Advanced Driving courses - what do they do?

Thoie

I know that Gardai can do advanced driving courses, which apparently teach them how to safely drive on the wrong side of the road and things like that, but I often see mention here of lay people doing advanced driving courses.

What do you learn on these, and how do they help the lay person who still has to abide by the law? I can totally appreciate how much fun it might be to learn how to take a corner at 200kmph, but as I'm never going to do that in the real world what benefit would the course be to me?

Seth Brundle

Advanced driving courses don't teach you how to corner at 200km/h. They teach you how to drive defensively i.e. drive properly (not the driving test way).
You learn about safety on the roads, how to control your vehicle, danger assessment, etc. and how to become a better driver and therefore become a safer driver.

Orla K

I know my uncle did it when in the gardai, he said one mistake on the test, you had to get into the passenger side and suffer the shame of being driven back. I would guess people who drive for a living would take these doubtfully any taxi drivers but people driving fire trucks and so on

mickdw

There are 2 types of advanced driving courses really. The one the Police do and the other one that ordinary drivers do.
The ordinary one wouldnt deal with car control or cornering technique such as approaching on wrong side of road to help straighten out the corner and increase sight distance around the corner. It just involves learning to be super safe driver while driving to suit the circumstances and law. I havent done it but I did look into it. What I found was they make you concentrate more on possible hazards and looking for the unexpected. Driving at a speed suitable for the distance you can see to be clear. IN short, all the stuff we know we should really be doing but often dont do as well as we should.

The police course is the car and speed handling one. They learn skid control, and advanced road driving to aid them in high speed situations. I guess anyone could do this course but I suppose it would have to be done on private roads.

-Chris-

Buy this book - it's the system you'll be taught in an advanced driving course.
As said above, it's not about pursuit driving, it's more about controlling your car and the space around it, and making sure that, rather than being able to get youself out of trouble, that you don't get into it in the first place.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Roadcraft-Great-Britain-Home-Office/dp/0113408587

Thoie

mickdw wrote: »

What I found was they make you concentrate more on possible hazards and looking for the unexpected. Driving at a speed suitable for the distance you can see to be clear. IN short, all the stuff we know we should really be doing but often dont do as well as we should.

Speak for yourself

Seriously though, as I'm driving I normally have an internal commentary running along the lines of "woman with buggy and kid beside her coming up, watch out for kid, woman is struggling with buggy, driver in front of me seems to be peering around, must be looking for something, hang back, yup, there he goes, sudden left turn with no indicators, touch of frost there, might be ice on this next patch of road in shadow, 4 boys on right hand side footpath playing around, that one's going to shove the other out - car approaching, hang back to allow swerving room for approaching car, bike in rear view mirror, where's he gone, must be up my inside..."

I assumed most people drove with that kind of internal commentary, with the obvious exception of the few muppets - is this not the case?

L1011

Thoie wrote: »

I assumed most people drove with that kind of internal commentary, with the obvious exception of the few muppets - is this not the case?

No, most peoples internal commentary barely extends beyond 'woman/man with nice arse on left; bloke I assume is a wanker from his car behind me, must drive like a twat due to that; ooh look a car I want' to be honest...

Reading Roadcraft should be obligatory in my opinion, the driving test does not make you a good driver or a safe driver.

Darragh29

The one thing I can say about the small number of people I have come into contact with who did the IAM (Irish Advanced Motorist), course, (they all have the little red triangular sticker on the windscreen to prove it!), is that when it comes to car maintenance, you can tell these people absolutely nothing, they are the experts in the field and nobody on the road knows more then them, (except the gardai who have also done their own advanced driving course) because they have the little red sticker on the windscreen that says they have done an advanced driving course.

I can think of nothing more dangerous on the road than a collection of people who are convinced beyond any doubt that they are always right and everyone else is wrong, which is the one thing I've observed from this group on several occasions. Steer clear is my advice, no pun intended! :D:D

-Chris-

Darragh29 wrote: »

I can think of nothing more dangerous on the road than a collection of people who are convinced beyond any doubt that they are always right and everyone else is wrong, which is the one thing I've observed from this group on several occasions. Steer clear is my advice, no pun intended! :D:D

Definitely - I'd much rather be in a car with someone who's trying to become an advanced driver than with someone who thinks they already are one...

timmywex

The gardai do advanced/pursuit driving, basically how to anticipate what someone else will do, thinking ahead, example, looking at the ditch to see the severity of the corner in a pursuit/driving with full headlights to warn others to slow down and to dazzle the persion being persued(depends on setting whether they use this or not).


The other type is advanced driving, basically driving defensively, and improving your driving by anticipating what others will do, and reacting positively to that so as to make it safe.

Both are similar to an extent

mickdw

Thoie wrote: »

I assumed most people drove with that kind of internal commentary, with the obvious exception of the few muppets - is this not the case?

Yes I think most would have that thought process going on but maybe not quite applying it as good as is required.
I quite like the idea of looking at the convergence point of a corner and matching speed to it. If done properly, you will always drive at a suitable speed for any corner in regard to sight distance at least. I dont always apply it myself though to be honest.

Anan1

Darragh29 wrote: »

The one thing I can say about the small number of people I have come into contact with who did the IAM (Irish Advanced Motorist), course, (they all have the little red triangular sticker on the windscreen to prove it!), is that when it comes to car maintenance, you can tell these people absolutely nothing, they are the experts in the field and nobody on the road knows more then them, (except the gardai who have also done their own advanced driving course) because they have the little red sticker on the windscreen that says they have done an advanced driving course.

I can think of nothing more dangerous on the road than a collection of people who are convinced beyond any doubt that they are always right and everyone else is wrong, which is the one thing I've observed from this group on several occasions. Steer clear is my advice, no pun intended! :D:D

I passed the IAM test, to be honest it taught me more about how much I didn't know than anything else. The windscreen sticker went straight in the bin too.;)

Jaysoose

Darragh29 wrote: »

The one thing I can say about the small number of people I have come into contact with who did the IAM (Irish Advanced Motorist), course, (they all have the little red triangular sticker on the windscreen to prove it!), is that when it comes to car maintenance, you can tell these people absolutely nothing, they are the experts in the field and nobody on the road knows more then them, (except the gardai who have also done their own advanced driving course) because they have the little red sticker on the windscreen that says they have done an advanced driving course.

I can think of nothing more dangerous on the road than a collection of people who are convinced beyond any doubt that they are always right and everyone else is wrong, which is the one thing I've observed from this group on several occasions. Steer clear is my advice, no pun intended! :D:D

cough '''you listening samsemtex''' cough!! ahem

Wertz

So roughly how much to do this test and are there many places around the country that do it? Thanks

CL32

Also, does it make much (if any) difference to insurance premiums?

Cheers

ergonomics

Was actually thinking of doing an advanced driving course myself. Who would be the best to do it with in Ireland?

Berty

I was trained by the EHB as an ambulance driver but not for the HSE or the health boards. I was trained to drive an ambulance for volunteer work but by the terms of the Insurance we must receive professional training.

I atteneded an Advanced Tactical Training School. It was more about keeping us and the patients alive amongst pedestrians and other road users.

It is different from what you may require.

Hibernian do an advanced driving course but it is theory more so than anything. You may find Mondello school of advanced driving to your desires.