I NOTE with interest the letter from Iain Stuart (October 22) on the subject of driving skills.
I too became an advanced driver with the help of the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) 11 years ago but did not have the luxury of a police officer to train me to the standard required for passing the advanced test. I used my local IAM group, who gave me one-to-one tuition with a qualified observer who after several months brought me up to the standard required.
I'm afraid we now don't have police officers available to undertake such activities and as mentioned it is now up to the voluntary sector (IAM and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents) to provide the training necessary to improve the driving and riding skills of road users.
Whilst approving of the initiative of Police Scotland to speak to drivers about the errors seen in their driving ("Police target bad drivers in 'stop and warn' clampdown", The Herald, October 20), it is only with sustained learning that the driving skills of individuals is gained.
The latest information the IAM has is that 99 per cent of those who took its Skill for Life course improved their driving. A further 66 per cent said it had helped them avoid a crash. Skills improvement was recognised by 78 per cent of drivers and 90 per cent said it had improved their awareness of other road users.
When we consider that 90 per cent of road accidents (collisions) are caused by driver error it is obvious that such further development in driving skills can be achieved at little cost.
The IAM offers its course for £149 and when you compare that with the estimated cost of a road fatality at £1.8 million per person it is easy to see just what a saving it can be if more people did something to improve their driving skills. Unfortunately we have a long-established culture that you only have to pass the basic driving test and that is you fit to drive for the rest of your life.
In Scotland we offer what is called DriveScotFree which offers a uniquely enjoyable self-learning experience. An IAM observer assesses your driving during a relaxed one-to-one drive lasting around one hour, which includes being given hints and tips on how to improve your skills. Readers can get further details at www.iam.org.uk/drivescotfree.
Angus Maciver,
Co-ordinator, DriveScotFree Scotland,
45 Polwarth Avenue,
Falkirk.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article