Whats Your Ability

[Mr Cholmondeley-Warner]

If we go back to our old benchmark, the Police, then a combination of someone like Chris Gilbert, who did advanced instruction for over 20 years, and someone with the advanced VIP protection and anti-hijack training (not sure if Chris was in this bracket, although I know he taught royalty advanced driving), would probably be at the top.

Then work back through Class 1, and other emergency response drivers, and the highest any of us can aspire to would probably be 7 or 8. I've marked myself 5.

[Porker]

This is going to be a challenging exercise, because we'd first need to define the skills against which we're going to measure ourselves, and then the scale on which we measure the defined skills.

On the latter point, is the scale presented measured in terms of the percentage of drivers which the driver being assessed is "better" than? If so, I would suggest that anyone who has done some further training - and diligently applies the principles learned - is likely be in the top 10 or 15% (remembering that only about 3% of drivers have had any training beyond that required for the L-test).

Does that then mean that the top road drivers are only 10% better than someone who's achieved a good pass with the IAM? I think not, so that's another question to resolve.

The point about diligently applying the principles is also pretty key. If someone passes a test and then lets their standard drop, how do we decide where to put them on our scale?

Personally, I tend to think of my own progress in terms of where I believe I'd like to be and where I am in relation to that. That approach though has its own flaws, at least one of which is impossible to overcome.

regards
P.

[martine]

..he's a good race track driver I agree...

Great British understatement? His attitude stinks sometimes but crikey, Mr. Schumacher is surely one of the greatest GP drivers there's ever been (top 5?). The next GP will be very interesting.

Back on topic: I haven't voted as I can allocate myself anything from a 1 - 10 depending on criteria.

[zadocbrown]

I think all we can say with any certainty is that with the exception of 2 people, we're all somewhere in the middle! (I'm not saying whether I think I'm one of those 2 people! )

[daz6215]

Interesting to see no one considers themself near the top, I wonder what the answer might be if I asked 10 random drivers on the road where they would place themselve's?

[x-Sonia-x]

How right you are daz, as I am doing a degree in psychology id like to add that if you ask people to judge themselves, knowing that everyone else is going to read what they say, then they will always opt for the middle, thats why most of your answers are coming out 4-5. In reality, it would be really interesting to know how many of those drivers are actually much better than they have classed themselves!!!

[Mr Cholmondeley-Warner]

I viewed it as a series of steps, not percentages. I know of several distinct classes of people that I regard as better drivers than myself, so counting back from the top, as per my earlier post, 5 is about where I fall. The graduations between steps may not all be of the same height, but they provide distinct goals for me to aim at. I might be a good 5 or a poor 8, if they were all equal steps. Who knows? It might take me the same length of time to reach Police Class 1 (assuming I had access to the training) as the average officer enrolled on the course, or shorter, or longer. However I don't have access to that training, so my ceiling is going to be lower than that.

It's very hard to assess yourself, and it's better to be modest than over confident. That way you only get nice surprises.

[MrToad]

It's my impression that our thinking of ourselves as generally mid-table (except me, of course ) is atypical. Other studies in this area have confirmed the existence of the following:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Wobegon_effect

or, more formally:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning-Kruger_effect

1. Incompetent individuals tend to overestimate their own level of skill.
2. Incompetent individuals fail to recognize genuine skill in others.
3. Incompetent individuals fail to recognize the extremity of their inadequacy.
4. If they can be trained to substantially improve their own skill level, these individuals can recognize and acknowledge their own previous lack of skill.

I wouldn't be surprised if the average driver-on-the-street gave themselves higher ratings than we have.

[TripleS]

Well, compared with where I was four years ago:

My braking is now more civilised, thanks to the Stressed One.
my steering into bends is now better, thanks to Chris, and
my gear changes from 1st to 2nd are now better, thanks to Tony.

The situation is still not especially good, but at least there has been some progress.

I really don't know how to judge my overall situation, taking into account all the various elements of a driving performance, but I think I'm fairly good at some aspects, and still quite poor at others. Attempting to weigh it all up and find my point on the scale therefore seems a fruitless exercise to me. Certainly I can't do it.

Best wishes all,
Dave.

[waremark]

One aspect which interests me is that we in the 'Advanced Driving' world all share relatively similar ideas about what constitutes good driving. Some youngsters may think good driving is about being the quickest through the high street and doing donuts on the housing estate.

I am not going to rate myself on any scale. An easier question to answer (would it be interesting?) would be how many hours or days of post-L Test training each of us has had.

[daz6215]

An easier question to answer (would it be interesting?) would be how many hours or days of post-L Test training each of us has had.

Would that include classroom theory or on road only?

[jont]

An easier question to answer (would it be interesting?) would be how many hours or days of post-L Test training each of us has had.

Would that include classroom theory or on road only?

And only coaching from ADIs, or what about the ADUK days (which for me have provided countless hours of advice - some of which I've even listened to ) Then you have to account for the fact that people learn at different speeds. So again, I'm not sure it's a particularly interesting exercise.

[Gareth]

An easier question to answer (would it be interesting?) would be how many hours or days of post-L Test training each of us has had.

Would that include classroom theory or on road only?

And only coaching from ADIs, or what about the ADUK days (which for me have provided countless hours of advice - some of which I've even listened to ) Then you have to account for the fact that people learn at different speeds. So again, I'm not sure it's a particularly interesting exercise.

I think it would be interesting to the extent we might get a better idea about how much money people are willing to spend to improve their driving. However taking the point about learning on ADUK days, I suspect that those who are passionate and enthusiastic about driving will spend money to improve themselves when they've got the money and when they've seen examples of better driving.

[daz6215]

Im gonna have to spend alot then!

[Michael.Schumacher]

Ich habe 10 ausgewählt, weil ich Michael Schumacher bin!

Und Ich jetzt habe viel frei zeit, aber ich habe Genickschmerzen.

MFG

Michael.