Hello all

A good place to post when you join - it is a good idea to post here first so that people know something about you, and you will get a nice welcome.
StuBeeDoo
Posts: 11
Joined: Fri Mar 08, 2019 8:33 am

Hello all

Postby StuBeeDoo » Fri Mar 08, 2019 3:18 pm

I recently took the IAM course - I scraped a pass with some harsh (I thought..) criticism from the examiner :( Don't get me wrong, I don't think I'm a great driver - I know I'm not much better than average, but I have a desire to be better than I am. I did make some mistakes during the test, but I disagree with my examiner's opinion that I wasn't confident enough. He seemed to think that I should have been driving faster and overtaking slower traffic at points where I was unfamiliar with the roads and I didn't feel I had enough visible clear road. He also commented that my lack of confidence showed because I don't use my automatic in sport or manual mode. I thought I was doing a safer driving course, not a performance driving one. :roll: I'm sure that one point he mentioned where he thought I should have attempted an overtake, I couldn't have done it without breaking the speed limit. :o

Feeling somewhat disillusioned, and that I've wasted my wife's money (she bought the course as a gift for me), I've been trawling the 'net seeking other ways to become a safer driver. I came across the forum, and here I am.
Last edited by StuBeeDoo on Fri Mar 08, 2019 5:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Horse
Posts: 3558
Joined: Mon Sep 28, 2015 9:20 am

Re: Hello all

Postby Horse » Fri Mar 08, 2019 3:28 pm

Good afternoon!

Interesting comments, and suggests a disconnect between how your Observers prepared you and what the Examiner expected.

Did you find any positives from the experience?
Your 'standard' is how you drive alone, not how you drive during a test.

StuBeeDoo
Posts: 11
Joined: Fri Mar 08, 2019 8:33 am

Re: Hello all

Postby StuBeeDoo » Fri Mar 08, 2019 5:16 pm

Horse wrote:............. suggests a disconnect between how your Observers prepared you and what the Examiner expected.

Your comment is very pertinent, yes there does seem to have been a void. TBH, I felt more "in tune" with my observer than either the observer who carried-out my pre-test or the examiner. He put more emphasis on road safety than the other two - which was what I was looking for. We went through stuff such as being observant for vulnerable road-users, for example. Nothing was even mentioned on that subject on either the pre-test or the test proper. As I said above, my goal is to be a safer driver. I already know that I can cross a particular roundabout 5mph faster by "trimming" (providing there isn't a vehicle too close to my off-side rear quarter), I wasn't expecting not doing it on my test (because I didn't think it appropriate for a test-situation) to be considered a lack of confidence.

I didn't mention above, but on my pre-test the observer also felt I should have been driving faster at one point. This was on an unclassified road that I'm not familiar with, with narrow sections, muddy patches at field entrances and blind bends/corners. It was NSL, and I was driving at 40-45mph. The observer on that day said I should have been travelling at nearer 50-55. .....But he knows that road, I didn't.

Passing the test should have been something for me to be proud of but I haven't even bothered putting the window sticker in my car yet. If I failed I would have worked on the things I got wrong and taken the test again as soon as possible. The way it all panned-out I feel more of a failure having passed! Now I have a better insight as to what the test is all about I could probably obtain a better pass - if I can be bothered, although I'm unlikely to ever get a "First" because I can't get my thoughts from brain to mouth quick enough. :?

With the benefit of hindsight, I should have taken a hint from the examiner in his preamble. He went to great lengths to tell me how much pleasure he got from driving the performance car he'd recently bought briskly. Maybe I misunderstood the concept of "advanced driving test". Also with benefit of hindsight, given my personal "safer driver" aim it might have been better for me to do the RoSPA course. Maybe there are clues in the organisations' names.

Positives?........... Taking the IAM test is something I've been wanting to do for over 20 years. I've done it, that itch is now scratched.

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jont-
Posts: 1522
Joined: Mon Sep 28, 2015 7:12 am
Location: Herefordshire

Re: Hello all

Postby jont- » Fri Mar 08, 2019 6:24 pm

I'm a bit worried you think familiarity with a road has anything to do with how fast you can safely drive down it. You've mentioned this a couple of times...

martine
Posts: 1016
Joined: Mon Sep 28, 2015 8:26 am
Location: Bristol
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Re: Hello all

Postby martine » Fri Mar 08, 2019 6:57 pm

Welcome Stubeedoo.

Firstly congratulations on passing the advanced test and good to see your learning continues!

The IAM RoadSmart course is 'Advanced Driving' - not 'Safer Driving' - although of course the 2 are closely linked. It's about 'making progress' (or up to the speed limit) when safe..i.e. you're in a hurry but you want to remain safe and legal. A ROSPA course would be pretty identical - they are no more focused on safety than IAM RoadSmart - in fact some of the examiners are the same and nearly all have the same background: Police Advanced.

