'Advanced' driving - what does it mean?

 

Advanced driving can be interpreted in many ways. Some people will regard it as driving fast; some think of it as driving slowly, whereas other people think of it as very high driving skill like the skills demonstrated by police high speed pursuit drivers.

 

The myths are none of the above.

 

Advanced driving simply means, driving within the rules of the road; you should also display above average anticipation skills; your use of the car's controls should be smooth and controlled.

 

Attitude

Advanced driving starts with your attitude to driving. Your attitude will affect the way you drive. If you easily get annoyed, your more likely to be involved in an accident. Other reasons that can affect the way you drive and lead to accidents are:

• Being agressive;
• Having loud music on;
• Talking on a mobile while driving;
• in a hurry to reach your destination;
• not being confident at driving;
• you don't really enjoy driving
• taking your concentration away from your driving, and thinking of something totally different.
• and many more, which I'm sure you can think of!

 

I'm sure that when you do a regular journey, sometimes you feel good about your driving, whereas othertimes you feel bad, when something 'happened' on the journey. This is totally down to your attitude before you start the engine.

To drive safely, you should start to think about the way you feel about your driving.

 

Changing attitudes

For this to work, you must be honest.

 

To help you to get started, download this table. This is a pdf file.

 

The table is divided into two columns.

One side is your positve points, and the right negative points.

 

On the Positive side, add all the things you feel you can do well.
On the Negative side, add all the the things you dont like about your driving or find difficult.

 

Print the list and fill in what you think are your good points as well as items that you dont like about your driving. As I said, be honest with your answers. Print out some copies to get your family and freinds to join in who you are your passengers.

When you have finished the list, you will probably find that you have a lot more negatives, than positve answers, dont worry at this point, as its normal, most people have a lot of faults.

 

Download and print this table.

The table is divided into three columns. Copy your negative points in the first column. Try and think why you make that fault, (dont worry if you can't). The third column is so you can suggest a way you can stop making that fault.

 

Go through the negative points, and try to analyse why they are negative, and think of ways to convert them to positives. For example:

if you approach hazards too fast, ask yourself why? And what can I do to approach slower? Do I not see the hazard till its 'in my face', or do I leave it late to deal with the hazards? Safe driving means seeing hazards in good time so you can react

Are my gear changes smooth? If not, why? Do I want to change really quickly? How do my passengers feel when I change gear? if the answer is yes, then you will need to take more time changing.And so on..

 

Whenever your driving you should try and focus on your good faults, and eliminate the negatives. However, don't try to sort them all out at once. Take your time, then in a short time you should see an improvement in your driving skills.

 

Click on the link below If you havent got Adobe Acrobat you can download it from this link

Advanced driving organisations.

If you want to take an advanced driving test In the UK, there are two main Advanced driving organisations. They are:

 

• The Institute of Advanced Motorist (IAM); and
• Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (ROSPA).

 

The difference between them is: The IAM test, you just take the one test when you are ready.

The ROSPA test is divided into three categories: Bronze, Silver and Gold. You should attempt to reach the Gold standard. If you don't then you will be encouraged to retake the test within three years. Once you've got the Gold standard, you will be expected to maintain that standard by further tests every three years.

Both organisations offer local group meetings usually once a month. When you sign-up for either test, you would also sign-up for membershio to that organisation.

 

We at Keys Driving can offer driving courses so you can pass either test. Just give us a call or email us for more info.