Advanced Driving Hub

GTR1400MAN wrote:NB. I probably wouldn't cut the right here at all but instead take the righthander well up to the white line, leaving me positioned already for the left (while still on my side of the road). This is all just debate.

Similar, although if the view of the ground is sufficient then I might turn sooner and use some of the offside lane in the arc.

GTR1400MAN wrote:That's sort of the point I was making. I get the technical difference between straightening and off-siding. It's the subtly of where one finishes and the other starts, and how a black/white "Thou shalt not off-side" is hard to justify.

Guys... please... listen to yourselves. Is it any wonder that people think AD advocates are a right bunch of weirdos and too far up their own backsides?

Straighten, offside, whatever. What bloody difference does it make what you call it. Just do it safely!

I agree do it safely .... however, in the context of what we are discussing here what it is called IS important.

The video being discussed explains what is required on various tests and I was pointing out the folly of an outright ban on offsiding. Hence the discussion on the blurred lines between straitening and offsiding.

I think you'll find that what you do and the context in which you do [or not as the case may be] it is what is important, not what anyone happens to call it.

In the context of a test I have offsided/straightened/whatevered often with the most recent being just a few weeks ago. IIRC, I have driven a straight line though a series of wiggles and I have also used the offside on the exit of a RH because it held the existing view through the next left. The examiner was absolutely fine, even pleased, with both.

Are you not just saying what my original comment regarding the video was saying?

What it is called doesn't matter until someone says you were doing something not allowed.

Sadly what you did (and I have done) WILL get you a fail with some examiners taking the literal guidance from IAM HQ. Have you watched/listened to the black/white explanation/statement in the video?

I think we've gone around in circles enough now.

That might be one of the myriad reasons why I don't have anything to do with the IAM.

While there may well be examiners out there that are complete, by the book, literal interpretation asshats, I have yet to meet one. YMMV.

Yes, I agree that what I said is essentially the same as your original comment. "Maintain an existing view but don't go searching for one." I think my annoyance, if it comes across that way, is the pickiness of trying to break it all down into different actions. It's all the same thing and what you call it doesn't make any bloody difference. Straight/wiggle/offside/whatever. Nobody cares and it just makes the contributors look like a bunch of obsessive onanists.

If you happen to get an examiner that marks you down for doing something that is perfectly safe and legal - if it's not then you're doing it wrong - then I suggest you may wish to ask yourself, seriously, why you're bothering with that test/organisation in the first place.

Strangely Brown wrote:While there may well be examiners out there that are complete, by the book, literal interpretation asshats, I have yet to meet one. YMMV.

Exactly, that's very much been my experience too. Every examiner I've met to date has been entirely reasonable, enthusiastic about the whole process and very much on 'our' side.

It's also worth mentioning that Reg Local IS an IAM Examiner...

Strangely Brown wrote:Nobody cares

Really?

The fact that two people are aware of the terminology, and are prepared to discuss and understand, proves you wrong.

(Edit: isn't it a bit bizarre to use an 'advanced driving' forum and be shocked and annoyed by subjects such as 'How many Hendon instructors can dance on the head of a pin?' ?)

Strangely Brown wrote:wiggle

it just makes the contributors look like a bunch of obsessive onanists.

Well, if you're going to use big words, perhaps you should combine fornication and tourism

Here's the answer, BTW:

One thing that's bothered me is when some use off-siding to mean something other than the literal interpretation. In those cases, as far as I can make out, they mean being across the centre line when approaching a left bend with a limited view and, I think, the context is mainly police pursuit.

If I've understood correctly, I wish they'd bloody well say what they mean.