Advanced Driving

[Felly Magic]

When I was learning to drive, there was a local instructor who had a massive fail rate, and she was a huge woman who was known to holler and whack her pupils with a paper if they did something wrong. I think people were suckered into using her because she taught in a Fiesta XR2i. I actually saw her shouting at a poor pupil outside the test centre. My instructor often ended up with her 'failures', and thanks to his patience, and more relaxed tuition style, he often got them through their tests.

 

I will give my instructor his dues too, as whenever his pupils passed, a couple of days later, he would give them (me included) a free 2 hour motorway lesson as a 'well done', and gave us actual experience of driving on a busy 3 lane motorway at speed.

[warren t claim]

Dunno if this has been posted before but, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

[oldford]

I did the RoSPA test in 1997 and got a grade silver.

[Guest]

I did the RoSPA test in 1997 and got a grade silver.

 

I did my swimming certificate in 1990 and sunk to the bottom of the shallow end. I was a witch at the time. This made things difficult, especially when Morrissey's baby seals invaded the Falkland Islands.

 

WATANABE

 

BSC, SSC, AS Level General Studies, Flik Flak watch.

[alf892]

Our company has just decided that everyone who 'drives for work' will be put through a defensive driving course provided by IAM but to be fair it does look pretty good and better than the AA option. I have been volunteered as the first to go........

 

Last driving tuition I had was quite a few years ago doing my class 1 but I do remember then that instructor was insistent about not changing down on approach to red light or stop sign - brakes cheaper than gearboxes was the justification then. You did have to be able to complete a 'gearchange exercise' though............that was going up or down the box as instructed by tutor/examiner and this was on a crash box leyland. They also taught block changing.

 

From reading previous posts I am at least looking forward to a burger.............

[alf892]

I did the RoSPA test in 1997 and got a grade silver.

 

 

So.............have you crashed since and if so would it have still happened if you got the gold? Or does extra bit of the gold just mean other people can't hit you?

 

Do you get cheaper insurance?

[Pete-M]

A lad I work with is an ex-Advanced Driving Examiner, never tires of telling me about it.

 

He's not that good a driver. Not dangerous, but not smooth either. How someone like this can test and instruct people on how to drive is beyond me.

[Vanny]

From personal experience, i'd suggest any training is good training, so long as you go with an open mind and actually take something from it!

 

I get advanced driving tuition every 6 months or so on a range of vehicles and surfaces, and while the tuition varies, i always get something out of it. You do have to make your own decisions on what your being told though. The biggest problem i find is that you're told you MUST do it this way, but sometime the instructor doesn't know why!

 

My last one, the instructor asked me to park in forwards, which i declined, i've always reversed in, quicker to leave if you need to Then i got told off for passing an arm over the steering wheel, air bag, snapped arm yadda yadda. That's a nice idea mate, but i'm under 15mph, and there is no way someone can go head into me at greater than 15mph (unless they drive clean through a building). Turns out he didn't realise air bags don't work under 15mph (well not without one hell of a smack).

 

I was taught Road Craft, by a Police driver, and while some things are a little out of date (it was a 1962 version) i'd say most of it still applies.

 

IAM are fecking useless, still waiting to take my test which i paid for 7 years ago, thats how organised they are. Every year i call and complain.

 

Oh, i could do commentary drives before i passed my test, now that is something that should be compulsory on a driving test!

[Guest]

I don't think I'd get much out of an advanced driving course.

 

That sounds incredibly arrogant, doesn't it? I don't think my driving's that good - but it's better and more consistent than two thirds of the fuckwits I encounter on the roads, so I can just about tread water. That doesn't make me a decent driver, mind.

 

I'd spend most of the session arguing with the instructors. It's all very well driving to a supposed 'higher' standard, but if everyone else around you is driving like a moron, it's near impossible to put into practice. Case in point - leaving enough room ahead of the car in front of you - a very sensible move.

 

Until some prick pulls into the gap you're trying to maintain and halves the distance in front of you, which causes you to slow down making the bloke who was already getting a bit close begin to tailgate you with his premium xenon wankerlights. He has an Audi with S Line badges, don't you know, why the fuck should he slow down?

