Advanced Driver Training

Road driving for some just represents a means to an end, as in a method of getting from one place to another quickly and comfortably. Road driving for others is an activity that brings pleasure and even excitement, but whatever the sentiment behind the use of the car; there are always methods by which it can be done better.

However, the process of getting to do it better requires investment in some training, and that always seems to be a bit of a sticky wicket. If you ask the whole driving population what they think about further driver training, over 99% will tell you they don’t need it.

99% Of Drivers Don’t Need Training, So They Say

That being the case, wouldn’t it would be interesting if you could gather together that 99% and find out if any were involved in some other sort of activity, perhaps as a leisure pursuit? Golf, perhaps? Sailing, wind surfing, tennis, football, rock climbing, caving, potholing, even weight training or working out at the gym, for all of which, training would be happily accepted. So why is it that 99% of the population will scoff at doing any training for the one activity that consumes so much of their daily lives, and when they will readily throw buckets of money at a training regime to aid some other and far less frequent activity?

There are two main reasons; one is that road driving in the car is as familiar as putting on a pair of pants in the morning, and because that task is always completed successfully each and every time it is attempted. Therefore, there is no need to look for another or better way of doing it.

The second main reason for the reluctance to seek further driver training is that driver training itself is so heavily loaded with negative pre–conceptions, as owned on the part of the would be trainee. Who can blame them? In reality the post test driver training industry has earned itself a dreadful reputation. You might say this is just prejudice taking, but where did that prejudice come from? It had to start somewhere and for some reason. Certainly it seems the industry needed no help in this department, achieving this reputation by consistently projecting such an awful image of itself.

Public Perception of Advanced Driver Training

Ask anyone you meet in the supermarket checkout queue, for example, how would they sum up their perception of driver training, and unless you picked on someone who actually had experience of taking part, and had a good experience at that, you would be very hard pushed to find anyone who would give you an answer that was anything but negative.

Painting by numbers, is a very good description. Patronising, is another you will often hear, and you can bet your last penny that someone who has never investigated post–test driver training will never tell you they thought it would be exciting. Yes, driver trainers of the land, you have got a lot to answer for, because this is all your doing.

Cars Evoke Passion and Lust

Right from when the first internal combustion engine powered vehicle took to the road, cars have always captured people’s imagination. As the technology developed, and cars began to take on features of design and style, they became machines of desire.

Cars began to capture the imagination, stir the emotions and create the sensation of wanting and lust for a machine. Manufacturers learned to play to this, creating ever more evocative looking vehicles, in the presence of some would stir the soul.

After a while, even just a name could pervade the senses. Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Porsche, Aston Martin, to name but a few, so the question is this. If cars evoke such lust and passion within all who behold them, why is it that anything to do with developing the process of driving it more effectively on the road has to be so incredibly boring?

Yes, there has to be consideration for safety of the general public, yes there has to be a sense of responsibility when using a machine such as a motorcar on the road, and yes people need to know how to control a vehicle in a competent manner, but where has there ever been written a rule that dictates responsible and safe driving has to be a miserable experience? Even if you talk to the body that is tasked with the responsibility of setting the standards for road use, you might be forgiven for thinking you were dealing with someone who has as much passion for driving as a corpse!

Road Driver Training Should Be Made To Be Exciting

Why does it have to be that way? Cars ARE exciting, and driving them should be exciting too, as well as the process involved in acquiring the necessary skills to function as a road driver. In the main there is currently very little to inspire people to do better, as in take on advanced training, because the public at large just see advanced driver training as a process of demeaning humiliation and patronisation? Why would anyone want to go through that, and pay to be treated that way?

But what if you found there was a company that did it differently, that actually made the process of developing your road driving skills inspiring? What if you discovered there was an advanced driver training organisation, that instead of telling you that can’t do this or you can’t do that, you were told about the fun stuff you could do? Would you be more inclined to think about upgrading your skills then?

This is Me, And This is My Company

My name is Julian Smith and I am the managing director of Ride Drive, a company that was formed in 1997, devoted to advanced driver and motorcycle rider training. This is my business and it operates with a team of expertly trained and highly skilled advanced driving and motorcycle riding specialists over most regions of mainland UK.

Personally, I have always held the driver training industry is poor regard, even at grass roots level, as the whole persona of the trade, whilst outwardly claiming to want people to do training, actually make all the right noises to put people off. Often it is egotistical, with trainers treading on trainees just to make themselves look good, or where trainers will treat driver training as some kind of religion. All these qualities I have used to teach me how not to run my business.

Driving should never be painting by numbers, but driver training often is. You cannot lay down hard and fast rules for how a road situation should be dealt with, or how that set of circumstances should be approached. No two scenarios will be the same, and therefore the skills that need to be put in place should equip the driver (or motorcyclist) to be totally adaptable, creative and above all else, have options from which to make an intelligent and well informed selection.

This is what Ride Drive offer. We give real life driving techniques and skills that are appropriate, not only to the driver concerned, but also to the vehicle being driven. When you complete a Ride Drive advanced driving course you are not just receiving a course of advanced driver training, you are being armed with an individually personalised range of tools for your driver’s toolbox so you can apply them as you see fit. Also, we make advanced driver training really good fun too!

Julian Smith
Ride Drive Limited
Tel. 01296 427889

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This page was last updated
Friday, 28-Jan-2011

Real Life Road Driving Skills For Real Life Road Drivers