The Newsletter of Chelmsford Advanced Motorists
What’s Changed? www.iamchelmsford.org.uk Issue 125 June 2018 IAM Group 7223 Registered Charity No 1059372
Congratulations At the IAM RoadSmart Spring Forum it was announced that our Chairman Steve Wright had won a Star Performer Award for the work he had done to significantly improve the Chelmsford Advanced Motorists Group. Unfortunately Steve was not able to attend the Forum, so our Training Officer Pat Clements accepted the award on his behalf and then presented it to Steve at our April group night.
Here is one of our successful members receiving his certificate. On the left Richard Young receiving his certificate, a F1rst Pass. At the end of the test I was hopeful that I had passed, but quite shocked when the Examiner announced that I had not only passed but got a First, with all 1’s! I would like to thank my Observer Norman in particular for his time and advice, as well as Pat Clements for her time and pointers on the mock test. Richard Young
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Forthcoming Group Meetings These are usually held on the 2nd Monday of each month at the Essex Police Sports and Social Club, Which is through the Police vehicle park at the very end of St. Margarets Road, Chelmsford. Group Meetings start promptly at 8pm, so please arrive at around 7.45pm.
http://goo.gl/maps/VrEwi
CM2 6DS
Associates, Full Members & Guests Welcome Date
Topic
Speaker
Monday 9th July
AGM & Anecdotes on Police Life as it was
Ken Howard
Monday 13th August
TBA
Monday 10th September
Mark’s Story A Road Collision and how it was dealt with by the Court
Derek Leggetter
Make a note in your diary and please be there! Disclaimer—Please note that the views and opinions expressed in this Newsletter are those of the individual writers and they do not necessarily reflect those of the Institute of Advanced Motorists, nor those of the Chelmsford and District Group of Advanced Motorists. Their accuracy has not been verified. Notice—Data Protection Act: records are held of members personal details submitted on their application form. The information will be used solely for the Group’s administration purposes and will not be passed to any third party.
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Welcome
to our new Associate and Full Members. We look forward to seeing and talking to them at our monthly Group nights Anne Baillie
Braintree
Samuel Hawes
Dunmow
James Anderson Brentwood
Chris Pond
Heybridge
Steve Royce
Woodham Ferrers
Josh Davies
Stock
Michael Bishop
Goldhanger
We are a friendly bunch, so don’t be worried about coming to our Group nights if you are on your own. Make yourself known to John who will greet you at the desk, he will find one of us to come and talk to you. John will also try to get you to part with some money for the raffle. There will be Local and National Observers, at the evening and you will be able to get answers to any questions that you have. Please come along, we’ll even give you tea or coffee and there is a bar - for light refreshments obviously! Terry Joyce
April Group Night Aprils group night saw a good turnout, with around 50 members turning up, however, unfortunately our guest speaker wasn’t one of them! Following a few announcements, such as a call for anyone who feels they could step forward at the forthcoming AGM into either the Chairperson or Secretary roles, then the Committee would be very pleased to hear from them. There were 3 presentations of IAM Advanced test Certificates, details of all 3 are elsewhere in this newsletter, however only one of those could be present on the night, Richard Young was presented with a F1RST Certificate for his clean sheet test in February. As the Guest Speaker had still not arrived, our Chairman Steve Wright, improvised with a hastily produced quiz. This was a good light-hearted evening with a bit of friendly rivalry and banter between the teams. There was a good mix of both subject matter and difficulty of questions, all this came together to make a very good social evening, along with the usual Raffle, our thanks go out to Steve Wright for pulling the quiz out of his hat to make an enjoyable evening. Page 4
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Roll of Honour Congratulations to these latest Members of our Group who have Passed
‘The Test’ Test No
Name
Test Date
Observer
1109
Raj Bhatta
14th March 2018
Graham Lowe
1110
Samantha Jones
24th March 2018
Paul Marven
1111
Dale Borthwick
7th April 2018
John Ockmore
1112
Anne Oates
17th April 2018
Mike Klaber
1113
Elspeth Hodgkinson
20th April 2018
John Ockmore
1114
Trevor Wright
26th May 2018
Paul Marven
Our Current Observers Are you interested in being an Observer? Contact Pat Clements 01245 223427 Pat Clements
John Ockmore
Mark Criddle
Norman Smith
Terry Joyce
Richard Sneader
Michael Klaber
Rob Wise
Graham Lowe
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From the Chairman Dear Members I write my final report on the theme of volunteering. I have volunteered for many things over my lifetime including mentoring our youth into employment, chairing my professional organisation, scouting and other similar worthy causes. I am not writing this for any sort of praise as all of the volunteer posts I have held have been enjoyable and normally gives a sense of well-being. I have over the years noticed a massive decline in those wishing to help. A new attitude of sit back and someone else will volunteer now prevails. On exiting as chair I have noticed this in our group. Trying to fill vacant posts was quite problematic, thankfully people have stepped up but if everyone shared the same attitude then all groups and committees would eventually die out. I would again like to thank everyone who has volunteered both past and present for their help and wish the new group of volunteers the best of luck.
