Advanced driving lessons/exam
Discussion
You can just do some lessons, or just do a test. Unless you specifically want to collect certificates it's the lessons that matter not the test.
The cheapest way is to contact a local IAM or ROSPA group, but their 'observers', while generally decent drivers who have had
some training to be observers, aren't professional instructors so the quality varies. The test at the end is pretty much the same and often conducted by the same examiners.
If you don't mind spending a few hundred quid, get lessons from a professional advanced instructor who is ideally a qualified police instructor or at least trained to that driving standard and will also be qualified as an instructor.
Some ex police instructors seem a little bit too keen on maximising progress to an extent other drivers might not expect when you are driving your own car, but it's all good experience.
Either way the main benefit is that the observer or instructor identifies bad habits you've fallen into without realising. From then on it's basically polish and smoothness, generally good fun. Like going for a drive with a knowledgeable friend and getting recognition when you've pulled off a nifty overtake or identified a developing hazard well in advance.
Most surveys do show that the chance of having an accident is reduced by this kind of on road training. With the proviso that the effect seems to wear off after 2 or 3 years without a refresher. There is also some evidence that accident rate is slightly higher in the immediate aftermath of having training which is usually attributed to over confidence though personally I suspect it may the distraction of getting used to a slightly different driving style. Certainly after having my driving pulled apart by John Lyon I felt anything but overconfident.
The cheapest way is to contact a local IAM or ROSPA group, but their 'observers', while generally decent drivers who have had
some training to be observers, aren't professional instructors so the quality varies. The test at the end is pretty much the same and often conducted by the same examiners.
If you don't mind spending a few hundred quid, get lessons from a professional advanced instructor who is ideally a qualified police instructor or at least trained to that driving standard and will also be qualified as an instructor.
Some ex police instructors seem a little bit too keen on maximising progress to an extent other drivers might not expect when you are driving your own car, but it's all good experience.
Either way the main benefit is that the observer or instructor identifies bad habits you've fallen into without realising. From then on it's basically polish and smoothness, generally good fun. Like going for a drive with a knowledgeable friend and getting recognition when you've pulled off a nifty overtake or identified a developing hazard well in advance.
Most surveys do show that the chance of having an accident is reduced by this kind of on road training. With the proviso that the effect seems to wear off after 2 or 3 years without a refresher. There is also some evidence that accident rate is slightly higher in the immediate aftermath of having training which is usually attributed to over confidence though personally I suspect it may the distraction of getting used to a slightly different driving style. Certainly after having my driving pulled apart by John Lyon I felt anything but overconfident.
Qouting that IAM Observers have had 'some training' is a bit of an understatement....
I was a RoSPA Advanced rider and tutor before moving over to cars. I took my Advanced test, with RoSPA, and achieved a Gold standard pass which was accepted by the IAM as an 'Advanced Driver' pass.
My following training, as a National Observer, took around nine months and was extremely thorough. Culminating in a test which lastes two and a half hours. I also will go out with our Chief Observer where we will critique each others driving and tuition.
I am definitely not of the 'flat cap' brigade as, although in my 70s, I currently drive a Seat Cupra ST and a TVR.
Although the main focus of the IAM Advanced driver training is safety we also encourage smooth, progressive driving. Driving or riding with police advanced drivers shows how this makes rapid progress look calm and smooth.
Most IAM groups will offer a 'Free taster drive' where your driving will be assesed and you can then decide whether to buy the full course or not....
I was a RoSPA Advanced rider and tutor before moving over to cars. I took my Advanced test, with RoSPA, and achieved a Gold standard pass which was accepted by the IAM as an 'Advanced Driver' pass.
My following training, as a National Observer, took around nine months and was extremely thorough. Culminating in a test which lastes two and a half hours. I also will go out with our Chief Observer where we will critique each others driving and tuition.
I am definitely not of the 'flat cap' brigade as, although in my 70s, I currently drive a Seat Cupra ST and a TVR.
Although the main focus of the IAM Advanced driver training is safety we also encourage smooth, progressive driving. Driving or riding with police advanced drivers shows how this makes rapid progress look calm and smooth.
Most IAM groups will offer a 'Free taster drive' where your driving will be assesed and you can then decide whether to buy the full course or not....
tivver500 said:
Qouting that IAM Observers have had 'some training' is a bit of an understatement....
I was a RoSPA Advanced rider and tutor before moving over to cars. I took my Advanced test, with RoSPA, and achieved a Gold standard pass which was accepted by the IAM as an 'Advanced Driver' pass.
My following training, as a National Observer, took around nine months and was extremely thorough. Culminating in a test which lastes two and a half hours. I also will go out with our Chief Observer where we will critique each others driving and tuition.
I am definitely not of the 'flat cap' brigade as, although in my 70s, I currently drive a Seat Cupra ST and a TVR.
Although the main focus of the IAM Advanced driver training is safety we also encourage smooth, progressive driving. Driving or riding with police advanced drivers shows how this makes rapid progress look calm and smooth.
Most IAM groups will offer a 'Free taster drive' where your driving will be assesed and you can then decide whether to buy the full course or not....
TY for that......seems the first approach.I was a RoSPA Advanced rider and tutor before moving over to cars. I took my Advanced test, with RoSPA, and achieved a Gold standard pass which was accepted by the IAM as an 'Advanced Driver' pass.
My following training, as a National Observer, took around nine months and was extremely thorough. Culminating in a test which lastes two and a half hours. I also will go out with our Chief Observer where we will critique each others driving and tuition.
I am definitely not of the 'flat cap' brigade as, although in my 70s, I currently drive a Seat Cupra ST and a TVR.
