Advanced Driving FAQ
What is Advanced Driving?
This is a good description of what Advanced Driving is about and before you go any further you should join this Advanced Driving Community. There are lots of information on Advanced Driving Courses on this site.
What pre-requisites are required to undertake a course?
You must hold a full UK driving licence. You must be able to drive to at least L test standard (note: just because you passed the L test, only means you met the standard at that time you passed). It is recommended that a candidate would also normally have held a full UK licence for at least 12 months.
You normally should have less than 9 points. Any more and special dispensation will be required from the Chief Examiner of the organisation you wish to take your training with. This is due to the potential for a ban at 12 points if you where to get another 3 during your training (it looks bad). Your car must be road worthy, be fully taxed and insured and have a current MOT certificate if it requires one.
Is Advanced Driving difficult?
No. An Advanced Driving Qualification is well within the reach of most drivers. The majority of people are test ready between 6 and 8 run’s with an IAM or RoSPA Tutor.
So what is the training format, and is there an exam?
Generally, the format is:
1. Assessment of the associates current driving skill/habits and Demonstration Drive from a Senior Tutor or your Observer.
2. Associate undertakes several weeks of guidance/tuition (typically 1 hour a week). Covering the “Advanced Driving Course”.
3. After 6 to 8 weeks the Associate will generally take a check test/drive with a Tutor/Observer to check progress and confirm/deny the Associate is ready for test. If ready, application for test will be placed.
4. Associate will undertake IAM/RoSPA practical test.
What does the test involve?
Typically the test involves roughly 1 to 1.5 hours practical exam with someone who holds a Police Advanced Driving Certificate. More often than not, this will be a current or retired Class 1 Police Driver.
The test basically will cover the main areas of Roadcraft (or How to be an Advanced Driver if your on an IAM test). This will be on Town, Country and Motorway driving. The test “may” include maneuvers and also questions from the Highway Code and Roadcraft.
What is a commentary and do I to give a one on IAM/RoSPA test?
A commentary is a part of the drive where the test candidate descirbes what is/is not going on around them. hazards they see (or may not see), in relation to the System of Car Control.
A commentary is generally requested, but not compulsory. You will not be downgraded for not giving a commentary, however, by not giving one, you may not be fully demonstrating your observation skills and knowledge of Roadcraft and Hazard Procedure with relation to The System.
Generally, it’s a good idea to practice a commentary and “have a go” on test. The only time it’s not recommended to give one, is if your normal drive is effected/deteriorates because of your concentration diverting to the commentary, rather than it assisting with your drive.
What is the System of Car Control?
The System as it is more commonly known, is the Holy Grail of Advanced Driving, and what everyone strives to perfect in their own manner and style. Of course, there is no such thing as the perfect driver, but the better someone can use the system, the better a driver they will be.
In short, the system is described by IPSGA…
Information
Position
Speed
Grear
Acceleration
And is described in detail in Roadcraft stating at Chapter 2, Page 21.
I’v been driving for 3 years and have had no claims or accidents. Could I do my advanced drivers licence with out a pass plus?
Yes, you do not need Pass Plus to undertake an Advanced Driving Course. In fact, it would probably be a waste of money to take a Pass Plus course as these must be dont with an ADI. An IAM or RoADA course will certainly be better value for money.
If so how much does it cost to do a Advanced licence?
Firstly, you do not get a new “licence”.
Advanced Driver’s are not allowed to do anything different to normal (L Test) drivers and do not get exempt from speed limits. When you pass your test, you do not send your licence to the DVLA for it to be updated.
For costs see the section below, but you should not be paying more than £85 all inc.
Can I do advanced Driving lessons with a normal driving instructor?
Again, it’s not an Advanced Driving Licence, you pass an Advanced Driving test….this does not change your licence status.
But, yes, if you chose to pay anywhere in the region of £30 to £60 per hour, (you will need about 10 hours) to undertake training with an ADI. However, it should be noted, that unless your ADI is also a qualified IAM, or RoADA Tutor, then it is unlikely they will know what is required on test due to not having close links with your prospective examiner.
Full training, and the test fee can be obtained for around £85 with a local group of members who have taken additional training to allow them to coach people towards the test. It should also be noted that pass rates taking the ADI route tend to be significantly worse than those who go through Groups.
Where do I find an Advanced Driving Course?