My final note as chair looks beyond this new committee. The folk who will be appointed and remain on the committee after the AGM are not signing up for life. If we over burden our volunteers they will stop enjoying the experience and resign. Please look to the future everyone and ask yourself if you can devote a little time to help. However I do not want to finish on a gloomy note. May I take this opportunity to thank the membership for putting up with me for the last three years and join with me looking forward to a successful future Steve Wright Group Chair
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~~~~~~~~ Editorial ~~~~~~~~ Hello, This is going to be my last newsletter. It will seem strange after twelve years not to be searching for things to write about. Your new Editor, Richard Young has already made his mark in this edition and I wish him the very best of luck. I will be supporting him until he has found his feet. The picture on the cover relates to the article on Page 22
Driver Experience Days
Our Driver Experience Days are a must, please check out the report on Page 9 and see the back page.
Terry Joyce ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Electronic Newsletter & Emails
Whilst new members have been getting their copy electronically for some time it would be helpful if more people joined in with the electronic age and did the same. We are not going to force anybody to move to electronic but we would appreciate it if you consider letting the newsletter editor know if you are willing to receive yours by email. In any event for the purpose of telling people about Group nights and the occasional event such as the skid pan it is useful to have as many e-mail addresses as possible so if you are not currently on our mailing list it would point to us not having your email address. Please let the newsletter editor know and he will pass it on. Please let us know if you change your email address. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To all those people who have passed their test: It would be appreciated if you could write a few words thanking your Observer and maybe something about the process and your test, to give those New Associates an insight into the process of learning Advanced Driving. Please remember: Do telephone both your Observer and Graham Lowe ( Associates Co-ordinator ) immediately after your test.
Please contact me by email at terry.joyce@iamchelmsford.org.uk Page 7
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Group contact information Our Group Enquiry number: - 07757 399897 Honorary Life Members Mr Mike Corbett, Mr Glyn Jarrett, Mrs Ruth Jarrett, Mr Dave Travers, Mr Colin Snow, Mr Scott Bannister, Mrs Gaynor Manthorpe, Mr John Stone.
Committee Chairman
Steve Wright
Secretary
Pat Clements
Treasurer
John Johnston
Membership Secretary
Mick Gilbert
Chief Observer Associates Co-ordinator Newsletter Editor
Graham Lowe
Events Co-ordinator Training Officer
Terry Hyland Pat Clements
Terry Joyce
Outside Events Organiser Malcolm Kentish Committee Member
Ken Howard
Group Contact Committee Member
Terry Joyce John Ockmore
Committee Member
Dagmar Hampton
Committee Member Committee Member
Rak Rehal Richard Sneader
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Driver Experience Day On Sunday 29th April 2018 a small group gathered at Fords test track Dunton in Essex, for the Chelmsford IAM group Driver Experience day. For anyone who has not attended one of these days, the aim is to push you as a driver outside of your comfort zone in a safe guided environment in order to familiarise you with how your car will respond and behave in an Emergency situation. These are exercises that could not be done on the road, but are very constructive, for instance, do you know how your car sounds when the Anti lock braking system operates? If that happened in a real Emergency and it was the first time you had experienced it, would you be shocked and release the brakes? We were very pleased to welcome 4 visitors from other groups, who were given a warm Chelmsford IAM Group welcome and I think I can safely say that they had a good day and went home with knowledge and experiences gained on the day, as well as the Award for the shortest stopping distance. If you have never been on a banked track, I think it was worth it just for that, it is quite disconcerting at first, but once you become familiar with it, it’s a good way to change direction, the sweet spot speed is supposedly 47.5 mph, at which point you can take your hands off the steering wheel and the car will take itself round. We learned that a modern car will stop in an incredibly short distance compared to those in the Highway Code, and what’s more with ABS you really can steer around an obstacle without losing control. Our thanks go to Graham, Norman and Terry for giving their time to put this day on, there are now an additional group of drivers who know how their cars will react in an emergency and will have the confidence to do the right thing in a real emergency rather than just panic! We also should thank Ford for use of their test track and not to be forgotten is the £315 raised for Essex and Herts Air Ambulance. Richard Young
