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by Tony Parish
Tony Parish is an Observer for the Newbury IAM Group, and is also a member of RoSPA Advanced Drivers’ Association. In this article he recounts his recent experience of obtaining the RoSPA Diploma, the highest non-police driving qualification.
Having held a RoSPA Gold pass for number of years and being a glutton for punishment, I was intrigued to read an article in the RoADA Thames Valley group newsletter, written by the chairman and local RoSPA examiner Dave Thompson, that painted a very bleak picture of the commitment and hard work required from candidates who wish to undertake the RoSPA Diploma examinations.
The group tries to select two members from its ranks to train each year, and the article asked for anyone interested to submit their details. That was the start of a year of hard work for me and a friend from the group. We were very fortunate to have two very experienced instructors/observers – Dave Thompson, who also holds a Police Class 1, and Ian Davies, a driving instructor and RoSPA Fleet Trainer of many years’ experience.
It was a nerve-wracking experience when we met for our first drive. We were split up and accompanied by our instructor for a drive which lasted about 1¼ hours and ended in a service station where, after a debrief on the drive, we swapped instructors for the return trip via a different route. We were expected to maintain a gold standard drive with full commentary throughout, broken only by directions being given or questions being asked that we were expected to answer by providing a short verbal answer followed by a practical demonstration with instructional commentary. Future drives varied in duration, and sometimes we would go out three to a car, which included one instructor. That allowed us to learn from each others’ strengths and weaknesses.
Included in our training programme was one ‘Long Drive’. This was a real test for us as we hired a car that neither of us was familiar with, and went out for the day with our two instructors. Now it is bad enough having just one instructor spotting weaknesses, but when you have two doing it together and firing questions it becomes a whole new ball game. We would alternate drivers for stints of about 1½ hours each, and when you were not at the wheel you were expected to prepare an assessment on your colleague’s drive. We got as far as Lymington in Dorset and back, and never touched a motorway all day.
In between drives we were given homework in the form of theory questions based on Roadcraft, the Highway Code and the Driving Manual, and had to prepare two lectures on subjects that were given to us, one of which we had to deliver to associates at our regular RoADA lecture series.
After all the hard work we applied for our Diploma Test. I left home early on a wet Friday in May to be at RoSPA HQ in Birmingham by 8.45 a.m. There I met with Bob Smalley, the RoSPA Chief Examiner, and he explained the format of the day.
First I sat two theory papers each of 45 minutes’ duration. The first was a multiple-choice paper on The Highway Code, Roadcraft and the Driving Manual. That was immediately followed by a paper on Roadcraft involving a number of scenarios, in which we were expected to explain what action we would take when dealing with the driving shortfalls of our fictitious candidates.
Answering questions on driving issues would normally be no problem, but add in the factor of exam conditions combined with a minimum pass mark of 75% on any one paper and an average pass mark required over the two papers of 80%, and you start to get a feeling of the pressure you are under.
After a short break it was time for the driving test and I made my way down to the car park. It was still lashing down with rain, so I was really grateful when the examiner suggested that I might like to run through an external vehicle check from the reception area. We then made our way to the car where I was asked to carry out a cockpit check before we began our drive around Birmingham and surrounding areas. On the drive I managed to keep up a full commentary, which then had to be supplemented by answering questions posed by the examiner at strategic points around the route that would allow me to do a brief introduction to the issue and then go on to explain more fully by practical example and instructional commentary. One and a half hours later we returned to base for the normal debrief and discussion about the drive.
The final part of the exam involved giving a classroom lecture lasting 10 minutes (and you lost marks if you didn’t hit the time frame – I lost 5% for being 30 seconds over). The subject was given to us a couple of weeks before the examination to allow us to prepare slides, handouts etc.
To gain a RoSPA Diploma you have to pass all three elements and I was told to contact HQ three days later, by which time the results would be available. I am pleased to say that both of us who took the examinations are now the proud holders of a RoSPA Diploma and thankfully – provided I maintain a Gold standard Diploma-style drive every three years on my retest – I don’t have to go through the theory paper again.