Join this Advanced Driving Community
IAM / RoSPA Courses can be found here
What is the difference between IAM, RoSPA and the High Performance Club (HPC)?
In simple terms: All organisations use Roadcraft as a basis for the test.
The IAM has the most members, and even though a charity, is the most commercial of the three (~ 100,000 members). Ungraded, simply pass or fail. No retests, once you’ve taken it, your an Advanced Driver for Life. Irrespective of how much you deteriorate over time. Annual membership fee. IAM /RoSPA Groups can be found here
RoSPA is much smaller (~ 20,000 members). More interested in real road safety and considered by some to be a higher standard than IAM. Graded Bronze, Silver and Gold. Annual membership fee (slightly cheaper than IAM). Compulsory re-test every three years to maintain/improve your grade. Test fee covered by annual membership costs.
Have a look at an Example RoSPA Gold Standard test report
Have a look at an Example RoSPA Diploma Standard test report
HPC is smaller still, and entry is via an HPC Gate Keeper. You might want to read up on HPC and what they get up to, in our article on the HPC Young Driver Day
What criteria should I use to choose IAM or RoSPA for my training?
Well, we’ve already discussed cost. Quality of training between the two should be very similar. The only remaining one may be, how close they are to you, and also what their current waiting list is.
Before shelling out for either RoADA or IAM, contact all your local groups for RoADA and IAM and find out:
Does the group do “fixed length courses” or allocation on availability of observers?
If fixed length how many courses per year, and what is current availability?
If allocation on availability, how many observers do they have, and whats the waiting list in terms of time AND numbers of associates on list (an associate should really take no more than 8 to 10 weeks to get through to test).
Do this for both IAM and RoSPA local groups, you might find one has a shorter waiting list than the other and may sway your decision which to go with.
So what about DSA Pass Plus?
DSA Pass Plus is not considered an Advanced Driving Course. It’s simply an extension to your L test training to incorporate a few hours on the motorway. A simple cost comparison:
Advanced Driving Course (Group based RoSPA) ~ £85
Advanced Driving Course (Group based IAM) ~ £99
Advanced Driving Course (Pass Plus/ADI based/RAC or BSM) ~ £350 to £600
High Performance Club ~ £1,000
I’ve heard it’s also possible to do training on a Skid Pan, where can I find information on this? Many IAM and RoSPA Groups run skid pan training days. You should expect to pay anything between £40 and £80 depending on the type of skid pan. Whether it’s a wet/oil pan, or a car with cradle. We have lots of information on Skid Pan training centers here
What is this BGOL or Brake Gear Overlap that everyone goes on about?
Much useful information on Brake Gear Overlap can be found in this thread and in this BGOL thread
What reference material is there to help with training as an Advanced Driver?
Generally it is considered that Roadcraft, the Police Driver’s Handbook is the Holy Grail. The Roadcraft Video is also highly recommended.
Does this website belong to, or is it owned by or run by the IAM or RoSPA?
NO! The IAM or RoSPA has nothing what so ever to do with this website. The site is completely independent of both major organisations and was setup as an aid to helping people with technique and advice online.
Why does this website exist?
There are many involved in Advanced Driving who believe that Advanced Driving could be of tremendous benefit to motoring in the UK as a whole through better driver education. This website aims to promote that philosophy without being linked directly to any of the organisations discussed allowing people to make up their own mind of which course is best for them.
What are the aims of this website?
- Gain recognition of Advanced Driver training as a long term road safety solution.
- Campaigning primarily for better driver education in the highest risk age group, young driver’s under < 25.
Obviously we have to cover our costs in running the site, publicity and marketing. But thats about it. We all acknowledge, if we wanted to become rich….we wouldn’t be involved in road safety. This is about saving lives, not gaining millions of members for no benefit.
A measured, accountable approach to increasing road safety is what is required. That is our overall driving aim.
Where can I find more information on Advanced Driving?
If the information you require is not in this comprehensive Advanced Driving FAQ, then visiting the Forum should be your next port of call.
Some facts about advanced driving and this website?
Advanced Driving UK is website setup to promote the benefits of Advanced Driving in the UK
An estimated 300,000 people in the UK have taken some form of Advanced Driving test
The Advanced-Driving.co.uk website is #1 in Both Yahoo!, MSN and Altavista for the search term Advanced Driving