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Annual Reports to the AGM 2018 Chairman's Report AGM 2018 Well three years have wizzed by and it is time for me to step down and hand the reigns over to someone else. Firstly I would like to start by thanking everyone who have served on the committee during my time as Chairman. Without this support the group just would not run. I hope the group continues to thrive which will involve continued support be the existing committee and hopefully other newcomers. Over the three years I believe we have made a lot of progress. The group continues to evolve and I hope that my contribution has set the groundwork on which my successor can build. I have decided to give the new Chair and committee the opportunity to develop the group as they see fit. I am therefore going to also resign from the committee as well as Chair. I thought as this is my last report, rather than looking back a year that I would look back over the three years. Reformat of Committee Meetings My first task was to change the structure of our meetings to promote actions to be developed and monitored. This enabled change to occur. Introduction of a Sales Commission It was agreed by the committee to introduce a commission of ÂŁ10 for every Skills for Life package sold. This has been developed but not really adopted as yet. I will leave it to my successor to decide whether or not to adopt it. Qualification of Observers The group embraced the IAM's new observer training scheme. The decision to adopt this was a difficult one as it meant changing procedures as well as the organisations culture. The process has been time consuming as we lost most of our observer network in the process. With a lot of hard work by many, but particularly, Pat, Graham and Terry I believe the network is now in place, fully qualified and strong going forward. Marketing The group's marketing material has been reviewed and redeveloped. I believe our presence at events is a lot more professional. Stronger Links With IAM When I started as Chair the relationship with IAM was at a low. We had a group meeting involving head office staff which can only be described as hostile. I believe there is still some way to go but the relationship with the IAM is very much improved. These links will help strengthen the group as we go into the future. Well I hope you agree that the committee have been busy in the background and can appreciate the effort put in by my colleagues. I would like to say a special thank you to those stepping down for their hard work and dedication and wish the committee my best going forward. Oh and thanks to you guys for putting up with me!! Regards Steve
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Membership Secretary's Report AGM 2018
The membership of the group as of April 2018 consists of 311 members (of which 8 are life members) plus 59 associates.( although this figure requires further analysis) This represents a decrease since Ken’s last report in 2016. Steps taken so far to address the issue are as follows. Continued on Page 11
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Membership Secretary's Report AGM 2018 continued
Firstly, when associates join ,they receive a “ welcome letter ”,which sets out the benefits of belonging to such an active group i.e. the subsidised events which are put on for members ,such as the Skid Pan, The Dunton Driver Experience ,and Stubbers Off Road events. This is of course in addition to the monthly club nights with a wide variety of guest speakers, to say nothing of the free tea and coffee and not forgetting of course the amazing raffle prizes! Secondly, when the associate’s first year ends, they receive another letter which explains the matter of the local group membership being separate from and in addition to the national membership. Many thanks to our secretary Colin Snow for drafting both the above documents. The trend which I have been most surprised by, in the short time which I have been on this post, is that the majority of the associates do not continue as members, once they have achieved their goal of passing the Advanced Driving Test. Do we need to make a concerted effort to retain those who are “falling off the radar” after the first year? I concur with the previous membership secretary, that we who are members, should “spread the word” to friends and family, at every possible opportunity. This would not only potentially benefit our group membership, but would also make our roads a safer place to be.
Many thanks to all the members who pay by standing order, as this means fewer trips to the bank and simpler bookkeeping for the treasurer and I. I could not end this report without acknowledging the considerable support which I have been given by Colin Snow, our retiring (and shy) group secretary, without which I doubt I would have lasted thus far. Please feel free to contact me at m.gilbert21@talktalk.net ,if you have any queries regarding membership. Mick Gilbert ,Membership Secretary. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Treasurer’s Report AGM 2018 The Group’s accounts for the year ended the 31 March 2018 are set out together with the figures for 2016/2017. I am pleased to advise that for this year the Group made a surplus of £951.19 compared to a deficit of £173.81 last year. This main reason for this is the reduction in general admin costs as last year there were additional expenses due to the IAM rebranding. The review of the Groups Gift Aid records were completed and during the year a Gift Aid claim was submitted to HMRC and as at the year ended a response is waited. Whilst the level of income received from renewals has reduced slightly this is offset by the joining fees from new Associates. Continued on Page 12
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Treasurer’s Report AGM 2018 continued
The financial position of the Group is still strong and it has assets in the Charity account of £12,147.43. In view of this, at the moment it is not considered a need for those that are making the £10 per annum donation to the Group by standing order to be asked to increase this figure. The situation in respect of those who pay by cheque is continually under review as with the closure of our Bank’s local branch, dealing with cheques becomes more expensive. It would be helpful to the Group if everybody has a standing order, so if you do not, please reconsider your decision. It is the wish of the Charity Commission that we do not retain a high level of assets as they should be used by the Charity. To comply with this requirement the committee of the Group is continually looking at further ways of using the funds we have to promote our objectives. In respect of the Social Account, there was a small deficit last year which was caused by payments to speakers and the balance to be carried forward is £3,655.27. I am pleased to advise you that the Group’s accounts for the year ended 31 March 2018 have been reviewed by an Independent Examiner and they have received a Clean Bill of Health. John Johnston Honorary Treasurer
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Chelmsford & District Group Instutute of Advanced Motorists Income & Expenditure account for the year to 31 March 2018 Income
ye 31/03/2018
ye 31/3/2017
Gift Aid Full Member Renewals
£2,770.00
£3,075.00
Associate member joining fees
£1,302.00
£979.00
4x4 days
£756.00
Skid pan
£160.00
£600.00
Newsletter Book Sales Donations
£4,988.00
£277.76
£4,931.76
Expenditure Other
£77.18
£254.00
Books
£63.05
General admin & room hire
£627.44
£1,382.39
Telephone & Postage
£405.24
£683.12
Printing & Stationary
£338.05
£216.64
Travel
£330.70
£364.37
4x4 Days
£652.00
Skid Pan
£270.00
Newsletter
£1,336.20
£750.00 £4,036.81
£1,392.00
£5,105.57
Surplus for Year
£951.19
-£173.81
Gen Fund Bal bf
£3,252.96
£3,426.76
£951.19
-£173.81
Surplus for year on activities General Fund Bal
£4,204.15
Gen Fund Bal cf
£4,204.15
£3,252.95
Capital Assets Virgin Deposit cf Int 2017/2018 Total Assets Social Fund bf
Income Expenditure Bal cf
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£7,903.71 £39.57
£7,835.14 £7,943.28
£68.57
£12,147.43
£11,156.66
£3,965.02
£557.00 -£866.75 £3,655.27
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Advanced Driver For many of you it may have been years since you looked at the theory of Advanced Driving. I am sharing the new logbook issued to new members that join the group. The Advanced Driver Course Logbook continued
Speed Advanced drivers must be able to: Demonstrate smooth deceleration and accurate use of ‘acceleration sense’ Acceleration sense is the ability to vary vehicle speed in response to changing road and traffic conditions by accurate use of the accelerator, so that you use the brakes less or not at all. It requires active observation, anticipation and planning for it to be used correctly. A vehicle begins to slow as soon as the accelerator is released. If this is done in a controlled fashion, it will help to maintain stability. In lower gears, the effect is more noticeable; similarly regenerative braking systems in hybrid vehicles will further increase the retarding effect. In addition to using acceleration sense, they should also be aware that their brake lights may be needed to communicate in certain circumstances. Demonstrate smooth and accurate progressive braking. Gentle pressure on the pedal to settle the vehicle onto its front suspension. Firmer braking to lose speed and as required, a gentle release of pressure to allow the suspension to resettle. Although described in three stages, care should be taken to ensure a smooth, progressive and seamless transition. Hold the steering wheel with both hands during braking/accelerating. Hold the wheel with two hands whilst accelerating or braking to retain stability. This will help prevent accidental changes in course In the later stages, at very slow speed, it is acceptable to release the wheel to engage a suitable gear, e.g. ‘a rolling first gear.
