Now then, now then - "Institute of Advanced Motorists".
Discussion
My IAM bike group is about about having fun on bikes 
IAM car groups? I wouldn't know these days. I guess car enthusiasts looking for a great day out will go on an Advanced Driving UK driving day or, if they can afford it, join the High Performance Club. I imagine ADUK days suit many people more than the IAM.
IAM car groups? I wouldn't know these days. I guess car enthusiasts looking for a great day out will go on an Advanced Driving UK driving day or, if they can afford it, join the High Performance Club. I imagine ADUK days suit many people more than the IAM.
Like many here, I'd say you should do the IAM course. It's worthwhile to complete, not least because the advice you get from the police examiner can often be invaluable. I learnt a lot of valuable stuff, which I still find very useful in daily drivng. It improved my skills.
Whilst the police examiners are invariably top notch, your instructor/Observer may vary in quality. Most are very good, but the odd one isn't. This isn't a problem: you can easily change instructor. (I did and my new "Observer" was excellent.)
Whilst the police examiners are invariably top notch, your instructor/Observer may vary in quality. Most are very good, but the odd one isn't. This isn't a problem: you can easily change instructor. (I did and my new "Observer" was excellent.)
SVS said:
Like many here, I'd say you should do the IAM course. It's worthwhile to complete, not least because the advice you get from the police examiner can often be invaluable
I agree. It was the same on my Bike IAM.Ps. Wasn't Jimmy Saville a Freemason too?
Edited by MC Bodge on Friday 23 May 15:53
Benbay001 said:
Im sure club level even the IAM is about the joy of driving. Its just a shame that it doesnt seem to be the case at national level.
You have it exactly right. This is an organisation that, fleet training aside, is entirely dependent for its business model on the unpaid efforts of its volunteer membership. And it seems to be doing an increasingly good job of marginalising and ignoring them. Membership and test numbers are falling, they're paying commercial executive-level salaries on the back of volunteer effort and the centralised approach to training is becoming increasingly PC and dogma-led, despite the best efforts of local groups to help the people who want to learn to become thinking riders and drivers. Regional Training Teams have just been disbanded by diktat, the new National Observer Qualification can't be implemented in many areas due to lack of examiners and a great many Observers of my acquaintance are thoroughly disillusioned and demotivated, self included. Locally at least, RoSPA doesn't seem to be able to get its act together, which just appears to leave HPC as a shining but costly example of how people who care about the quality of their driving can achieve things. Sheesh. That said, those are organisational issues which really impact the ability of the IAM to attract new Associates and succeed and grow in the long term. If you're thinking of or have signed up to do it, the vast majority of people are very positive about the quality of the training/guidance they receive and do in fact enjoy the process. In the thirteen years that I've been an Observer (been a member for 27 years egad), I've seen local groups tackle issues of consistency of Observer approach with good results. The only two really bad experiences I've seen first-hand have both been with female associates in the car section, who in each case got paired up (in different parts of the country) with retrograde and misogynist a
holes of Observers who damn nearly put them both off the whole idea of advanced training. Edited by Technomad on Monday 26th May 15:23
Edited by Technomad on Monday 26th May 15:33
MC Bodge said:
SVS said:
Like many here, I'd say you should do the IAM course. It's worthwhile to complete, not least because the advice you get from the police examiner can often be invaluable
I agree. It was the same on my Bike IAM.Edited by SVS on Thursday 29th May 19:40
Technomad said:
...And it seems to be doing an increasingly good job of marginalising and ignoring them. Membership and test numbers are falling,
Since January national membership has been growing actually.Technomad said:
they're paying commercial executive-level salaries
The IAM is a £6-8m charity/business - how much do you think the CEO should be paid?Technomad said:
...Regional Training Teams have just been disbanded by diktat,
'Suspended' actually - pending the new guy, Mark Lewis getting settled in.Technomad said:
the new National Observer Qualification can't be implemented in many areas due to lack of examiners and a great many Observers of my acquaintance are thoroughly disillusioned and demotivated, self included.
Not true down 'ere in Bristol...we have a great team of 26 Observers inc. 6 Nationals.In the interest of balance...just don't get me started on the latest news about Staff Examiners being edged out for a full-time post holder.
It needs members with a broad range of ideas and points of view to represent all motorists. Leaving because you don't like what they're saying is only going to make the organisation drift further away from what you would like it to be. You're far better off staying involved and having your say. Take part in the surveys, let more senior members know your feelings, get more involved by taking on influential positions yourself. I've seen plenty of organisations change what they originally set out to be because they've been taken over by people who've wanted to seize control and change them and the original members have just gone off in a huff and let them.
The IAM has to adapt to modern concerns regarding increases in traffic volumes, increases in serious accidents on the road, the impact of traffic on the environment and the concerns of the general public about all these things. However, it should appreciate that focusing on speed and more speed cameras isn't really going to help tackle these issues on its own and isn't going to sit well with its values of enjoying driving and incorporating skills in forward planning and observation into making progress safely.
The IAM has to adapt to modern concerns regarding increases in traffic volumes, increases in serious accidents on the road, the impact of traffic on the environment and the concerns of the general public about all these things. However, it should appreciate that focusing on speed and more speed cameras isn't really going to help tackle these issues on its own and isn't going to sit well with its values of enjoying driving and incorporating skills in forward planning and observation into making progress safely.
You'd certainly think so at least if you believed the sensationalism. Various comments to have come from the IAM and Simon Best recently have got people concerned, on here at least, that the IAM is losing it's focus on people who enjoy driving and enjoy driving quickly but safely where appropriate and is becoming another pressure group for lower speed limits and more speed cameras. It's just pandering to government propaganda.
I don't want to drive like a nut and I don't expect to be able to break traffic laws, or for the IAM to condone it, but when it comes to issues of speed and safety the IAM should surely be talking about issues of observation and planning and overall attitude to driving as well as other ways of making the road safer besides lower limits and cameras. Those are only measures put in place as a result of desk based research of impact forces and accident statistics in different speed limits rather than actual experience and knowledge of driving.
I don't want to drive like a nut and I don't expect to be able to break traffic laws, or for the IAM to condone it, but when it comes to issues of speed and safety the IAM should surely be talking about issues of observation and planning and overall attitude to driving as well as other ways of making the road safer besides lower limits and cameras. Those are only measures put in place as a result of desk based research of impact forces and accident statistics in different speed limits rather than actual experience and knowledge of driving.
martine said:
Technomad said:
...Regional Training Teams have just been disbanded by diktat,
'Suspended' actually - pending the new guy, Mark Lewis getting settled in.Gassing Station | Advanced Driving | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff