As I have said before, I never did an IAM course or a RoSPA course. All of my "tuition" has been private and self motivated interest.
"If you want to learn something, seek out the very best teachers you can find." - A lesson my father taught me well. All of my "teachers" have been police instructors-examiners that have been either members of the Suslove Police driving school, retired and doing private tuition or simply willing to give up their time for free to those wishing to learn. Plus others at various skid-pans and other performance driving schools.
snip
I would have hoped that it would. If I had been teaching you and your driving was already pretty much up to standard we would have been working on the polish and the theory behind it to make sure that you understand *why* you're doing what you do. I would not put you forward for test until I was sure that you were as good as I could make you. Even then I would encourage you to seek further tuition from those better than me. I believe in getting the best out of a person rather than simply teaching to a particular standard.
My views of the standard of membership come from personal experience of both organisations and discussions on both the IAM, RoADA and Roadcraft groups. The discussions simply serve to reinforce my own observations and feelings about the relative standards. The contributors to the RoADA group are far more experienced and qualified than I am, there are several PC1s, many diploma holders and the discussion is usually centred around teaching and techniques. This is in marked contrast to the kind of discussions I see elsewhere.
Looking at new CarsI am considering replacing my Sei with a new car. So I went to a local dealer to see what they had to offer. It was a Peugeot dealer, so I looked that the 107...
I believe your own views of the IAM as an organisation are different now to the way you saw them when you first joined?
Whether you accept it or not, you *do* have an interest in driving, it's just slightly different from mine. Given that you have that interest, that genuine desire to learn, you will improve and it will be more likely to stick. In time it will become so ingrained that you will find it really hard to drive as you used to, even when trying to demonstrate how NOT to do something. Given your approach I am not surprised that you are getting the results that you are and, dare I say it, you may even have a natural flair for it, despite your claimed disinterest.
If you take the test and get a bronze, I would be surprised. If you get a gold first time out I would be surprised but I'll be the first to congratulate you. My conservative money is on a silver, maybe having just missed out on a gold through minor details.
-- "There are no such useless words as, 'I didn't have a chance.'" Driving, HMSO
