Pre-drive Checks.

[Mr Cholmondeley-Warner]

Oh really - is your car ever parked on the street? No chance someone could brush past a mirror and knock it out of alignment?

Showing passengers how to operate doors is a luxury. Checking the handbrake is on and the gear is in neutral is just basic safety. Most people do actually do that, they just don't regard it as an essential or systematic check.

Once you have a basic drill in your head, not the full 24 point one or however many it is, just half a dozen items, they play back like a little recording in your head as you get in the car and prepare to go. There's no great burden to it.

I was out with another HPC member at the weekend, in his car. I was fairly systematic about what I went through before setting off, but when he asked me 15 minutes into the drive if we had any lights on, that was the point I realised checking the position of the main light switch was one of the things I hadn't done. Mental black mark.

[TripleS]

What Mr C-W says makes sense, but I thought Steve was referring to getting into one's own car and doing the checks every time. That, to me, would seem unnecessary. Getting into and driving an unfamiliar car is a different matter.

That's what I meant. It's this tedious ritual that some people insist that you demonstrate *every* time you get in the car.

I can understand it in an "arse-covering" situation, such as driving Police cars. But is it really necessary to go through all that nonsense, such as telling the passengers how to operate the doors?

Of course I constantly check for damage, tread depth and all the other stuff and I'll familiarise myself when driving different car. I also make sure the car is safe before moving off and again when I've parked. What I don't do is more checks than a fighter pilot, just to pop to the shops.

It's just another example of something that does nothing to attract people to Advanced Driving - quite the opposite.

...and let's not get started on shutdown procedures, although I believe Mr Toad does one rather well.

Oh, shutdown procedures: that's a new one to me.

All I can say on that front is that poor old CUBby suffered a turbo failure about two weeks before the three year warranty expired, so Peugeot, bless 'em, supplied and fitted a new one at no cost to me. Ever since then I have been careful to finish off each journey with a gentle period of driving, letting the turbo cool down somewhat from extreme temperatures before stopping the engine. I've no reason to believe that ill-treatment by me caused the original failure, but I am now more careful about that aspect, just in case.

That's about the extent of my (consciously carried out) shutdown procedures.

[jont]

But is it really necessary to go through all that nonsense, such as telling the passengers how to operate the doors?

It certainly was in the Elise. A good 3/4 of them couldn't work out how to shut the thing

[Mr Cholmondeley-Warner]

Many many years ago, there was a competition within a certain organisation that shall remain nameless for a decent mnemonic for the correct starting drill. IIRC the one that was most popular was Wally Goes Slowly Everywhere - waggle gearstick, start engine. There's way too much process in proving that you've checked everything. There's probably very little added value in the full 24 point (are you f$cking kidding me?) check.

I plucked the number 24 out of thin air. I've seen cockpit drills with more points than that, others with less. I did caveat it...

To a large degree I'm with Silk on this one - you should be doing an appropriate one, I don't need to see you doing one and I have no idea why it's considered important to be tested on your ability to do one

Well you're NOT with him at all then. He thinks they're all a complete waste of time, so "an appropriate one" to him, is not doing anything, possibly not even Wally. Of course he's welcome to come back and correct himself, but that's what he said.

As for your mental black mark, I'm surprised the behemoth in question didn't have automatic lights

It probably did. I found the knob, but was only interested to see if it was on or off - I wanted to try and keep looking at the road! When I said they were off, he was happy - he only wanted to know if they'd been left on from when he'd been using them earlier. Well of course they were - he'd have turned them off as part of his shutdown drill

[fungus]

I've seen cockpit drills with more points than that

[Mr Cholmondeley-Warner]

Oh, shutdown procedures: that's a new one to me.

All I can say on that front is that poor old CUBby suffered a turbo failure about two weeks before the three year warranty expired, so Peugeot, bless 'em, supplied and fitted a new one at no cost to me. Ever since then I have been careful to finish off each journey with a gentle period of driving, letting the turbo cool down somewhat from extreme temperatures before stopping the engine. I've no reason to believe that ill-treatment by me caused the original failure, but I am now more careful about that aspect, just in case.