Although the main focus of the IAM Advanced driver training is safety we also encourage smooth, progressive driving. Driving or riding with police advanced drivers shows how this makes rapid progress look calm and smooth.
Most IAM groups will offer a 'Free taster drive' where your driving will be assesed and you can then decide whether to buy the full course or not....
It's been a long time (2010) since I did IAM, so take this with a pinch of salt.
It probably is flat cap and leather gloves. It probably also is lots of other things, like pedantic or dogmatic or whatever else. And like someone said, it can be very variable.
But you're not in it to become one of them, you're in it to learn how to drive better. Absorbing their knowledge ultimately doesn't require conformity with anything but the driving.
Properly adopting their practices - in other words, changing your habits - and attaining their highest pass mark is hard. It might take you a long time, for a while it might make your driving worse, and you might hate it. But if you can power through it, and make it stick, I think it will radically improve your driving.
They were an early influence for me, but they taught me how to drive quicker, how to overtake, and how to be habitually safer. It gave me a set of standards or a framework to assess myself against which in turn gave me more confidence/assurance in how I drive, in a healthy way.
I recommend it, but it's not necessarily either fun or easy.
It probably is flat cap and leather gloves. It probably also is lots of other things, like pedantic or dogmatic or whatever else. And like someone said, it can be very variable.
But you're not in it to become one of them, you're in it to learn how to drive better. Absorbing their knowledge ultimately doesn't require conformity with anything but the driving.
Properly adopting their practices - in other words, changing your habits - and attaining their highest pass mark is hard. It might take you a long time, for a while it might make your driving worse, and you might hate it. But if you can power through it, and make it stick, I think it will radically improve your driving.
They were an early influence for me, but they taught me how to drive quicker, how to overtake, and how to be habitually safer. It gave me a set of standards or a framework to assess myself against which in turn gave me more confidence/assurance in how I drive, in a healthy way.
I recommend it, but it's not necessarily either fun or easy.
I've done both car and bike tests along with the associated training.
Bike - one to one observation with the observer following me for about 4 or 5 hours at a time with feedback along the way and a 20-minute chat at the end about what we'd covered and how I'd been riding, these were booked on mutually suitable dates. I had about 6 sessions, mock test with a different observer then the test.
Car - classroom session with about 8 other candidates talking about one of the core principles of the system, this was around an hour then there would be a road session, observer in the passenger seat and another candidate in the back. I'd drive for about 20 minutes then there would be a quick debrief. These were every other Sunday, if you missed a Sunday then you'd miss the relevant part of the system and you'd have to wait for it to come back around again. I did 4 of these sessions and then went for the test.
If I hadn't done the bike test 1st I would have struggled with the car one, thankfully I'd picked up some transferable skills and I just needed to pick up on the car intricacies.
I don't know if how my local group organises their training is typical of other groups but I didn't think it was very good. The bike training (with a different group) was excellent.
I've not continued to be part of the IAM since passing my test but I do think it was worthwhile process and I would recommend doing it.
Bike - one to one observation with the observer following me for about 4 or 5 hours at a time with feedback along the way and a 20-minute chat at the end about what we'd covered and how I'd been riding, these were booked on mutually suitable dates. I had about 6 sessions, mock test with a different observer then the test.
Car - classroom session with about 8 other candidates talking about one of the core principles of the system, this was around an hour then there would be a road session, observer in the passenger seat and another candidate in the back. I'd drive for about 20 minutes then there would be a quick debrief. These were every other Sunday, if you missed a Sunday then you'd miss the relevant part of the system and you'd have to wait for it to come back around again. I did 4 of these sessions and then went for the test.
If I hadn't done the bike test 1st I would have struggled with the car one, thankfully I'd picked up some transferable skills and I just needed to pick up on the car intricacies.
I don't know if how my local group organises their training is typical of other groups but I didn't think it was very good. The bike training (with a different group) was excellent.
I've not continued to be part of the IAM since passing my test but I do think it was worthwhile process and I would recommend doing it.
Lot of good and accurate advice given here.
I was an observer for the IAM for years and a RoSPA observer for a while, I enjoyed it but was definitely in the camp of making good, safe yet quick progress. No flat caps or leather gloves in sight. Haven’t done any Advanced Driving for years now though. As has been said, it’s the observers who will either make it enjoyable or boring as sin. They used to (Not sure if still do) rotate observers so you gain different input from different people, you’ll quickly find your favourite though and some swapping used to take place in the car park before heading out.
I remember my last ever test, got an ex-Police instructor who then became a Rapid Response Paramedic. That guy was a phenomenal instructor/examiner and really encouraged VERY rapid progress when we could. I’d have loved a few more hours with him giving me pointers and just having fun flying around the country lanes. I must have done something right though, passed with a Gold. I’d have happily paid him for more of his time.
I was an observer for the IAM for years and a RoSPA observer for a while, I enjoyed it but was definitely in the camp of making good, safe yet quick progress. No flat caps or leather gloves in sight. Haven’t done any Advanced Driving for years now though. As has been said, it’s the observers who will either make it enjoyable or boring as sin. They used to (Not sure if still do) rotate observers so you gain different input from different people, you’ll quickly find your favourite though and some swapping used to take place in the car park before heading out.
I remember my last ever test, got an ex-Police instructor who then became a Rapid Response Paramedic. That guy was a phenomenal instructor/examiner and really encouraged VERY rapid progress when we could. I’d have loved a few more hours with him giving me pointers and just having fun flying around the country lanes. I must have done something right though, passed with a Gold. I’d have happily paid him for more of his time.
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