Gear Advanced drivers must be able to: Demonstrate an ability to select the correct gear on every occasion. Gear changes need to be smooth and accurate at all times. Make all gear-changes smoothly, matching engine revolutions where appropriate. Continued on Page 15
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Advanced Driver continued
Employ a rev on the down change or sustained accelerator pressure to match engine revs to road speed, if necessary, to achieve a smooth gear-change. Recognise when this isn’t required, for example when selecting a rolling first gear or when road speed is very low. Understand when a planned overlap is appropriate.
At slow speeds for simple junctions it will be safe to overlap brakes and gears. The gear change needs to be finished and the clutch engaged before steering. Position the steering for the required course when a gear change needs to be made in a hazard. For example, select a gear with the steering set for the required course on a Roundabout, the steering position should be held constant while gear is selected.
Manual Vehicles Select the correct gear straightaway. Advanced drivers should know the approximate performance of their vehicle in each gear Preferably they should be able to select any gear without engaging an intermediate gear (block changing) This is an option, rather than an ongoing requirement
Automatic Vehicles Know how to use automatic gearbox Be aware how to correctly select gears using either paddles or gear selector Be aware of additional functions and modes
Continued on Page 16
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Advanced Driver continued
Acceleration Advanced drivers must be able to: Accelerate smoothly when vision and limits permit. Apply the correct degree of acceleration to leave the hazard safely. Acceleration should be brisk and business-like, with due regard to speed limits, weather and traffic conditions. Allow sufficient time to gather information for the next hazard requiring IPSGA application.
Competency Core Driving Skills: This page gives an overview of the competency requirements for this section.
More next edition Page 16
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4 x 4 Experience On Saturday 10th March, 11 brave members attended the Stubbers Adventure Centre in Upminster for the 4X4 experience. As you will recall, shortly before the 10th March, we had a good deluge of Snow and several days of rain, this resulted in a very muddy off-road track which is muddy at all times and very muddy on this day, as the pictures will tell. We were split into 3 groups to go into the 3 LandRover Discoveries, all 3 were old and well beaten but trusty steeds. There were 3 concurrent activities running;The first which our group did was called route finding, this was the art of staying out of excessively deep water and ruts, we were instructed that excessively deep water would cause damage to the car and ultimately suck water into the air intake and cause the engine to hydraulicly lock. Excessively deep ruts would cause the car to ground and could cause damage to the underside and the differentials. Planning a route to avoid excessive wading and excessively deep ruts took a lot of thought. Mishaps innevitably occur and on one occasion our group took an excursion through the hedge in an effort to stay out of the water, and on another with yours truly at the wheel we got well and truly stuck! The second, was really about contingency plans, we approached through a big muddy puddle a small rise over a bump, we soon found that it was very easy to lose traction and get stuck, to our left was a stoney, gravelly area, and when we backed up we found that if we moved over to place the nearside wheels onto this stoney area, the traction to get over the bump was easily found. The Third activity was to recover from a failed ascent, we attempted a steep rise and our instructor hit the kill switch half way up, leaving us stranded on a steep hill. The technique was to decide where you were going backwards, check it was clear, put the car into reverse then start the engine in gear in reverse and let the car do its own hill descent backwards using engine braking. This was a strange experience but it worked. The final activity was to ride a trail route, and our instructor said that this route was more technical than normal and especially with the weather conditions this route was considered advanced. It included all the aspects we had covered, route planning, ascents, descents, tight corners, wading and sliding about. I think everyone had a good day, everyone took something away from it, but the biggest and most important in my mind, was that IPSGA will never fail you, the challenges that we faced were far from the usual challenges met on the roads, but it all comes down to;- Information, Position, Speed, Gear, Accelerate! I would highly recommend this day to anyone who has not done it before. Richard Young Page 17
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Young Driver Scheme Do you know of anyone who is not 17 years of age, but wants to learn how to drive? Over 4,000 Pupils have now been through the Scheme Chelmsford IAM group supports this road safety scheme to give people the opportunity to learn basic car control skills in Driving School Dual Controlled cars on private land before they go on the public Highway. Lessons, lasting for one hour, are run on the third Sunday of most months at Earls Colne (near Coggeshall). There is an initial Registration Fee of ÂŁ40 which covers registration and the first one hour lesson. Subsequent lessons cost ÂŁ30. Lessons must be booked in advance. The scheme is intended primarily for 16 year-olds but, if vacancies permit, places may be offered to 15 year-olds or even to older people who are nervous about
getting behind the wheel (again, or for the first time). Full details of the scheme, a letter from Essex Police and a map may be viewed, and the application Form can be downloaded, from http://youngdriverscheme.org/ Alternatively, forms may be obtained from the YDS Organiser. Nicola Hyland, 67 Main Road, St Lawrence Bay, Southminster, CM0 7NA Dedicated Mobile number 07847 645632 or yds@iamchelmsford.org.uk
Notification of Events There has been a lot of positive feedback from events organised by the Group. If you would like to be kept informed of any up and coming events please make sure that l have your current email address.
