How to terminate your IAM membership.....

[ipsg.glf]

Send an email with your name, address (and membership number if you have it handy) to the very nice Alice Story ([e-mail]) who will process it forthwith.

This has been a public service announcement. No responses necessary.

[LaSarthe+Back]

Sorry, but I feel a response IS neccessary.

I will only terminate if they do not make a change toward the goals I joined up and found myself working toward. greater membership of younger drivers etc. and disassociation from this "intelligent take over the driving of your car for you" bks.

I beleive, that up to this point, they are a worthwhile charity whose annual membership is a lot less than some charities will ask for over a year. Does one see a direct benefit from an RSPB membership? you could argue not. Although you might not see one now, over time I hope that IAM membership spreads the benefit wider and we see things improve.

Cheers!

[ipsg.glf]

By remaining a member of the IAM you provide TPTB with funding to pursue their goals of ISA.

Name me one givernment IT project that has come in on time and budget and to specification. It will be no different with ISA. Enough. If ISA costs £300 per vehicle (installation cost) and £100 per year operational costs, just imagine what could be achieved with such an investment in driver training.

[LaSarthe+Back]

Yes exactly, and I will be making that point at the next group meeting.

Not to give an organisation a chance to change is not fair, and since most have an indeterminate time left before membership renewal, and will not be refunded pro-rata, so why should they terminate now except to further squeeze an organisation already feeling it?

[ipsg.glf]

Change? IAM?

[p1esk]

LaSarthe+Back said:

Yes exactly, and I will be making that point at the next group meeting.

Not to give an organisation a chance to change is not fair, and since most have an indeterminate time left before membership renewal, and will not be refunded pro-rata, so why should they terminate now except to further squeeze an organisation already feeling it?

But is the IAM leadership willing to change? Maybe some members have been trying to interest the top brass in changes of policy on some subjects, but found the leadership unwilling to listen. I doubt if it has been a matter of not giving them the chance to change.

From what I hear it sounds as if the leadership is well out of step with the positive attitudes and enthusiasm displayed by many of the people at local group level. I'm not surprised to find some of them wondering why they bother.

Best wishes all,
Dave.

[BertBert]

ipsg.glf said:

...you provide TPTB with funding to pursue their goals of ISA.

DO what? Have I missed something?
Bert

[p1esk]

BertBert said:

ipsg.glf said:

...you provide TPTB with funding to pursue their goals of ISA.

DO what? Have I missed something?
Bert

Apparently the IAM is being far more supportive of the ISA proposals than some would wish. I think they should have condemned the wretched system from day one and continued to oppose it unreservedly.

BTW, ISA = a system for identifying the location of vehicles by means of GPS, and knowing what the speed limit is at each point it then prevents the vehicle from exceeding the speed limit - or some such crap. It's a totally unacceptable interference with drivers' control of their vehicles and it should not be allowed to be implemented, ever, period, full stop, end of, etc.

Best wishes all,
Dave.

[BertBert]

ahh, of course. Glad I fell out with IAM years ago then!
Bert

[ipsg.glf]

BertBert said:

ahh, of course. Glad I fell out with IAM years ago then!
Bert

Bert

Could you send me a message via my profile please. Thanks.

[RichB]

p1esk said:

BertBert said:

ipsg.glf said:

...you provide TPTB with funding to pursue their goals of ISA.

DO what? Have I missed something?
Bert

..ISA = a system for identifying the location of vehicles by means of GPS, and knowing what the speed limit is at each point it then prevents the vehicle from exceeding the speed limit - or some such crap. It's a totally unacceptable interference with drivers' control of their vehicles and it should not be allowed to be implemented, ever, period, full stop, end of, etc.

agree 100%

[p1esk]

RichB said:

p1esk said:

BertBert said:

ipsg.glf said:

...you provide TPTB with funding to pursue their goals of ISA.

DO what? Have I missed something?
Bert

..ISA = a system for identifying the location of vehicles by means of GPS, and knowing what the speed limit is at each point it then prevents the vehicle from exceeding the speed limit - or some such crap. It's a totally unacceptable interference with drivers' control of their vehicles and it should not be allowed to be implemented, ever, period, full stop, end of, etc.

agree 100%

Thank you, so far so good.

Now all we need is similar support from another 30 million drivers, all determined to make it quite clear to the government that we will have nothing to do with this scheme.

Right, next problem....? I expect we can find one or two.

Best wishes all,
Dave.

[waremark]

p1esk said:

Thank you, so far so good.

Now all we need is similar support from another 30 million drivers, all determined to make it quite clear to the government that we will have nothing to do with this scheme.

