The ingredients of advanced driving

[waremark]

It seems to me that we spend too much time talking about technique. Advanced driving is really all about the highest level of observation anticipation and planning allowing you to be at an intelligently considered speed on an intelligently considered part of the road with a consistent level of safety and all with the smoothest inputs.

Agreed?

[gannet]

sounds about right to me

[martine]

...and all with the smoothest inputs.

Agreed...but how do you do the last bit?

[7db]

We are nothing but the inputs we make to the turny thing, the sticky thing and the flappy things.
We are nothing but the observation, anticipation and planning which allow us to decide how to use those controls.
We are nothing but our attitude, beliefs and values which make us choose to observe and plan.

[jcochrane]

It seems to me that we spend too much time talking about technique. Advanced driving is really all about the highest level of observation anticipation and planning allowing you to be at an intelligently considered speed on an intelligently considered part of the road with a consistent level of safety and all with the smoothest inputs.

Agreed?

Sounds like a good summing up.

I think the last part of your statement is what often defines the highest levels. That is the consistentcy of the application of the points you mention.

[lordgrover]

As a newcomer to advanced driving I've gleaned from Roadcraft, Mind Driving and MrToad the importance of observation, anticipation and planning but I find it the most difficult. After 30+ years of driving with my eyes half-shut I'm finding it surprisingly difficult to simply see and assess what's going on around me. Lots of practice and concentration ahead so that it becomes second nature.

[Mr Cholmondeley-Warner]

Ah, but you have taken the first and most important step - acknowledging that it's important. You'll go far

[exportmanuk]

As a newcomer to advanced driving I've gleaned from Roadcraft, Mind Driving and MrToad the importance of observation, anticipation and planning but I find it the most difficult. After 30+ years of driving with my eyes half-shut I'm finding it surprisingly difficult to simply see and assess what's going on around me. Lots of practice and concentration ahead so that it becomes second nature.

Ride a motorcycle around any UK city for a few days, you will learn quickly

[lordgrover]

... or die trying?

[jcochrane]

Try riding a pedal bike in central London traffic.

[jont]

Try riding a pedal bike in Bristol traffic.

/efa

[TripleS]

Try riding a pedal bike in central London traffic.

Maybe try using a country road - for walking.

[MrToad]

It seems to me that we spend too much time talking about technique. Advanced driving is really all about the highest level of observation anticipation and planning allowing you to be at an intelligently considered speed on an intelligently considered part of the road with a consistent level of safety and all with the smoothest inputs.

Agreed?

As a description of 'Advanced Driving', I don't expect you'll get many here disagreeing with it.

That's not to say that there's no place for discussion of technique on these forums though.

Drivers at the higher levels will have mastered the techniques to the point where their selection and use become almost transparent. I've driven with a couple of really good drivers who found it hard to explain exactly how they were doing what they were doing - they'd reached the level of unconscious competence and my incredulous 'how are you doing that?' required them to regress to conscious awareness of their physical actions.

If you liken Advanced Driving to baking a cake (trust me, I know where I'm going with this), the time-served bakers will be discussing the quality of the crumb, the different types of flour available or what type of sugar to dust a Victoria Sandwich with.

The less experienced onlooker, who just wants to bake a nice cake, is more likely to be concerned with what size tin to use and what temperature to set the oven at.

The experienced cake-types will be so far past this stage that it would be easy to dismiss the concerns of the newbie as immaterial and irrelevant to the real business of fine cakes, when in fact their own results will be based on an unconscious understanding of the technicalities and rock-solid technique.

Bridging the gap between beginner and expert requires the wiser heads to remember what it was like before they gained their experience, and to pass that knowledge back down the line in an accessible way.

IMHO, the real problem is when this discussion of technique becomes the end in itself. People loose sight of the desired outcomes - the reason behind the actions, and concentrate on the actions themselves. This restricts thinking rather than freeing it, and any discussion that goes this way will surely repel the intelligent onlooker.

[7db]

On no account should anyone heel and toe whilst baking a cake. I think we can all agree.

[lordgrover]

So what size tin should I use?