worth being clear about what these reports are. RUE describes itself as an expert consultation rather than a scientific research project, and HERMES was built in a similar way. They represent a strong professional consensus rather than proof from controlled trials. I think that honesty matters, and it is why this series ties every idea back to something you can try and judge for yourself on your next lesson.
Why coaching is the route in
Here is the part that links the matrix to your day-to-day work. The third column, self-evaluation, cannot be taught by telling. You cannot instruct someone into knowing themselves. You can only help them notice, reflect and draw their own conclusions.
That is why the coaching approach sits at the heart of this series. In Chapter 4 of the book I describe a simple in-car decision guide: if something is new, teach it; if it is unsafe right now, instruct; if it is about judgement or choice, coach; if it is about confidence, mentor briefly and then return to coaching. Levels 1 and 2 often call for teaching. Levels 3 and 4, and the whole self-evaluation column, almost always call for coaching.
On your next lesson
Before the series gets into detail, try three small things this week.
- Map one lesson. Afterwards, jot down roughly how much of the lesson sat at each level. Most of us are surprised by how little reaches Levels 3 and 4.
- Ask one journey question. Towards the end of a lesson, ask: “When you are driving on your own, what kind of journey do you think will be hardest for you?” Then listen, and resist the urge to answer for them.
- Invite one self-assessment. Before you give feedback, ask: “How do you think that went?” Notice how accurate the answer is. That accuracy is the self-evaluation column in action.
What is coming in this series
- Part 2: Where the matrix came from, from GADGET to HERMES and RUE
- Part 3: Reading the matrix, four levels and three columns
- Parts 4 to 7: Each level in turn, from vehicle control to goals for life
- Parts 8 to 10: Each column in turn, finishing with self-evaluation
- Part 11: Coaching the higher levels, HERMES in everyday lessons
- Part 12: RUE, the client-centred bridge and lifelong learning
- Part 13: After the test, the first solo months and beyond
- Part 14: Summary, bringing it all together
Go deeper
In the book: Coaching for Driver Development, Chapter 4 (Coaching vs Teaching vs Mentoring) and Chapter 5 (Why Coaching Works in Driver Training).
Live session: Module 2, Coaching vs Teaching: When and How. This session covers the in-car decision guide, why coaching works, and the Theory of Planned Behaviour, and shows how they help you reach the higher levels of the GDE matrix.
I deliver the five Coaching for Driver Development modules live on Zoom, one module a week. You can book any module on its own or join the complete series. Contact me at grahamhooperadi@hotmail.com or visit grahamhooper.blog.
Tomorrow: Part 2: Where the Matrix Came From
Read the full series
Sources
- Hatakka, M., Keskinen, E., Gregersen, N.P., Glad, A. and Hernetkoski, K. (2002). From control of the vehicle to personal self-control: broadening the perspectives to driver education. Transportation Research Part F, 5(3), 201–215.
- EU HERMES Project (2010). High impact approach for Enhancing Road safety through More Effective communication Skills. Final report and executive summary.
- CIECA (2015). CIECA-RUE Road User Education Project: Final Report.
- Hooper, G.J. (2025). Coaching for Driver Development: A Complete Framework for the ADI Coach. GJH Consultancy.
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