Right, next problem....? I expect we can find one or two.

Try it out on people you know who are not interested in driving. I did, and found that before I started explaining some of my reservations many people thought that ISA sounded like a good idea.

[Strangely Brown]

I am not a member of the IAM, having told them to 'poke it' many years ago. I am, however, a member of RoADAR (I hate the new acronym) and it does seem that they are heading the same way. i.e. Increasingly less about driving standards and more about PC bks and following Govt. policy.

If they start openly supporting systems such as this then I'll tell them to 'poke it' too.

Hmmm... re-test due this year. Might have to think on whether it's worth it or not.

Edited by Strangely Brown on Sunday 11th January 17:21

[p1esk]

Strangely Brown said:

I am not a member of the IAM, having told them to 'poke it' many years ago. I am, however, a member of RoADAR (I hate the new acronym) and it does seem that they are heading the same way. i.e. Increasingly less about driving standards and more about PC bks and following Govt. policy.

If they start openly supporting systems such as this then I'll tell them to 'poke it' too.

Hmmm... re-test due this year. Might have to think on whether it's worth it or not.

Edited by Strangely Brown on Sunday 11th January 17:21

It probably isn't. Save your money. HTH.

Best wishes all,
Dave.

[waremark]

p1esk said:

Strangely Brown said:

I am not a member of the IAM, having told them to 'poke it' many years ago. I am, however, a member of RoADAR (I hate the new acronym) and it does seem that they are heading the same way. i.e. Increasingly less about driving standards and more about PC bks and following Govt. policy.

If they start openly supporting systems such as this then I'll tell them to 'poke it' too.

Hmmm... re-test due this year. Might have to think on whether it's worth it or not.

Edited by Strangely Brown on Sunday 11th January 17:21

It probably isn't. Save your money. HTH.

Best wishes all,
Dave.

Retests 'free', included within £17.50 annual membership charge. Turn down the opportunity to drive with a pleasant expert who will give you constructive verbal and written feedback on the current state of your driving - why on earth??

[Strangely Brown]

waremark said:

Retests 'free', included within £17.50 annual membership charge. Turn down the opportunity to drive with a pleasant expert who will give you constructive verbal and written feedback on the current state of your driving - why on earth??

Oh, it's not the test itself that's the problem, I always rather enjoy that part of it. It's the continued membership of the organisation that I am not convinced about. Still, I suppose £17.50 is quite cheap for amounts to an hours driving lesson with an expert.

[p1esk]

OK, Mark - well both of you really - it's not much money, but in your case I would have thought you'd manage perfectly well without taking further re-tests, but it's none of my business. It was simply that I wouldn't bother spending unnecessary money with an organisation when I object to their current policies, and you (the Sussex Mark) do seem to be objecting.

Best wishes all,
Dave.

[Strangely Brown]

p1esk said:

OK, Mark - well both of you really - it's not much money, but in your case I would have thought you'd manage perfectly well without taking further re-tests, but it's none of my business. It was simply that I wouldn't bother spending unnecessary money with an organisation when I object to their current policies, and you (the Sussex Mark) do seem to be objecting.

Ahh... but how do you KNOW you're managing perfectly well UNLESS you take the re-test to find out? If you have personal goal of achieving and maintaining a minimum standard for yourself you will need to check that standard against something every so often. The point of the compulsory re-test is to maintain membership standards and it does happen to be a nice half-day out with someone else who enjoys driving too. Yes, I suspect that there are other ways of doing the same thing not least of which would be for me to start making more of my Club Driving membership and going out on some more mentoring drives.

You're right, Dave. The organisational "policy" does appear to have drifted since I originally joined and perhaps it is time I explored other avenues to meet my personal ideals.

[Mr POD]

waremark said:

p1esk said:

Thank you, so far so good.

Now all we need is similar support from another 30 million drivers, all determined to make it quite clear to the government that we will have nothing to do with this scheme.

Right, next problem....? I expect we can find one or two.

Try it out on people you know who are not interested in driving. I did, and found that before I started explaining some of my reservations many people thought that ISA sounded like a good idea.

People I know who think it's a good idea.

My wife, her mother, her sister, my mother, my sister, and every woman I know at work.

People I know who don't think it's a good idea.

My Dad, My Father In Law, 2 brother in laws, the bloke I sit next to, and every bloke I know.

It's a small sample, but those that do the majority of the driving, think it's a dangerous idea and those that do local journeys only, who have NEVER overtaken ever, and believe the governments spin, think it's a great idea.