Advanced Commentary Driving

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I have been hanging out lately on some Advanced Driving forums : Pistonheads Advanced Driving forum and ADUK , starting to again take an interest in this having been away from it for over 20 years .

Some of the guys over on the Pistonheads forum have started posting up videos of themselves doing commentary , with in-car video recording now being so readily available , as a good way of getting mutual criticism from each other .

Although I hadn't done much in the way of commentary driving in a good many years , I thought I'd have a go and stuck my digital compact camera to the top of the dash to see how it would work out . The material was shot on my Canon Powershot G11 at 640x480 resolution then compressed from a file size of 3.8 Gb to about 300Mb for the first video and more like 900Mb for the second - both run for a little over 40 minutes .

My first drive on Thursday morning was a bit of a strain finding all the terminology again after so long away , and prioritising the most important things to be talking about when multiple things are going on at once . The second drive on the Friday morning , I felt , went more smoothly as it is all starting to come back .

I thought as well as posting these on the Pistonheads site , I'd also post them here since there have been past discussions on AD and various members have shown interest . Please be aware that I am still quite 'rusty' and that there are a few mistakes of which I am well aware , but it should still give a flavour of what advanced driving is all about for anyone who is interested . Any comment or criticism will be welcomed although , before anyone mentions it , I am still using the 'old' system of car control as that is what I learned 30 years ago . I will at some point try to get some instruction in the 'new' system .

There are IAM and ROSPA groups in most parts of the country if anyone wants to take it further . I can provide links for anyone interested .

Here are the links to the videos

Thursday morning

Commentary drive.m4v - YouTube

Friday morning

Commentary drive - YouTube
 
My first drive on Thursday morning was a bit of a strain finding all the terminology again after so long away , and prioritising the most important things to be talking about when multiple things are going on at once .

Isn't thinking about speaking taking your attention away from driving and the issue surrounding mobile phone use?

Just a thought.

How do you compress the video file so much, I would like to take some reasonable length video but then would need to reduce the file size.
 
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Isn't thinking about speaking taking your attention away from driving and the issue surrounding mobile phone use?

Just a thought.

How do you compress the video file so much, I would like to take some reasonable length video but then would need to reduce the file size.

I find that it actually heightens my awareness of what is going on since I am actively looking for things to comment on . Commentary is a valuable training tool since an instructor can hear exactly what is going through your mind . I guess the biggest difference between this and a phone conversation is that the commentary is entirely about reading the road and the driving process , which focuses your mind on the drive , rather than some unrelated subject which does the complete opposite .

My biggest problem is that I can't talk fast enough to include everything I see and have to prioritise . Even just watching the two videos back myself I see things I missed out both doing as well as just commentating on .

Because I hadn't done this for a very long time , I felt that the second effort was much more fluent than the first . I will put in a bit more practice before doing another video .

As for compression , I used Toast Titanium which , besides being designed to burn files to disc , has a function for compressing video so that it can be viewed on mobile devices such as the iPhone and many others .

Many video editing packages also offer a similar facility - iMovie , for example , allows you to compress to various file formats before exporting : under the 'Share' drop down menu there is the option to export for various media and under 'expert settings' you can choose various screen resolutions , aspect ratios and frame rates . I have numerous other bits of standalone software for video processing on my Mac , but will check which ones also offer Windows versions before posting back .
 
If anyone else with experience of this would like to have a go and post their efforts , please go ahead . Even links to bits of commentary done by others and already posted would be welcome .

YouTube normally has a 15 minute limit for uploads , but this can be lifted by verifying your account . As far as I am aware , there is no limit to file size and quite a lot of people now upload HD content , larger files just take longer to upload and the time depends on how fast your broadband is : because I live out in the sticks my upload speeds are very low and each of these clips took several hours to upload , folks who live near their exchanges should be able to do it in a fraction of the time and may not need to compress .
 
A few questions about mirrors: I noticed many comments of mirror checking, a lot more than I'd do myself. In an urban environment with single lane, is just the centre rear view mirror sufficient when just driving along?

I'd check my off-side mirror if moving out to pass a parked car, but not the near side, is that OK? What does the nearside show you other than the pavement?

Lastly, when overtaking a vehicle on a motorway why is it necessary to check the nearside mirror when pulling back in? Whilst overtaking I'd look left in to the gap I know I'll be moving in to shortly, then a check with the centre rear view mirror to be sure I've left a sufficient gap.
 
A few questions about mirrors: I noticed many comments of mirror checking, a lot more than I'd do myself. In an urban environment with single lane, is just the centre rear view mirror sufficient when just driving along?

I'd check my off-side mirror if moving out to pass a parked car, but not the near side, is that OK? What does the nearside show you other than the pavement?

Lastly, when overtaking a vehicle on a motorway why is it necessary to check the nearside mirror when pulling back in? Whilst overtaking I'd look left in to the gap I know I'll be moving in to shortly, then a check with the centre rear view mirror to be sure I've left a sufficient gap.

