Greetings

[Horse]

... more of a babble and not always coherent, so hopefully not depriving me of too much concentration.

Which is a good point.

We all only have a certain amount of concentration. Commentary can help focus attention but there's a couple of downsides too.

First: attention is the same as distraction. Focus in one place means it can't be somewhere else too. The 'fix' is to avoid fixation, keep your eyes moving.

Second: the mental effort of generating and saying commentary takes potential concentration away from the scene around you. So, if necessary, stop. Either physically or verbally

[Another Bill]

I don’t think anybody has commented on the other aspect of commentary, which is - for me at least - the radio is hardly ever used these days?

Pre-IAM I never used to find the radio a serious distraction, I’d even enjoy a radio 4 afternoon play on a long motorway trip, but practising commentary led me to dislike it. I do occasionally turn it on now, esp if a passenger wants it but I don’t really listen any more and very rarely absorb anything that’s actually being said, be it news, weather or drama.

Before I took up retirement for a living, I was a software engineer. Desk bound job where, since the dawn of mp3 players, large numbers of colleagues proved they could plug in the earpods at their desks, and remain productive. I was never one of them, no way could I concentrate on a technical job with music rattling through my ears. I think it’s simply dawned on me that same applies to driving - might work for some people, but not for me.

We’re all different though, not sure what other folks might think of car radio as a distraction?

[Triquet]

I tend to agree. I normally only use the car radio when parked while waiting for something / somebody, or on long trips when I may have it on the vain hope of picking up relevant traffic news. Traffic news has become more and more irrelevant as I find that Waze can send me off in random diversions of its own invention.

[Gareth]

the mental effort of generating and saying commentary takes potential concentration away from the scene around you.

I wonder if commentary might be useful in helping to develop some reserve mental capacity. Apart from that, if I'm in the car I prefer drivers concentrate on driving.

I don’t think anybody has commented on the other aspect of commentary, which is - for me at least - the radio is hardly ever used these days?

Sometimes I have a CD playing; when it's a track I like I often set it back to the beginning because I've missed most of it. I can go through my 40 minute commute repeatedly doing this, not actually hearing the whole track.

[jcochrane]

...No, you’re right, I’m not much fun to drive with!

Lies, all lies

Agree. Which reminds me it is far too long since I have driven with either of you.

[Strangely Brown]

A couple of comments about commentary from previous RoSPA examiners:

About the drive...
"For most candidates the car slows down considerably as soon as I ask them to begin commentary."

Is commentary required...
"It's not compulsory, but I have to mark you on it."

Is commentary useful...
"There is nothing that I will learn from you giving commentary that I cannot see from your driving. If something appears or is developing and you have not reacted to it, then I know that you haven't seen it."

I also know other well respected co-drivers that believe commentary is a pointless distraction [for the driver] outside of an operational environment where it has a very specific purpose.

[Horse]

the mental effort of generating and saying commentary takes potential concentration away from the scene around you.

I wonder if commentary might be useful in helping to develop some reserve mental capacity.

I'm no psychologist, so only poorly-informed guesses.

There are some suggestions that working memory can be improved, and I think there was something about London taxi drivers undergoing brain changes while learning The Knowledge.

What commentary could do is, by focusing attention ahead/earlier, gives the proverbial 'time to react', so feeling like a reserve.

[Another Bill]

I’m very pleased to see that comments in my introductory post have inspired such well thought out criticisms, sometimes in favour of commentary but I think on balance, more often opposed. I will certainly be taking all of these thoughts on board making me already glad I joined the forums.

Will I continue my solo commentaries? Maybe, but I’ll probably try to reign it in a bit. At critical moments such as planning and executing single carriageway NSL overtakes my commentary already stops dead, in favour of 100% concentration on the situation in hand. I’ll be thinking now about less extreme examples, where commentary may be of questionable benefit, and maybe even counter productive.

What I don’t want is a return to my pre-IAM driving style, where everything was based on a familiarisation with Newtonian physics that helped me to drive reasonably briskly without crashing, a desire to stay out of trouble with the law that avoided speeding fines and other penalties, and gut-instinct to accommodate road hazards beyond my control. The physics aspect can probably be defended, and a desire to stay out of trouble can’t be bad. But as for for the gut-instinct I think the gut needs ongoing reassessment (a common problem after retirement, not just driving ) and I think that’s probably the issue I try to address with active commentaries.

[jcochrane]

I’m very pleased to see that comments in my introductory post have inspired such well thought out criticisms, sometimes in favour of commentary but I think on balance, more often opposed. I will certainly be taking all of these thoughts on board making me already glad I joined the forums.

Will I continue my solo commentaries? Maybe, but I’ll probably try to reign it in a bit. At critical moments such as planning and executing single carriageway NSL overtakes my commentary already stops dead, in favour of 100% concentration on the situation in hand. I’ll be thinking now about less extreme examples, where commentary may be of questionable benefit, and maybe even counter productive.

What I don’t want is a return to my pre-IAM driving style, where everything was based on a familiarisation with Newtonian physics that helped me to drive reasonably briskly without crashing, a desire to stay out of trouble with the law that avoided speeding fines and other penalties, and gut-instinct to accommodate road hazards beyond my control. The physics aspect can probably be defended, and a desire to stay out of trouble can’t be bad. But as for for the gut-instinct I think the gut needs ongoing reassessment (a common problem after retirement, not just driving ) and I think that’s probably the issue I try to address with active commentaries.

The trick for me is to prepare mentally/emotionally before letting the clutch up at the start of the drive.Ensure there are no distractions which includes turning the radio off. Never stop running a commentary in the head. Keep searching for information all round including the far distance where I imagine an 8ft man standing and I look over his head.(this brings into view the the terrain ahead and early glimpses of what to expect.). Use imagination.Be flexible not dogmatic.That's what helps me and maybe others. Oh and my favourite word for which I get my leg pulled, constantly, is "Sooner" Do everything sooner. Sooner to be smoother to be safer. My three "Ss" mantra.

[hir]

...No, you’re right, I’m not much fun to drive with!

Lies, all lies

Mark, you and John are both very kind. I’m always happy to listen to you both whilst driving. Hopefully, I’ll be back in action in a few months time and look forward to driving again with yourselves and others on here.