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Dates for 2018 Tuesday 20th March
Committee Meeting
Monday 9th April Sunday 29th April
Driver Experience Day
Monday 14th May
Automatic Driving
Tuesday 22nd May
Committee Meeting
Monday 11th June
Driving manoeuvres in the car park
Monday 9th July
AGM
Monday 16th July
Committee Meeting Upstairs
Monday August 13th
Group Night
TBA
Monday 10th September
Mark’s Story A Road Collision and how it was dealt with by the Court
Derek Leggetter
Monday 17th September
Committee Meeting
Sunday 30th September
Driver Experience Day
Monday 8th October
Group Night
Monday 12th November
DNA & fingerprints
Monday 19th November
Committee Meeting
Monday 10th December
Christmas Quiz and complimentary buffet
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Nick Fearn
Chris Truran
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Letters & emails On all matters relating to motoring and the Chelmsford Group, this newsletter or your experiences in preparing for or taking your test are most welcome. Over the years I have spent many hours behind the wheel of a car, and I do enjoy driving, however I regularly see very poor standards of driving from others. I would say my standard of driving was high, but I guess if you did a poll and asked drivers they would all say they were good drivers and the other drivers were the problem. Wouldn’t they? I guess the only way to confirm you are indeed one of the better drivers on the road and not one of the poor drivers who THINK they are good is to stand up and be counted by subjecting your driving to an advanced test, this is where my motivation came from, so I decided to join up to the IAM. The Government feel that to improve road safety and reduce casualties and road deaths that they need to change rules and laws and road layouts. My personal opinion is that the issue is with the standards of driving on our roads, improve the standard of driving of the masses and you reduce the accident rate, reducing speed limits may reduce the severity of injuries, but if we can improve the standard of driving sufficiently, we could potentially reduce the accident rate to almost zero. Having taken the decision to join up I went onto the IAM web site, where I found that there was a promotional scheme running, take a taster Observed drive, and get 10% discount, that was a no brainer for me, so I made contact, and arranged a taster drive with Graham Lowe. I was very nervous and didn’t really know what to expect or what he would make of my driving. Graham was very reassuring and we did a short drive, Graham shared a few tips and we had a pleasant session. I went home and immediately signed up and paid my discounted fee. Within a few days, Graham was back in touch and said that there was a shortage of Observer availability and there would be a delay getting an Observer assigned. This was quite a disappointment and an anti-climax, if I am to be honest. I think it was around two months later when I heard from Norman Smith my Observer, we booked a mutually convenient time and date to meet and go out on an Observed drive. We were out for about an hour and a half and we stopped mid way through to talk, there is no school type instructing, it’s all done in a Coaching style, where the Observer encourages you to think about your drive, analyse for yourself and come up with your own ways to improve your drive, this works well because it’s less demoralising than just being told you are doing it wrong and you should do x y and z, and it sticks in your memory better, because your brain has analysed it and accepted it.