On a normal straight road the internal mirror may be fine for keeping an eye on something directly behind , but the exterior mirrors may afford a better view of the road behind a following vehicle , especially if it is something like a van which you cannot see through in the same way as you can a car .

Whenever changing course , I always check the exterior mirror on the side I am moving towards , often looking for overtakers , motorbikes etc which I would not wish to move into the path of , or checking that I am safely past something I have just overtaken . On the approach to junctions in town you need observation down both sides since cyclists can come up either side , motorcycles can appear very suddenly - really 'anything can happen' . Different exterior mirrors can afford better rear views around bends behind as well . Even with all these mirror checks , you would note that I also still perform shoulder checks at times as well since mirrors can leave blind spots .
 
On the approach to junctions in town you need observation down both sides since cyclists can come up either side ,

My driving instructor always said that if you turn left and hit a cyclist that has travelled up the left of your car it's your fault, as you should have moved towards the kerb for turning left at junctions.

Does that not apply for advanced driving also?
 
It does , and you want to be aware of them .

Normally you would position towards ' the better part of the nearside ' as far left as practical without running through potholes etc. However , in some circumstances : a tight turn into a narrow side road , you may have to position out a bit to make the turn without clipping the kerb with your nearside rear wheel - in such circumstances a cyclist could try to pass along the nearside even though it is a foolish and suicidal thing to do . Ultimately I would stop before turning if I find a cyclist has ignored my left turn signal even though I may be in the right and he in the wrong I still don't want to hit him .

The earlier mirror check before taking position towards the left again is looking for cyclists who may be filtering down the nearside , often keeping pace with traffic in town or even exceeding the speed of motorised traffic .

Another factor is cycle lanes in built up areas - while these usually , but not always , end before junctions , the requirement to stay out of them leaves room for cyclists to potentially come up the inside , so you need to be very aware of them .
 
My driving instructor always said that if you turn left and hit a cyclist that has travelled up the left of your car it's your fault, as you should have moved towards the kerb for turning left at junctions.

Does that not apply for advanced driving also?

Interesting, as I thought you were meant to move out slightly to the right to increase your vision through the corner.
 
A lot depends on the width of the road you are turning into , and what the sight lines are like .

Positioning right or left , as with a twisty main road , can confer better sight lines as well as a wider turning circle , but for lower speed turns into side roads a position towards the left can show following traffic what you are doing and avoid the situation of being 'undertaken' as you slow for the turn .

There are pros and cons to many actions and many have their own preferences without neccessarily being right or wrong . Every situation can be different and flexibility/adaptability can often be key to good driving .
 
Very interesting.

Derek, is that you in Google Streetview at the side of your house?;)
 
Yes that is me , although that picture is at least three years old since the 190 has been gone that long !
 
Yes it was the village post office at one time , an antique shop at another and a private house the rest of the time .
 
Good Luck mate.Your very brave.
That brought back alot of memories.I sat ROSPA IAM 3 Times in and around Edinburgh in the 90s. Defo couldn't and wouldn't pass again.
 
I found that quite reassuring. I drive with similar caution. Though I don't talk to myself half as much!
 
Good Luck mate.Your very brave.
That brought back alot of memories.I sat ROSPA IAM 3 Times in and around Edinburgh in the 90s. Defo couldn't and wouldn't pass again.

It is more like 30 years since I did mine in the same area .

I'm not fussed about sitting tests again but do want to brush up a bit . Hadn't done commentary for 20 or so years prior to these two vids .
 
I found that quite reassuring. I drive with similar caution. Though I don't talk to myself half as much!

Talking to one'self is sometimes the best way to get a decent conversation . :)
 
I haven't got the camera sorted yet but, inspired by this thread, I took the trouble to do an audio recording of my drive to work this morning. Here it is.

Pulling away from drive, gentle acceleration up to the speed limit as it is safe to do so.

Pedestrian posing possible hazard on left and there is a parked car on my right compromising visibility. Adjust speed accordingly.

Approaching lights, check mirror and start to decellera.. Whoah!!! WTF??!! What an absolute prat, that was my lane. Never mind, I'll nail him at the next set of lights. Chill.

So, moving off and observing some school children on pedal bikes. Move towards centre of road to give them clearance and a safety margin. Ease back in having completed a rear observation. Approaching roundabout and vehicles ahead. Ease off accelerator to maintain safe distance between self and car in front. Bring vehicle to a halt as I wait to enter roundabout after the car in front has completed similar maneouvre.

Come on Grandad, when did you last get your eyes tested. For crying out loud, I could have got a ****ing bus out in that gap. Yes, we haven't got all day, some of us have lives to get on with. Jeez!

And pull onto roundabout, having completed both a rear observation to the left and a life saver to the right in case of motorcycles.

etc.
 

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