Today's drive

I'm getting fed up with the IAM now. I felt happier about my driving before I started. I don't have as much pride now, and feel that my observer is trying to push me too hard.

One of the main factors for failing the last test was probably due to driving a little too fast. Today, I took things steadier, and thought that the drive was nearly perfect, but my observer said that I needed to make more progress. I think my oberserver and examiners are wanting slightly different things. Today my observer was telling me to 'crack on' when my car couldn't go any faster!

There was also a particular situation where I really didn't agree with my observer. I was going along a two lane m-way at 70mph in the RHL, and wanted to move over because an empty space was just comming up in the left hand lane. The oberserver insisted that I should stay in the right hand lane because there was a slip road (an empty one) comming up. A few moments later a Clio Sport appears and is catching up very quickly, so I suggest to move over, and he still says I should stay there. A few moments later the Clio flashes his lights at me, but the observer still insisted that I should 'f*** him', and stay there. I soon decided that I should get out of the way because the left hand lane was clear. I moved over after a mirror check, and signal etc., but my observer wasn't happy. He said I should have stayed there, and said "what if I hit something joining the slip road?", but the slip road was completely empty at this particular moment.

Further on he reminded me to put my foot down, but I pointed out that there was a red light ahead, and I would be pbutting other cars on the inside.

I've given up my plans to be an observer now. I'm not certain about all of the IAM's practices, and I don't agree with a lot of what my observer is telling me.

My observer is planning to make me drive faster again next time, but I hope to drive at a slightly slower pace for my mock test etc. He also seems to think roundabouts are clear when visibility is bad and nothing can be seen from the right, which really worries me. He's also trying to get me to look less at roundabouts. He says look once, and believe what you see. He did seem to believe in 'looking but not seeing', but I know one look isn't enough for me.