Safe Speed Forums

With something like 600,000 miles behind me I think I may be experienced enough now to consider some advanced training, but is it really worth it? Not monetary terms, but in terms of the time taken to get the qualification and any perceived benefits it brings?

Who with, IAM or ROADA or anyone else?

How do the different courses compare - intensive courses versus doing it in my own time?

I've heard of HPC and whilst I can't claim to drive a high performance vehicle, the course is recommended but I can't find any details on line (the website is non-responding).

Thanks in antipation

Andy

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COAST Not just somewhere to keep a beach.

A young loner on a crusade to champion the cause of the innocent, the helpless, the powerless, in a world of criminals who operate above the law.

you could just do some supervised drives with a place like Ride Drive. Most of their instructors are police. They're heavy on the 'coast' side of things, less so on the staying legal bits. While you're driving around they'll make suggestions as improvements that can be made to your general driving rather than nitpicking (ie they're not going to hammer things like push-pull steering into you).

HPC is also very good if you have deep pockets. I did an intro drive with them but I worked out that to get myself to the sort of level where you can join the club would cost a small fortune, although I have to admit that sitting in with someone of that standard is quite amazing.

If your local IAM group is a good one, then that's the bargain way to get on the ladder. I will say that I only regard an IAM pass as the first rung, and IAM groups can be a bit patchy.

I first went on a two day commercial high performance driving course (not HPC). I thought it was fabulous. Sometimes you get what you pay for. But that was a long time ago and the course doesn't exist any more.

Whereabouts are you?

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

Thanks for the answers.

Paul, I'm based in Lancashire, nearest IAM is probably Wigan but I didn't know if there was a good way (independent?) of finding out if they are any good?

My uncle used to be, possibly still is, an advanced motorist with IAM, is it worth asking him to go for a short drive just to review my driving? I'm fully expecting to be given a long list of things I do wrong, hopefully there will be a short list of things that I do well in there as well!

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COAST Not just somewhere to keep a beach.

A young loner on a crusade to champion the cause of the innocent, the helpless, the powerless, in a world of criminals who operate above the law.

Wigan is where the head of the local IAM group got banned for drink-driving

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/lanc ... 163952.stm

Not that that makes any difference to whether they're a decent group or not.

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"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed

http://driverawareness.co.uk/

Adrian is a fantastic bloke - I've met him. I don't know what he charges or how busy he is.

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety