ADUK Archive

As an IAM "newbie", I am surprised that night driving appears not to be covered.

Do you mean as part of training by Groups?

I guess it's simply logistics etc. Plus not part of the test.

But I'm not IAM so don't know!

Graham Wright wrote:As an IAM "newbie", I am surprised that night driving appears not to be covered.

Yes, it does seem to be an omission, but I suppose there would be difficulties for a few weeks either side of the longest day. It would mean being out when most folk would be thinking about settling down for their eight hours of zeds; or at least aged and decrepit folk like me would be...

I used to enjoy night driving, especially doing long journeys in an unhurried fashion, accompanied by some nice music, but I don't any longer. There are too many people misusing lights, particularly around dawn and dusk, when many people seem to drive with no lights at all. Then there's the fog light brigade, and the vehicles parked at the roadside with headlights left on, making life more difficult for those on the move.

Sorry, moan, moan, whinge, whinge etc.

Horse wrote:Do you mean as part of training by Groups?

I guess it's simply logistics etc. Plus not part of the test.

But I'm not IAM so don't know!

I expect the Examiners might not be too keen on conducting tests out of normal hours. Might it even end up needing two tests - one for the night driving, and another test for all the other aspects of driving?

My IAM test was, for almost half of the test, conducted in the dark. It started at 4.15 on a filthy late Novembers day, so for most of the test visibility was poor anyway.

You are quite right in this and I have always said that there should be a section of night driving done at groups and not necessarily for test but just for self satisfaction,you would be surprised at the amount of people who suffer from night blindness,think back to a time when you have followed someone along the road in the dark and when a car approaches they start to brake or as they approach a bend that can be taken at a much higher speed than they are approaching at then the brakes come on.
My theory is groups dont do it as they have not got anyone who is good enough to observe at night at speed and by that I mean to the speed limit but I am always willing to be proved wrong,bu this is just my experience of over 20 years of observing at different IAM groups.
Stephen

I started my IAM training some years ago but had to stop after two drives with my observer as I was moving house. Both drives were conducted in darkness and I had a great time down the back lanes of Sussex on the north side of the downs in my Alfasud.

Some years later I returned to the IAM with a different group. My new observer wanted to observe in daylight so we started off in February with drives on a Saturday or Sunday until the days lengthened sufficiently to allow weekday drives after work. I don't know if this was his personal preference or a policy decision by this group.

I have always enjoyed night driving and I think that I have good night vision. Driving at night means that you can often pick up information about other vehicles on the road long before you see them, just from their lights.

I used to drive a Land-Rover along single track roads in Sussex at night. Because I had driving lamps on the roof my main beams were visible from a long way off. I rarely had to pull in for other cars coming the other way; they were invariably already stopped in a passing place when I got to it.

I'm actually so keen on IAM Associates doing some night driving that if we haven't done any by the time they pass their advanced tests I offer to take them out again for a single drive once the dark evenings arrive. On the other hand, in the winter months some Associates do their observed drives almost entirely in the dark though that's not so good for teaching daytime observation skills. In short, I wholly agree it's worth getting in some night driving at some point if possible.

I was surprised there was no training at night during my course.
I have no problem with night vision but I am often blinded by oncoming ultra-bright headlights to the extent that I aim for the gap between where I think the wall/hedge is and the offside on-coming blinder. So far this has worked!

High lights such as those on 4X4s are the worst.

What is the solution?

Graham Wright wrote:I was surprised there was no training at night during my course.
I have no problem with night vision but I am often blinded by oncoming ultra-bright headlights to the extent that I aim for the gap between where I think the wall/hedge is and the offside on-coming blinder. So far this has worked!

High lights such as those on 4X4s are the worst.

What is the solution?

To drive slow enough to match speed to vision?

Graham Wright wrote:I was surprised there was no training at night during my course.
I have no problem with night vision but I am often blinded by oncoming ultra-bright headlights to the extent that I aim for the gap between where I think the wall/hedge is and the offside on-coming blinder. So far this has worked!

High lights such as those on 4X4s are the worst.

What is the solution?

Some suggestions, whilst you have vision, observe forwards and keep that in your mind picture, ok, it could change but provides a basis for your progress. Then, resist the lure of those opposing headlights, look ns, whilst using peripheral vision to watch those opposing.
It is hard and requires some thought.
My particular beef at night is being able to see the road surface far enough ahead such that I could avoid any obstruction or potholes etc. Particularly hard on a busy unlit Motorway, in heavy rain, when those around see little need to slow down, so I go into Lane 1 to drive at an appropriate speed, only to have a LGV following too close.

Edit, spelling.