Why is Advanced Driving So Uncool?

[ScoobyChris]

What we are not so good at is keeping the young'uns as members once they've passed.

Are you ever able to find out their reasons for not renewing? My own reasons for not renewing with my local IAM group after I'd done the IAM course was because there seemed to be a strong focus on talking about driving, but without any focus on actually doing any driving as a group. A shame as the examiner I had was a real petrol head and I think it would have been an enjoyable experiece.

Trying to encourage members of the group to join in an ADUK day didn't go down very well either.

Chris

[MrToad]

I have two further thoughts.

One I think TripleS will agree with is that advanced driving is needed by some of us because without the discipline we would be quite dangerous, whereas the vast majority of drivers seem to manage safely enough without it.

Another is that many young people see driving as cool, but we should ask what aspects of driving are seen as cool rather than considering the totality as an indivisible lump. I suspect the rebellious nature of some driving is seen in this light, which on the face of it is the antithesis of advanced driving as practised & explained by most exponents.

Following on from this, then, I think the main aspect of advanced driving that is cool is being able to get 'one up' on other motorists by using skill to not get held up, being able to overtake, taking less time to arrive at a destination, and so on.

I think practising advanced driving techniques because one wishes to be as safe and law-abiding as possible can't really be cool. Admirable, but not 'cool'.

Using advanced driving techniques to bring an acceptable level of safety to behaviour that would otherwise get you locked up might be 'cooler', but those that do this hopefully have the sense to keep quiet about it.

[martine]

Trying to encourage members of the group to join in an ADUK day didn't go down very well either.

You're telling me...when I wrote an article for our group newsletter describing the Shaftesbury driving day last year (July 12 see P34), you should have seen the response it got! (Sept 12 see P29)

[ScoobyChris]

Trying to encourage members of the group to join in an ADUK day didn't go down very well either.

You're telling me...when I wrote an article for our group newsletter describing the Shaftesbury driving day last year (July 12 see P34), you should have seen the response it got! (Sept 12 see P29)

This is a local shop for local people ... we don't need your kind around here

Chris

ps I was in fear the title of the article was referring to our drive together in the Panda but I think that was a Bristol day

[Gareth]

you should have seen the response it got!

Martin - your piece seemed fine to me and I'm surprised it raised such ire. I hope the letter writer (and others holding a similar view) was speaking from ignorance because otherwise it speaks to a very insular outlook.

While it's being mentioned tangentially, can you say when the BAM 3-in-a-car events started?

[jont]

Trying to encourage members of the group to join in an ADUK day didn't go down very well either.

You're telling me...when I wrote an article for our group newsletter describing the Shaftesbury driving day last year (July 12 see P34), you should have seen the response it got! (Sept 12 see P29)

<urgh, shudder>









What on earth is your editor doing using comic sans? We're not in the 90s anymore

[Hiijinx]

Quoted straight from my girlfriends mouth just a minute ago: 21 year old female GT5 addict since PSone (Non IAM member, tried associate but found it too dull..)

When we went to that IAM group meeting it was SOOO boring, grannies with trousers up to their chest, walking sticks in an office conference setting with no sense of fun.

Group speakers on caravans?!

Driving is meant to be fun and can be fun and safe at the same time, but IAM do not seem to get that across to younger people. All I have ever heard is about driving safe and to me, or perhaps a younger person, safe usually means slow. We need to get across that you can drive at a faster pace and still be safe, there is no need to go over the speed limit, you can meet the limit safely whilst still getting a thrill without risking your life at the same time.

It is not advertised as youthful - I am not asking for graffiti advertising because that would be stupid but whenever I think about IAM I think about grannies.

It would help if they stopped advertising toilet seat aids in their magazines and started to advertise things like sound systems, body kit companies. Encourage things that young driving enthusiasts buy - lets face it, a boy racer isn't going to be interested in buying a shower stool! They will be wanting rims, exhausts, hi-fis etc but if you want to go for safer things, perhaps try safety harnesses and roll bars to not risk turning it into a Halfords special club.

