The I.A.M

[corned]

Bit of a grumble I'm sorry to say.

Several weeks ago, I looked into the prospect of doing the Advanced Driver's course, or tuition, whatever it is called, and attempted to establish contact with the local IAM group.

Disappointed to say that in 6 weeks, no one has bothered to respond!

Is the uptake of Advanced courses so overwhelming at present? Or do the IAM deem that there are just too many good drivers on the road already, and one more improved one would be inconvenient and/or unnecessary?

 

[wemorgan]

I did mine about 10-12 years ago in Exeter. Back then there was a waiting time of 1 month. I had an excellent instructor who spoke common sense without being patronising. Well worth the wait in my opinion.

 

[flango]

Bit of a grumble I'm sorry to say.

Several weeks ago, I looked into the prospect of doing the Advanced Driver's course, or tuition, whatever it is called, and attempted to establish contact with the local IAM group.

Disappointed to say that in 6 weeks, no one has bothered to respond!

Is the uptake of Advanced courses so overwhelming at present? Or do the IAM deem that there are just too many good drivers on the road already, and one more improved one would be inconvenient and/or unnecessary?

Well their loss then, contact your local RoSPA driving group, much better than the IAM and I'll guarantee you will get a response. I have to say unfortunately some IAM groups have their head stuck so far up their own a*se it makes it difficult to read the e mails they get. Not all groups you understand as some are really good but others

If you want to contact your local RoSPA group PM me your postcode and I'll send you the details of your nearest group.

 

[w124nut]

There may be many reasons why the local group have failed to contact you, after all, even Advanced Motorists are human. Give them another call.

 

[corned]

Thanks, guys.

I'm all for giving them a call to follow up the web submission, but as a first impression it's not too good, is it?

I don't mind in the slightest waiting - for a course to start for example. But waiting for an initial contact response? It's like going into a restaurant, sitting down, and waiting an hour for the waiter to first come up to you with the menus and to ask what you would like to drink...

(And yes, that analogy is one I have lived too.)

Ian - thanks. Nice one! PM heading up the M1 as we speak...

 

[Smatt]

Agreed Rospa higher standard, with different awards, but IAM still ok

 

[corned]

By the wierdest of coincidences...

Didn't need the follow-up call. My local IAM contact just phoned me - 15 mins ago!!

The walls have ears...

Anyway, whoever tipped them off - many thanks.

I am now spoilt for choice - the IAM and RoSPA 'fighting' over me!

I'll let you know how it progresses.

Cheers,


Corned

 

[wemorgan]

The walls have ears...

I think you're right.

Reminds me of when Stephen Fry complained on Twitter that he hatted his HP printer and was going to buy a Canon. Moments later he had a call from HP offering their full support! The power of the interweb

 

[chord]

Is it worth the cost of joining these organisations? IAM is £139 and RoSPA £113.

 

[corned]

Is it worth the cost of joining these organisations? IAM is £139 and RoSPA £113.

I'll let you know...

You could say that if it saves you from having one single accident, then that's really good value in my book.

 

[wemorgan]

With 'only' £26 being the difference between the two, I would not chose one over the other based on price alone.

I presume you have to join for at least 1 year to gain the benefit of free driver tuition? For that alone I would say that the membership cost of either organisation is worth it. I've only IAM experience and felt that I received more than £140 worth of tuition.....~20 hours of driving I think.

Whether you then continue to pay for future years I guess will depend how much you enjoyed the first.

 

[flango]

Is it worth the cost of joining these organisations? IAM is £139 and RoSPA £113.

You want to hire an instructor for a day for private tuition in advanced driving, going rate £500 - £800 per day based on experience and facilities needed. Does that answer the question?

Most instructors are happy to give their time back to RoSPA or IAM free of charge to help others learn the art of advanced driving. A lot of the fee goes on the materials you get and even if it didn't you get about 40 hours of expert professional tuition which works out at about £2.83 per hour as opposed to £80 per hour pretty good value in my book.

 

[hygt2]

You want to hire an instructor for a day for private tuition in advanced driving, going rate £500 - £800 per day based on experience and facilities needed. Does that answer the question?

Most instructors are happy to give their time back to RoSPA or IAM free of charge to help others learn the art of advanced driving. A lot of the fee goes on the materials you get and even if it didn't you get about 40 hours of expert professional tuition which works out at about £2.83 per hour as opposed to £80 per hour pretty good value in my book.

With regards to the standard between IAM and RoSPA, the basic IAM test is similar to RoSPA Bronze standard. This is the elementary standard but is a good starting point before you move to RoSPA silver and gold or the advanced IAM exam.

Since both are run by volunteers, I would choose the organisation with the local group who can best support you to pass your exam and also improve other aspects of driving as well as social events.

May I suggest you go along to the local group meetings and get a feel of how they run things in your local IAM or RoSPA group?