If someone here organises another driving day...I'd recommend you come along - you'll see a variety of 'advanced' styles...but hopefully all will be 'safe'.
Martin - Bristol Advanced Motorists: IMI National Observer, Group Secretary, Masters (dist), DSA: ADI, Fleet, RoSPA (Dip)

Triquet
Posts: 526
Joined: Tue Sep 29, 2015 7:32 pm
Location: Occupied North Berkshire

Re: Hello all

Postby Triquet » Fri Mar 08, 2019 7:26 pm

Now to make you feel a bit better. The first time I did the IAM test I scraped a fail. One of the reasons was (being a person of some age) I failed to understand the word "progress". It is not something that came up in the mists of time when I first learned to drive and as far as I was concerned "progress" just meant going forward (as opposed to backwards) and eventually arriving at a destination. But no, I found that "progress" has a reserved meaning in AD terms and generally means accelerating "briskly" (another strange AD term) to as close to the prevailing speed limit as road, traffic and weather conditions allow. I feel that "progress" hadn't been explained to me sufficiently by my observer (who was a little on the laid back side). :car:

I also went down on the subject of road positioning. This is of relatively little importance here in the congested Home Counties with heavy traffic and the expectation of the many 40 mph crowd that people should remain firmly in the centre of the marked lane, and none of this lurching from side to side THANK you very much. :racing:

Anyway I passed second time round, and slowly improving. But I have plenty of other things on my plate than to work towards a first, or becoming an observer. What I do though is to try and gently improve, to work on my observation, enjoy the process of driving, and occasionally indulge in a bit of commentary (not with others in the car). I also try and get out to an AD driving day now and then because a bit of demo driving is always interesting and is quite good for the soul, and they are always very good social events :cheers:

Don't give up, enjoy the process :soap:

Triquet
Posts: 526
Joined: Tue Sep 29, 2015 7:32 pm
Location: Occupied North Berkshire

Re: Hello all

Postby Triquet » Fri Mar 08, 2019 8:11 pm

:gear: Oh, and don't get hung up about people who look down on automatics. My regular day-to-day barge is an automatic. So what? It's one less thing to worry about. I've got sport mode, which frankly doesn't make a lot of difference, and some flappy things which I rarely use ...

StuBeeDoo
Posts: 11
Joined: Fri Mar 08, 2019 8:33 am

Re: Hello all

Postby StuBeeDoo » Fri Mar 08, 2019 8:42 pm

Thank you all, in particular Martine, for your comments. Triquet, I concur with pretty-much all your observations. As a driver of 45 years, IAM's concept of advanced driving is somewhat alien to me too. Driving briskly, in an IAM sense, was/is not what I'm about. I'm not a slow-coach by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm not interested in an extra 5mph around corners or roundabouts - particularly if it means throwing my passengers around the car.

I think it's time to put this to bed, accept that I was hasty in buying/taking the course, take it on the chin, and move on.

waremark
Posts: 898
Joined: Fri Oct 02, 2015 9:23 am

Re: Hello all

Postby waremark » Fri Mar 08, 2019 9:44 pm

StuBeeDoo wrote:I think it's time to put this to bed, accept that I was hasty in buying/taking the course, take it on the chin, and move on.

But it's an important topic which interests lots of us. In your case I think your observer let you down by not explaining what your examiner would want to see. I put it to my associates that he wants to see that you can still drive safely smoothly and legally even when late for a very important event.

But why should this be so? IAM Roadsmart is a road safety charity. The primary aim of helping drivers to become more skillful is for them to become safer. For a given level of skill the level of safety is increased by driving slower. However, the Advanced Test is indeed a test, and if you want to qualify as an Advanced Driver it is necessary to show more than just the minimum level of skill required to drive safely. One way of doing this is to demonstrate the skill and judgement to make more progress while remaining safe and smooth.

There is no way any examiner would encourage you to drive dangerously. I would guess that if your examiner suggested a suitable speed for a stretch of road was 55 mph, he probably thought it would be safe well over the legal limit, in spite of all the hazards that you mention.

When asked what positives you took away from your experience you didn't mention any extra skills or knowledge. Were there positives of that sort?

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akirk
Posts: 1659
Joined: Sun Sep 27, 2015 6:58 pm
Location: Bristol

Re: Hello all

Postby akirk » Fri Mar 08, 2019 9:45 pm

welcome...

it sounds as though your heart is in the right place - in having a personal desire to improve... the IAM course is one building block among many which can help you with that. You don’t mention where you live, but getting out with some of the other drivers on here can help understand that there are many routes to improving, but ultimately it is a personal journey you control... and hopefully enjoy!

Alasdair


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