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Information from the IAM web site
The Advanced Driving Test lasts for about 90 minutes and will
usually cover between 30 and 40 miles along all types of road (town driving,
motorways (if available) or dual carriageways, and even country lanes).
The examiners all hold the Police Advanced Driving Certificate and have
experience in Traffic Patrol work They have all had to deal with the
consequences of poor driving, and share a common interest in road safety, and
the belief that no one has the right to drive badly.
On the test, the examiner will look for certain features within your drive.
These are described below, and the order is significant; nothing at all must
compromise the first item in the list, safety.
Your Drive should be
. . . Safe
Safety is the most important aspect of all driving.
Position and speed must always be sacrificed for safety, but safety must never
be sacrificed for any reason. The driver's objective is to maintain safe
progress by identifying hazards early and planning how to deal with them safely
and efficiently.
The four key skills of advanced driving are Concentration,
effective all round Observation, Anticipation
and Planning. Advanced Driving is using these
skills properly and co-ordinating them with good handling skills to ensure that
your driving is . . . .
. . . Systematic
The System of Car Control is a way of approaching and
negotiating all situations that is safe, methodical, and leaves nothing to
chance. The IAM uses the Police System of Car Control. Driving to a
system draws all your driving skills together so that you can deal with an
unpredictable environment in a methodical and logical way and have time to
select the best position, speed, and gear to negotiate all hazards safely and
efficiently.
. . . Smooth
If your vehicle control and handling skills are properly co-ordinated with your
perceptual and awareness skills, your driving will not only be safe and
systematic, but it will also be smooth. Nothing should look or feel
hurried. The three main considerations are passenger comfort,
vehicle stability and vehicle sympathy.
. . . Speed (correct
use of)
The ability to make progress is an important advanced driving skill, but progress
must never compromise safety. Excess speed (speed above the
statutory limit) and inappropriate speed (excessive speed for
the circumstances, regardless of the statutory limit) are dangerous and
are not acceptable. Advanced Drivers understand this and know
that speed limits are limits, and not targets. They use their perceptual
and awareness skills to identify when they should impose their own speed limit
on themselves, (regardless of the statutory speed limit), depending on
circumstances.
The four S's of Advanced Driving, (Safety, System, Smoothness and (correct
use of) Speed ensures that the driver makes progress with skill and
responsibility and is always at the right place on the road at the
right time, travelling at the right speed with the correct gear engaged for that
speed and can always stop safely in the distance that can be seen to be clear.