In London, we have tailored two observation/coaching sessions - one for those who can only attend during weekday in which we allocate an observer to them on a 1 to 1 basis; and we also run Sunday sessions twice per month for those who can only attend at the weekends.

In addition, we also organised other events which as country drive days for us London drivers who don't have enough country roads experiences, skid-control training, treasure hunts, quiz nights, group nights gatherings with presentation on anything automobile related topics such as current technologies, open forum discussion with IAM and police examiners, etc.

Speaking from personal experience, I have passed IAM 2 years ago and have now moved on to the committee and have become a observer. Since then I considered completing the RoSPA gold standard but have instead joined the HPC and went down that route.

At the moment I am hoping to become a senior observer soon as well as taking the advanced IAM test which requires Police Class 1 standard.

Please PM me if you have any questions.

 

[trando]

I have just enrolled with the local IAM group in Southampton. I've had my first free coaching session and am about to have my next. Personally I think it's good to have someone point out how to drive more safely - particulary when there are so many idiots on the roads these days.

They're a friendly bunch and so far have been very helpful. The only issue I've had so far is that they would prefer me to be driving a manual. My wife has a manual but I don't drive her car very often so my view is that I should use mine as it's the car that I drive...

Does it make that much difference?

 

[flango]

I have just enrolled with the local IAM group in Southampton. I've had my first free coaching session and am about to have my next. Personally I think it's good to have someone point out how to drive more safely - particulary when there are so many idiots on the roads these days.

They're a friendly bunch and so far have been very helpful. The only issue I've had so far is that they would prefer me to be driving a manual. My wife has a manual but I don't drive her car very often so my view is that I should use mine as it's the car that I drive...

Does it make that much difference?

Massive difference depending on the type of training but for the initial drives and awareness, hazard perception etc.. doesn't really make much difference in manual or auto. However when you get into advanced stuff and training in heavy traffic, severe bends etc. it is better to learn in a manual it just brings another dimension and level of complexity into the training as you have to think about gear changes, gear change brake overlap, correct gear for bend and hazards etc.. you dont have to worry about this in an auto as its all taken care of for you, but the gear an auto box selects for a bend may not be the correct gear from a handling and safety point of view and thus may compromise the car.

I would advise that to get the most out of the training that you do switch to a manual as if you master that sucessfully then everything is transferable to an auto and much less work.

 

[wemorgan]

Not IAM driving, but still great car control of a manual shift F1 car that I've enjoyed watching many times.

[YOUTUBE]03VUI6jFknY[/YOUTUBE]

 

[hygt2]

Massive difference depending on the type of training but for the initial drives and awareness, hazard perception etc.. doesn't really make much difference in manual or auto. However when you get into advanced stuff and training in heavy traffic, severe bends etc. it is better to learn in a manual it just brings another dimension and level of complexity into the training as you have to think about gear changes, gear change brake overlap, correct gear for bend and hazards etc.. you dont have to worry about this in an auto as its all taken care of for you, but the gear an auto box selects for a bend may not be the correct gear from a handling and safety point of view and thus may compromise the car.

I would advise that to get the most out of the training that you do switch to a manual as if you master that sucessfully then everything is transferable to an auto and much less work.

Agreed with all of the above.

All I can add is that you should train in the car you are planning to take the test in.

For auto, you can leave it in Drive for roads with speed limits of 20, 30, 40 and 50mph, urban and motorway. However, I expect associates to manual shift once we are on national speed limit roads because none of the auto or semi-auto I have tried actually select the right gear for your, not even those with DSG boxes, etc.

 

[stevieb15]

My son passed his driving at 17 and as we lived in a rural area and his mileage would be very high I decided that after a few months enjoying unsupervised driving he would be ripe for more tuition and as a part of his 18 birthday present paid for his IAM membership, supposedly a gateway to a safer future on our roads.
He tried repeatedly to get some response from the local rep who just didn't want to know, always to busy, couldn't give a date when he wouldn't be busy, didn't return calls-in the end he gave up and the whole family drew their own conclusions as to what kind of organisation the IAM is.
Sad really.

 

[kth286]

I have just enrolled with the local IAM group in Southampton. I've had my first free coaching session and am about to have my next. Personally I think it's good to have someone point out how to drive more safely - particulary when there are so many idiots on the roads these days.

They're a friendly bunch and so far have been very helpful. The only issue I've had so far is that they would prefer me to be driving a manual. My wife has a manual but I don't drive her car very often so my view is that I should use mine as it's the car that I drive...

Does it make that much difference?

Are they saying you would be a safer person driving a manual ?????

What tosh is that.

They need to get up to date with the cars that more people are buying these days ie. autos.

You always need to drive the car in a way that takes into account the dynamics of the car - so if it has less effective brakes you will be more cautious with regard to the distance between you and the car in front.

If automatic, then the same cautions, with regard to how autos work.

Very disappointing in my opinion.

 

[BTB 500]

Interesting, given that many M-Bs don't have the option of a manual gearbox (including both of ours).