Continued on Page 21
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After less of these drives than I expected, Norman announced, “I think you are ready for your test, we’ll get you booked up for a mock test” after a mock test with Pat Clements, Pat came up with several areas where there was room for improvements, but agreed I was ready for the IAM test, I had one more polishing session with Norman, where we paid attention to the items that Pat had highlighted. My test was booked and I met with my examiner one morning, the day of my test was very wet, I made sure I talked about the weather and road conditions, with greater stopping distances and therefore bigger safety gaps. After a while I relaxed and my drive improved and became more fluid, the Examiners are not looking for any magical properties, all they want to see, is a safe, legal drive where you get from A to B in a reasonable time. In order to do this you will need good forward vision, good planning and good anticipation. Application of IPSGA is essential to this process. At the end of the test I was hopeful that I had passed, but quite shocked when the Examiner announced that I had not only passed but got a First, with all 1’s! I would like to thank Norman in particular for his time and advice, as well as Pat Clements for her time and pointers on the mock test. Richard Young ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Last summer I decided that I needed improve my driving skills. They had probably deteriorated gradually since driving an automatic car. Following my taster session with Graham Lowe, I was allocated to Rob Wise. He was extremely patient, gave excellent explanations and helped me to understand the concepts in the Advanced Driver course logbook. He was always very good humoured and teased gently when I signalled to nobody and reminded me firmly when I failed to notice a traffic sign. Following a session full of mistakes, he assured me that most people had one like that at some stage. Rob suggested a mock test which was with Pat Clements which was a useful exercise. Rob then helped me to finally prepare for the real one. The only difficulty in all of the sessions was that he could not get the seat far enough back to accommodate his leg length! The test was better than expected. The examiner, Mark Wilson helped me overcome my nerves so I could concentrate well. He gave me valuable feedback and advice including the need to keep practicing the skills learnt. I am very pleased that I chose to do the course. My husband died last July and I felt that as the sole driver, I should be safe and competent. I would like to thank all those who helped with their patience and skilled teaching. The concepts in the course work well for all road and traffic conditions. The whole experience has made me think so much more about observation, road position and speed control to achieve a higher standard of driving. A great bonus is that I have increased understanding and enjoyment of my beautifully engineered car. Rosalind Gunning Page 21
Chelmsford Advanced Motorists
Issue 125
Rule change - Highway Code From the 4th June Rule 253 changed. This covers who can drive on Motorways. The law has being changed to allow learner drivers to have motorway lessons with an approved driving instructor. This will help to make sure more drivers know how to use motorways safely. Driving instructors can decide if they want to use a driving school rooftop box during motorway lessons, based on its instructions. The car will need to display L plates on the front and rear if the rooftop box is removed. The rule will have this wording added to it: 'From 4 June 2018 provisional licence holders may drive on the motorway if they are accompanied by an approved driving instructor and are driving a car displaying red L plates (D plates in Wales), that’s fitted with dual controls.' Learning materials and the syllabus for learning to drive a car are being updated to include motorway lessons but the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency won’t give driving instructors extra training on providing motorway lessons, however the driving instructor’s National Associations Strategic Partnership has produced best practice guidance to help instructors. This can be viewed from this webpage https://bit.ly/2wEDGnw It is recommended that such practical training takes place near to the end of a learner’s pre-test training when they are “TEST READY” when all other aspects of driving have been covered and they are at a competent level where they can drive unaided. It is essential to ensure that any learner driving on a motorway is in full control of the vehicle, cognisant of the requirements of motorway driving, and confident in dealing with fast moving traffic situations. Terry Joyce - From Internet sources
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Chelmsford Advanced Motorists
Issue 125
Congratulations Here are some of our successful members receiving their certificates I would like to thank all those who helped with their patience and skilled teaching. The concepts in the course work well for all road and traffic conditions. The whole experience has made me think so much more about observation, road position and speed control to achieve a higher standard of driving. A great bonus is that I have increased understanding and enjoyment of my beautifully engineered car. Rosalind Gunning
My dad gifted the IAM course to me for my birthday. I didn’t think I would get as much out of it as I have! The best skill I’ve learned from the course is safer cornering using the limit point. Thank you Paul, my Observer, for all your knowledge and support getting me to the test. Your cheery and honest persona at each lesson made the whole experience what it was - brilliant. ‘ Sam Jones
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Chelmsford Advanced Motorists
Issue 125
Driver Experience Days The date of the next Driver Experience Day is Sunday 30th September If you haven’t been to one, please make an effort to go on one as it will improve your driving ability and you will have a lot of fun.
Contact Graham Lowe to book a place