That's about the extent of my (consciously carried out) shutdown procedures.

I bet it isn't. See how many of these sound familiar:

Bring the vehicle to a smooth gliding halt.
Apply handbrake and select neutral (but see below).
Turn off electrical ancillaries (lights, wipers, radio, fans etc.)
If turbo, allow engine to idle for a few more seconds to allow it and the oil to cool somewhat.
Turn off engine.
Remove foot from clutch.
Remove foot from footbrake allowing for any settling against the brakes if on a slope.
Reselect a gear if desired as additional protection to supplement handbrake.

So handbrake, neutral, switches, engine, clutch, brake. 6 items. Not too difficult

Now if these are part of your drill, but they're subconscious, congratulations - you've passed from conscious competence to unconscious. We only need to remind ourselves if we can't reproduce something without trying. You've obviously succeeded.

[Ancient]

But is it really necessary to go through all that nonsense, such as telling the passengers how to operate the doors?

It certainly was in the Elise. A good 3/4 of them couldn't work out how to shut the thing

Currently driving a Skoda Superb; an unremarkable and fairly mainstream car one would have thought. Several passengers (including drivers of classic cars - not resident on ADUK AFAIK) have had trouble working out how to open the doors. Worth checking with new passengers I'd have thought, since there are several different mechanisms in current use.

[jont]

But is it really necessary to go through all that nonsense, such as telling the passengers how to operate the doors?

It certainly was in the Elise. A good 3/4 of them couldn't work out how to shut the thing

Currently driving a Skoda Superb; an unremarkable and fairly mainstream car one would have thought. Several passengers (including drivers of classic cars - not resident on ADUK AFAIK) have had trouble working out how to open the doors. Worth checking with new passengers I'd have thought, since there are several different mechanisms in current use.

Oh yes, TVR is another good one for maximum passenger confusion

[martine]

I'd also extend it to manoeuvres. They should have been covered on the basic L test.

Well yes, all qualified drivers should be able to do the standard manoeuvres...but...

Re cockpit drill - it's not compulsory, not scored on the IAM examiners sheet and yes some examiners do cut the associate short sometimes.

I think of it in the same way DSA examiners don't test every manoeuvre on the L-test or ask every 'show me/tell me' question - that doesn't mean I, as an instructor shouldn't go through them all with my pupils and make sure the they can do them.

Best thing about a POWDEREY/cockpit drill is imagine you've just picked a hire car...what do you need to do before you set-off?

[jont]

Best thing about a POWDEREY/cockpit drill is imagine you've just picked a hire car...what do you need to do before you set-off?

Go round with a fine tooth comb looking for every tiny mark, blemish or scratch to avoid getting stitched up when you return it?

[JamesAllport]

Am I right in thinking that pre-drive checks are not, in fact, a compulsory part of IAM or RoADAR tests?

I've done one on most such tests. I do drive other cars fairly regularly so find a disciplined approach to settling into a strange (to me) car helpful, and it also helps to quell any nerves at the start of a test. But last week I re-took my RoADAR test and didn't do a cockpit drill. The examiner didn't ask for one or comment on its absence in the debrief.

James

[GJD]

Oh yes, TVR is another good one for maximum passenger confusion

Yep. I generally point out to passengers how to get out before we set off. Doesn't seem fair not to.

[fungus]

Fairly obvious probably, but the original BMC Mini with the cord that you pushed down on and the sliding front windows is another in question.

[martine]

Best thing about a POWDEREY/cockpit drill is imagine you've just picked a hire car...what do you need to do before you set-off?

Go round with a fine tooth comb looking for every tiny mark, blemish or scratch to avoid getting stitched up when you return it?

very true

[TripleS]

Oh yes, TVR is another good one for maximum passenger confusion

Yep. I generally point out to passengers how to get out before we set off. Doesn't seem fair not to.

Oh dear. Had a few wot lost confidence at an early stage, eh?