Advanced Driver Training - Yes or No?

[commsirac]

The whole title of "advanced driving" invokes visions of heel and toeing, handbrake turns, opposite lock work in skid pans, getting through corners as fast as possible etc.

How many people come away from these courses still not knowing how many metres more their car needs to stop from 120km/h than at 100km/h?

Otherwise I believe all of that is counter productive to safe driving on normal roads.....and Im sure we've all heard of the stats out there to prove that accident rates of companies where they send their drivers on such courses actually go up after doing them.

I prefer courses that are preventative/defensive give people a real appreciation of the relationship between speed and stopping distance and how to interpret/anticipate many traffic situations are what we need, ie problems in following too close and also some education about overtaking, distance/room needed at 100km/h etc.

All of this is just "brain" stuff rather than any particular manual driving skills needed at the wheel.

The best skill that we can have is to avoid trouble in the 1st place, ie dont go into corners too fast in the 1st place, rather than a fistful of techniques that require the practiced skill of an ice rally driver to even give the situation a 10% chance of survival.

 

[pow3rslave]

i've thought about doing one, i think it's a really good idea, but my reason for not doing it is kind of retarded:
i heard they get you to do high speed gravel maneuvres and i don't want stone chips.
other than that, even if it's not free i think it's a good idea, i've heard people claim that it'll make young drivers overconfident, but i think that any driver with that mindset would think that way already.

 

[Philthy]

The whole title of "advanced driving" invokes visions of heel and toeing, handbrake turns, opposite lock work in skid pans, getting through corners as fast as possible etc.

How many people come away from these courses still not knowing how many metres more their car needs to stop from 120km/h than at 100km/h?

Otherwise I believe all of that is counter productive to safe driving on normal roads.....and Im sure we've all heard of the stats out there to prove that accident rates of companies where they send their drivers on such courses actually go up after doing them.

I prefer courses that are preventative/defensive give people a real appreciation of the relationship between speed and stopping distance and how to interpret/anticipate many traffic situations are what we need, ie problems in following too close and also some education about overtaking, distance/room needed at 100km/h etc.

All of this is just "brain" stuff rather than any particular manual driving skills needed at the wheel.

The best skill that we can have is to avoid trouble in the 1st place, ie dont go into corners too fast in the 1st place, rather than a fistful of techniques that require the practiced skill of an ice rally driver to even give the situation a 10% chance of survival.

The course I did involved emergency stops from 40, 45, 60 and 65km/h, and comparisons of reaction and stopping distances at each of those speeds, as well as similar collision avoidance exercises at those speeds

 

[Keepleft]

Defensive driving MP3 for you;-
http://www2.securiteroutiere.gouv.fr/IMG/mp3/asfa_radio_vitesse130_SPOT_ANGLAIS_2006_07_06.mp3

And this Pdf:-
http://www.securiteroutiere.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/60X40_lagerfeld_cle221c56.pdf

 

[wingwang99]

I did one about 2 weeks after i got my licence. And in the not even 3 years that i've been on my p's some of the things i have learnt have come in handy and potentially have saved maybe not my life, but accidents anyway.

Things like emergency braking and general hazard perception have helped me heaps. Not to mention skid control. I'm not the type to go out and do skids on purpose, but the industrial area that i work in has crap all over the road and it doesn't take much to lose it around a corner. I know if i hadn't done the course i would have crapped myself the few times its happened and potentially had an accident.

And to commsirac's comment, total crap. I know all my mates who have done these courses haven't come out with a big head, and none of them have had accidents, whereas other mates who don't know the limits of their car, or what to do when they are in a bad situation haven't had the same fate.

 

[commsirac]

And to commsirac's comment, total crap. I know all my mates who have done these courses haven't come out with a big head, and none of them have had accidents, whereas other mates who don't know the limits of their car, or what to do when they are in a bad situation haven't had the same fate.

So your limited data on what a few of your mates have done/not done tells us more than the many companies who have abandoned advanced driving courses for its employees because it increases their insurance claims.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

So your limited data on what a few of your mates have done/not done tells us more than the many companies who have abandoned advanced driving courses for its employees because it increases their insurance claims.

do you have any data to back up these claims

 

[Immortality]

here in NZ you can get 6 (or 9, can't remember)months taken off your time to get your full drivers license if you have completed and passed a accredited advanced driver training course. having said that our drivers lisense system still sucks and is more about making money then driver training/ability.

some form if skid pan training that involves cornering on a wet surface to learn to steer into a slide and emergency braking can only be beneficial. this is completely different to advanced driver training courses that involves improving your lap times around a racing circuit, as thestig has already clarified.

as a side note, there have been occasions where power (and therefore speed) has saved my bacon from been involved in a serious accident. knowing the limits of one's car and his/her abilities can be an advantage

 

[Philthy]

I went into mine knowing that I would possibly come out with a big head/overconfidence, but (to my surprise) I am actually more of a cautious driver now than I ever was - and I have always considered myself to be a fairly cautious kind of guy.

I don't know about any of that political insurance beaurocratical bullshit some people live their lives by, I just go by my own experiences

 

[Jesterarts]

1. I think you should add a poll. ADD A POLL!! ADD A POLL!!

2. Yes I think there should be more driver training...

At the moment people are allowed on the roads having never been in a situation where the car is about to loose control or has already lost control. It's good because it actually teachs car control rather than driving rules.

Should definately make it a mandantory part of learning how to drive...

I always... ALWAYS say that the testing and training here is a joke... being allowed to drive a car is taken too lightly... and that's how we end up with people either killing themselves or others because they lack the skills.

Obviously, there are alot of wankers out there also... that no matter how much you educate them they will still drive like wankers.

Harshed penalties would weed them out but thats another story.

Once I find some spare time and coin I intent on going through some driver training courses and also getting my gf to do them.

But at the end of the day... doesn't matter how good you are on the roads... because there is alwasy someone who doesn't know wtf they are doing that can wipe you out...

Everyone on the roads needs to be upto a certain level of competance... at the moment you never know...