More involvement with new/existing members with things such as driving days, skid pan training (so much fun!) - competitions to win things such as driving experiences etc.

Discounts for younger members, student discounts? Most new drivers do not have £139 to blow. Free membership for under 25's ?

Reviewing "fun" cars for new drivers - not the best caravan towing solution.

Edit - she agrees with the comic sans comment above.

[jont]

Quoted straight from my girlfriends mouth just a minute ago: 21 year old female GT5 addict since PSone (Non IAM member, tried associate but found it too dull..)

It is not advertised as youthful - I am not asking for graffiti advertising because that would be stupid but whenever I think about IAM I think about grannies.

It would help if they stopped advertising toilet seat aids in their magazines and started to advertise things like sound systems, body kit companies. Encourage things that young driving enthusiasts buy - lets face it, a boy racer isn't going to be interested in buying a shower stool! They will be wanting rims, exhausts, hi-fis etc but if you want to go for safer things, perhaps try safety harnesses and roll bars to not risk turning it into a Halfords special club.

Unfortunately there's a bit of catch22 with that. Until there's a younger audience, no company is going to spend money trying to advertise body kits and sound systems to an older audience with no interest in these things. Anyway, didn't IAM try something with Max-Power a few years ago and it got almost no uptake?

[Gareth]

I wish the IAM didn't have the pall of stuffy driving geeks, or call it what you will, hanging over them but they do and the reason for it is because that's what they were and to a certain extent still are. Shame really as I'd like to see the IAM being far more mainstream.

You clearly see yourself as outside the IAM. If you want the IAM to be different have you considered getting involved and trying to make a difference in your local group?

[GJD]

You're telling me...when I wrote an article for our group newsletter describing the Shaftesbury driving day last year (July 12 see P34), you should have seen the response it got! (Sept 12 see P29)

facepalm

[Silk]

I wish the IAM didn't have the pall of stuffy driving geeks, or call it what you will, hanging over them but they do and the reason for it is because that's what they were and to a certain extent still are. Shame really as I'd like to see the IAM being far more mainstream.

You clearly see yourself as outside the IAM. If you want the IAM to be different have you considered getting involved and trying to make a difference in your local group?

Why go to all the trouoble? Much easier to have a dig on an Internet forum

[jameslb101]

What on earth is your editor doing using comic sans? We're not in the 90s anymore

she agrees with the comic sans comment above.

I tried...

[Horse]

I wish the IAM didn't have the pall of stuffy driving geeks, or call it what you will, hanging over them but they do and the reason for it is because that's what they were and to a certain extent still are. Shame really as I'd like to see the IAM being far more mainstream.

If you want the IAM to be different have you considered getting involved and trying to make a difference in your local group?

Why go to all the trouble? Much easier to have a dig on an Internet forum

So what are you suggesting? That he joins up to an established Group with what is highly likely to be an enthusiastic clique membership, then stands up in a meeting and says . . .

"You're all WRONG! You need to do THIS!"

That'll go down a storm. He'll be head-first in the tea urn before he could blink

It's the 'firing squad' principle: "You're all wrong, I'm right". He'll still get shot even if he is right.

If nothing else, what reasons can he give the other members for changing what they do?

[trashbat]

Showing someone a clean pair of heels on a B road is probably 'cool' (ick).

Is a well-executed, well-presented demo drive likely to make a positive impression on an uninitiated driver who at least likes driving? Probably.

The process by which one arrives at that standard might not be, but that's not how you catch a fish.

The driving geekery of forums like this isn't cool, but I don't think we aspire to be! The IAM certainly aren't cool, underscored by that hideous newsletter episode which makes me actually cringe - and no, not just the font.

[Horse]

Showing someone a clean pair of heels on a B road is probably 'cool' (ick).

Is a well-executed, well-presented demo drive likely to make a positive impression on an uninitiated driver who at least likes driving? Probably.

So the simple question is:
"What do the [target audience] want that the AD community can provide?"

Note there are two parts to that question!