I can see the logic when you had to rev engines as you let the clutch out.

But a modern engine has automatic idle control, so if you let the clutch out gently, the engine will maintain idle speed-thus giving you an easy form of starting torque control. Honda Jazz drivers haven't discovered this feature yet!

or Jamie's favourite...............Swedish but not a Volvo. Best not mention the name or he will have a hissy fit!!!

I'd only have a hissy fit if you sat here proclaiming Saab invented second gear.

As for the IAM, everybody knows they're a pathetic useless organisation. We've been through this before. You can add this one to other gems of advice from them such as 'IAM advises motorists to read road signs!' and to 'Not travel in snow unless absolutely neccessary' which all sounds quite basic, rather than advanced.

On my driving test (the one i passed) it was in dry conditions and i'd dropped down to 2nd gear for a roundabout but ended up stopping completely and pulling away in second on a slight incline. I didnt really realise until a few seconds later.

IAM. Should be renamed ICM. Institute of Clueless Motorists. 10-to-2, cadence braking, starting off in wrong gear. Don't make me laugh. :)

What do you do instead of 10 to 2? A mate does 5-1 and I've been out in car when someone drove at 25 to 5. What about you?

I was thinking more the pass and shuffle

Sounds like a dance to me.

jamie, I was about to say Saab invented the second gear, but you beat me to it. You've been doing your homework...........................at last!.

I like my Skoda because it will just trickle along at walking pace (when I want to go slowly) without my foot on the accelerator. :)

Here's some more indispensable advice:

"Ensure you have de-icer and a scraper. Before setting off, make sure you clean any ice or condensation from all the windows so that your visibility is clear."

Talk about taking the watch off your wrist and telling you the time!

I'm going to start an organisation for the benefit of drivers who have been stabbed by their cars.

unthrottled, sadly there are lot of people who lack common sense and need to be told to clean their windows. I see enough morons who just clear a tiny patch on the windscreen and then venture down the road. Unfortunately there are still inconsiderate, brainless, lazy moronic motorists.

The best moron story I've heard is when a motorist was involved in a car accident when it was icy. When the motorist mentioned to the attending policeman he didn't realise it was icy the policeman asked of the car was kept outside? Yes. Did you use de-icer on the winds this morning? Yes

The type of motorist who needs to be told simple (not advanced) things is not going to be logging onto the IAM, or even this site for that matter so they'll never read it. The argument of 'thick people need to be told' is not a justification for the IAM acting in such a patronising way. Basic things like 'clean your windows' should be learned by your second driving lesson, its not the place of an organisation pretending to be 'advanced' to be spouting nonsense babble.

Thats the key point, the IAM are not advanced at anything. They just teach the same basic stuff as any ordinary driving instructor but using more complicated words to make themselves sound special.

Sorry Bintang - b***** Microsoft again. Try using Google Chrome or Firefox - we don't want to lose you!

In the old days of lower gearing it was quite normal to start in second. But even when I learned to drive in the 60s (in a Morris 1100) you could feel that it was more of a strain on rhe clutch than it had been in a 50s' Austin. Thus I never started in 2nd and never have.

If you want to save on gearchanges, better to do so further up the line - say, 1,2,3,5 or 1,2,4,6.

Edited by Avant on 28/01/2012 at 16:12

jamie 747 'Thats the key point, the IAM are not advanced at anything. They just teach the same basic stuff as any ordinary driving instructor but using more complicated words to make themselves sound special.'

LOL!

Edited by Trilogy on 28/01/2012 at 16:48

Jamie 747?

Inflation gets to us all.

Or has he become a Jumbo?

Or has he improved to 74.7 pence in the pound?

He's been eating a lot of biscuits lately.

I'm sure the IAM will advise that it's best to keep some biscuits in the car in case all of the instructions become too much and you collapse in a sobbing heap, unable to drive through stress at all that scraping and creeping in snow.

"IAM. Should be renamed ICM. Institute of Clueless Motorists. 10-to-2, cadence braking, starting off in wrong gear. Don't make me laugh. :)"

You really do not have a clue what you are talking about-try taking your advanced test and then come back and comment, if you pass of course,remember the examiner is always a police class 1 licence holder, the highest driving qualification there is.

If the advanced driving test is so useful, why are insurers so indifferent to it?

Possibly because its not a properly recognised qualification. It means nothing. Some insurers do pay attention to it but in reality theres such a small amount of people with IAM qualifications that the data field is quite irrelevent. Didnt we work out in the past only 0.3% of Britain's motorists have this qualification? The rest of us seem to manage alright without it.

I would put a Class 1 LGV up there among the high classes of driving-but I don't see the Road Haulage Association dispensing advice about demisting windscreens.

Because their members actually are advanced, so they dont need to be told simple things. People who drive Buses, LGV's, HGV's etc are the most skilled in the road in my view. I've seen a lorry driver manouvere a 44 tonne truck into the back of a Tesco in town in one move. To put it in perspective, most people would struggle to do this turn in question in a car.

And how Bus Drivers manage to thread those things through towns is beyond me.

you made the statement, its up to you to support it with evidence. Bet you can't!

Um, I think the onus is normally on the claimant to provide positive proof, rather than on a skeptic to disprove an unsubstantiated claim.

If the advanced driving test is so useful, why are insurers so indifferent to it?

I would put a Class 1 LGV up there among the high classes of driving-but I don't see the Road Haulage Association dispensing advice about demisting windscreens.

Not all insurers are indifferent - I get a better insurance deal through the IAM than I can get elsewhere - good cover, lower excess, low premium.

I do agree though, that basic driving education shouldn't be a function of the IAM - mainly because it's a waste of membership fees as basic advice falls on deaf ears.

Compared to the low standard of driving necessary to pass/keep a basic driving licence, the IAM test is advanced - I'd be surprised if BackRoomers consider their own skills as merely adequate so it's quite likely that the test isn't advanced compared to skills here.

Edited by RT on 29/01/2012 at 07:57