 

Etc, etc.

[dollywobbler]

The 'brakes cheaper than gearboxes' thing is just utter, utter bollocks! How often have you ever worn out a gearbox? I've broken a couple on race tracks (my poor 2CV...) but have never, ever had to replace a gearbox because it's worn out through general use. I've spent bloody hundreds replacing brakes though so piss off - I'll continue to use the gears.

 

Commentary driving is rubbish too. If a situation develops, like a busy junction, I'll normally shut up, even if mid-conversation. Prattling on about which mirror I'm looking in and how I'm defiantly changing down the gearbox while simultaneously playing a fuggin' hornpipe is actually a fine demonstration of unsafe driving. I'm a bloke. I'm not good at multi-tasking. When my assessor asked me a question at such a critical moment (ok, I wasn't playing a hornpipe) my brain just froze. I blanked him out in the end so I could focus on not causing an accident.

 

I apologise for responding to this thread. Especially after a shitty day in which absolutely nothing autoshiteworthy happened. Sorry.

[Lacy]

I passed my advanced police driving in around 1992. Much of the IAM stuff is based on the police 'Roadcraft' manual but we did it at rather more 'interesting' speeds. A lot of people will concentrate on a couple of points such as wheel shuffling and therefore dismiss it all as pants when the truth is, correct control of the steering is not only the smoothest way to steer it gives you the greatest margin for correction when it all goes tits up. Even back then in 92 there was no problem crossing arms on the steering during slow speed manoeuvres but at normal and high driving speeds, proper 10 to 2 push pull can't be beat. At high speeds, your steering inputs are so small anyway that there is absolutely no excuse for doing it any other way.

 

There is so much more to the police advance driving than just how you hold the steering wheel but drivers who have been doing it 'their way' for years and years might find some of the concepts of car control, forward planning and observation foreign to them and therefore will just dismiss them. After all, nobody wants to be told that their driving is shit 'cos they will always know best.

 

It's been a number of years since I drove a police vehicle in anger and I know that my driving is nowhere near the standard it was back then but don't dismiss the skill of these people. A well trained police driver will be hard to beat when it comes to making swift, smooth, safe progress on the roads.

[Lacy]

Oh, I meant to add........the idea of a commentary is not so much to determine what you are onserving but to see how much it affects your driving. Like anything you are learning, you go through the phase of being 'consciously competent' to the ideal of being 'unconsciously competent'. This is where you are able to excercise fine control of the vehicle almost without thinking. Compare how you pull away now to how you were pulling away when you first learnt to drive. Back then you had to think about everything you did with the clutch and throttle in order to avoid kangarooing down the road. You were 'consciously competent'. (If you got it right!). Now it just happens smoothly and almost automatically. You are 'unconsciously competent' (at least, at pulling away).

 

Translate this to fine car control during a high speed pursuit. When asked to give a commentary, unless you have reached the point of being unconsciously competent, your driving will go to tits as your brain is asked to deal with an additional task. It's a very good tactic to assess the level of someone's abilities.

[dieselnutjob]

I can drive quite well at the same time as arguing with the wife

 

is that the same?

[Lacy]

Haa haa.....clearly, an advanced arguer.......

[Lacquer Peel]

The 'brakes cheaper than gearboxes' thing is just utter, utter bollocks! How often have you ever worn out a gearbox? I've broken a couple on race tracks (my poor 2CV...) but have never, ever had to replace a gearbox because it's worn out through general use. I've spent bloody hundreds replacing brakes though so piss off - I'll continue to use the gearbox.

 

Aye. Slowing down through the gears and using engine braking is vital for winter driving too.

[forddeliveryboy]

Whether you should use your brakes and/or engine/gears to slow is a pointless debate. It depends on the car, the road, the conditions and driver ability.

 

I've heard so many horror stories of IAM instructors that it seems the problem lies mostly with the human involved, not the actual idea behind the instruction. Why should this job attract so many little Hitlers?