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When you are preparing for the IAM Advanced Test, your observer is your most important ally. You will undertake a series of observed drives, with advice and guidance from the observer, until you both feel that you are ready to put in a test application. However, it is just as important to practise on your own, between the observed runs. Doing that will enable you to become comfortable with the new techniques that your are learning, such as the System of car control. Most people prefer to practise commentary driving on their own, to overcome feelings of self-consciousness. You should practise the techniques on every drive you make.
What else can you do to consolidate your learning? When you are not driving, you can read about advanced driving in Roadcraft, the IAM's manual Pass Your Advanced Driving Test, and the Highway Code. If you have a computer you can also join the IAM Forum, via its web site, and share your views with other IAM members.
Another extremely effective aid to preparing for the Test is to watch the Roadcraft video, preferably several times. The video is available from good bookshops or direct from the IAM Collection at a cost of £14.99, and is worth every penny. To order from IAM Collection (see details below) you have to quote your IAM membership number – associates might want to ask a full member, perhaps their observer, to order it for them.
Made in 1996, the video was sponsored by the IAM and Shell. It follows the fortunes of a group of trainee police drivers at the Metropolitan Police Driving School at Hendon, North London. There are 18 trainees on the course, and the video concentrates on six of them, in two groups of three. All are fairly experienced drivers, being trained on the course to become police pursuit drivers. The course lasts two weeks, but our trainees lose a day because of a bank holiday half-way through. Using a ‘real’ course with actual trainees ensures realism; it is clear from watching it that nothing was set up or ‘staged’ specially for the video film.
On their first day of the course, the trainees undergo eye tests and a driving theory test, followed by a series of lectures on the System. On Day 2 they learn how to do daily vehicle checks and then begin the driving phase. Each car carries three trainees with an instructor, one trainee driving and the other two observing from the back seats. During the rest of the course they spend the whole of each day on the road, taking it in turns to drive and covering a wide range of road and traffic situations. They start on small cars and move onto more powerful vehicles as the course progresses.
The instructors, experienced traffic police constables and sergeants, explain the elements of the System progressively and in great detail. Their ‘firm but fair’ approach, coupled with their expertise, patience and courtesy, makes them excellent role models for IAM observers.
A powerful aspect of the video is the use of aerial views, taken by a police helicopter unit. This allows us to follow the progress of the trainees' vehicles as they negotiate hazards such as roundabouts, bends and motorway junctions. The aerial views are supplemented by road-level views of the cars, and front-seat views of the controls and the road ahead.
Commentary driving is introduced at an early stage. The instructors provide a very detailed commentary as they conduct demonstration drives early in the course. The trainees then learn to do a commentary, hesitantly at first but with increasing confidence and competence. Much of the learning value of the video is provided by these commentaries, which replace the normal narration. The instructors use useful phrases, such as 'Preparing to stop, looking to go' at roundabouts, and they provide a host of hints, tips, or ‘wrinkles’ that will be very useful for any driver. The video format allows each tip to be illustrated in real traffic as it happens.
The video is divided into sections, each corresponding to one day of the course. Each section covers a separate skill such as gear changing, overtaking, cornering and limit points, motorway driving, night driving, etc – similar to the chapters in the Roadcraft book. There is also a section on skid-pan driving where the trainees get to use cadence braking to control the car in a simulated emergency. Although not required for the IAM Test, this provides useful additional information.
With a total running time of 90 minutes, the video is rather a lot to watch throughout at one sitting. A far better way is to take it one section at a time, probably watching it two or three times for consolidation, and perhaps making notes as you go along.
Although we have discussed using the video in preparation for the IAM Test, those who passed the Test some time ago will also find it useful for revision. It is a must for any advanced driver.
The ‘Roadcraft’
video can be ordered from IAM Collection, JEM House, Littlemead, Cranleigh,
Surrey, GU6 8ND, telephone 0870 727 4130, at a cost of £14.99 plus £1.95
p&p.
The
IAM Collection also sells a wide range of IAM-branded clothing, badges, books
and accessories – details appear in every issue of the IAM magazine
‘Advanced Driving’.