NSAM – Associate Blogs

Being away at University since Christmas had a lot to answer
for, especially in terms of my driving. When I drove for the first time in
three months, even my younger brother criticised my erratic driving, and
speeding; I frequently felt like I was tripping from A to B on automatic pilot
just flirting around the roads. I knew that this wasn’t my usual driving style;
standards had slipped.

It was time to fit in
another session with my observer. It’s true to the say that the first session
was rusty; to say the least. I’d forgotten so many things: my speed kept
creeping up, being in too higher gear, taking bends too quickly, and various
other things were poor. My observer was honest with me, and he said I needed to
practice. After the first session I decided I needed to make more of an effort
when making small journeys into town, or even to fetch my brother from school
especially as I had a month off from University (plenty of time to get up to
scratch). During the month off I managed to fit in three sessions with my
observer, and the last two were successful drives. I built up my standards
after practice with my Dad, and things came back to me in order to retain that
sparkle that advanced drivers have. I also watched a DVD that my observer gave
me, which certainly helped reinforce some of things I’d learnt.

We focussed on overtaking, a hard task I must admit. I often felt like I was
too inexperienced to overtake, and left my decision too late, thus missing the
opportunity. There were so many vehicles I could have overtaken, I felt like my
observer had set them up for me as a test! However, with time, and confidence,
I managed to produce some good overtakes; which aided my confidence further in
order to spot safe, suitable gaps.

Recapping on bends was also difficult, I was tending to go into the bends too
quickly in too higher gear, but again with practice this improved.

Now on session 10 it was time to start thinking about the test, however
University again became an obstruction. Going back after Easter means that I
will again be out of practice for about a month, but  as soon as I am home it is time to get behind
the wheel so that in two sessions time hopefully I will be ready to take the
test and show off that all important, safety and sparkle.

After a long three months away at university, having not
driven apart from the occasional time when I returned home with my washing for
my mother I decided it was time to book another session during the Christmas
holiday to get back up to speed and hopefully progress onto other things with regards
to my advanced driving.

It was strange driving with my observer again, and having to
remember what I’d learnt over the summer and actually putting it into practice
once again. Going through the system of car control, and remembering that
safety was the most important factor to take into account throughout the whole
drive. Considering the conditions were not great (it is January after all), the
drive went well. The roads were damp, it was also rather windy and there were
branches across many of the roads which were hazards.  It was however safe enough to get to 60mph on
the country lanes, making progress like the aim of an advanced driver.

My observer then told me that we were going to progress onto
driving on the motorway, something which I was looking forward to. We went
through the three stages of motorway driving: entering on the motorway, being
on the motorway, and exiting the motorway. The details and theory behind it all
seemed quite simple; it was just a case of putting it into practice. Moving
between the three lanes in order to overtake and the need for planning ahead
soon fell into place once I was actually on the motorway. My observer seemed
quite pleased with the way I coped with the motorway. Due to the wind it was
scary overtaking the lorries and then suddenly have the wind hit the car! I
enjoyed driving on the motorway, so much so that whilst me and my observer were
chatting away and planning the next overtake we nearly missed our exit.

I can honestly say that despite the fact I hadn’t driven
properly for over three months, of course I was a little rusty, everything I
had learnt was still with me. It was great to be back behind the wheel and to
be driving under the guidance of my observer. I can’t believe that this was my
ninth session, we’ll have to see how I progress during the next few sessions
before I head back to University. But for now, it’s time for some practice with
my Dad!

Now on my third observed drive we began to talk about observation and again pull push! When asked how I am aware of what is going on around me on the roads I had a blank expression on my face, it appeared that my observation was completely random, needlessly to say I was taught how to observe the road all around me properly. I drove on roads unfamiliar to me, something which I don’t particularly enjoy as I like to know the roads and the area, perhaps which is a bad habit of driving within my comfort zone.

Towards the end of the almost two hour drive I began to feel tired, as it seemingly used all of my concentration and attention span. Starting this session by confessing that I had forgotten which topic to read up on in the handbook did not bode well for the next hour and a half that lay ahead! My observer’s reaction worried me as he laughed and told me that “the system of car control” would blow my mind considering I had no background knowledge on the subject-great! We put this theory into practice whilst on the drive, and I actually began to enjoy it (much to the surprise of my observer and my Dad when I later told him!) I think that I understood this theory quite quickly and I certainly did enjoy practising it.

Moving onto faster roads we practiced getting better positioning for going round bends to view the limit points of the road. It’s true to say that I didn’t find limit points easy and the concept of them “moving”, whilst chasing them. All this new terminology was so confusing! It seemed contradictory what I had learnt for the L test to move out towards the centre line or to follow the kerb when going through bends to get a better view-surely if I’d done this on my L test the examiner wouldn’t have liked it?-but I understood the reasoning behind it. I wonder what will lie ahead for next week’s drive…

Kate

Being 18, many people ask me why I want to spend more hours in a car being told how to drive or what to improve now that I have passed my driving test.

Thrilled to pass my driving test first time at 17 years of age 6 months ago, taught by my Dad (an ex IAM observer) and having only 10 lessons with an instructor I had the driving bug. Having witnessed too many fatal accidents involving teenage drivers, friends receiving speeding tickets, friends jumping red lights receiving fines, and friends having to complete speed awareness courses, I decided rather than having points slammed on my licence it was time to join the IAM. I wanted to become one of the safer drivers on the roads, and to have money in the bank rather than paying fines for inconsiderate driving. I was nervous about going to the first Thursday night meeting, would it be all men? How old would they be? Would there be anyone there I knew?

However, after attending a couple of Thursday night meetings, now with 6 months’ driving experience I was allocated an observer and was surprised to find that the members had a wide range of ages but it was, however, mainly men!

Not knowing what exactly to expect for my first drive, I was feeling quite nervous and scared that my driving was going to be judged, criticised and that I would be told how many bad habits I had quickly fallen into. The drive did, however, go smoothly and my observer told me that it was always me who was in control of the car; he was there to aid me in my driving techniques. There seemingly was nothing to be nervous about for the first session, as we covered the basics of advanced driving. I was taught the theory of engine compression and acceleration sense. I was surprised and happy to learn that we were simply building on the basics I already knew from the L test although, perhaps, this was because I was at a slight advantage due to my Dad’s driving experience. Moving on to steering was what I found most difficult (I first referred to it as push pull!) learning to pull push was a hard task-many car parks have been host to my figure of 8 practices. There is no doubt that so far I’ve found advanced driving hard but I love a challenge and I know that it will all be worth it in the long run.

Kate