Well, following my pulling over by the cops in November (
see here), I finished my Driver Improvement course today.
Avoiding Court, it certainly seems like a soft option, and it is. However it is a bit of a pain in the ****. At £180, and two days out of work, it's not necessarily a cheap option either.
So my course was held up in Buckhurst Hill, on the far reaches of the Central Line. Not exactly convenient to get to. It was based from the Holiday Inn Express, which wasn't exactly great. There was 20 people on my course, plus 3 interpreters! Those attending ranged from some 18 year old kid who'd just passed his test, all the way up to gents in their sixties. Of all those attending, just two of us hadn't been in an actual accident - me and one other guy. Ironically we were both bikers - read into that what you will.
The morning of day 1 was spent in the classroom, being drilled with the usual ****. All stuff you know, and a few bits of pieces that you didn't - nor did you need to know but at least it was interesting.
The afternoon of day 1 saw three people to one car with an instructor. So I spent two hours sitting in the back of some guy's astra being driven around who knows where in Essex. Finally got about 45 minutes behind the wheel - not exactly allowing a good assessment of one's driving - the roads were getting busy, the light was fading. But nevertheless, comments had to be passed like accellerating too quickly, not braking soon enough, blah blah blah. I didn't feel it was a particularly sympathetic commentary of the drive, but I think I was conscious all the time that I had to give him something to comment on.
This morning, day 2, started out with a basic Highway Code test - 14 multiple choice questions clearly designed to catch those out that passed their tests 40 years ago and pay little attention to the details of the road. Passed that, so off we head to the cars again. My turn behind the wheel first, and now I've a much better idea of what this instructor wants to see. So 50 minutes of commentated perfect smooth sunday driving later, I'm given "good" ticks in all the categories and signed off. Another two hours in the back of the car later and we get back to base and are sent on our way after a rather pathetic debrief.
So do I feel I got anything out of it? Not really. Did I learn anything new? Nope. Generally I think that for £180 we should have received a one-to-one instruction and assessment. These courses are being run by a private company that must be raking the cash in - and the cops are generating them loads of business.
One of the boys there slid his van on some diesel in the road, and bumped a parked car at 5mph. He got out, appologised to the driver waiting in the car, gave her his details, and got back in his van to drive away - it had only been a little bump. Passing plod on the street stuck his nose in and decided to do him - totally unnecessarily it seems. Another guy there, truck driver pranged a lady in a car who was trying to undertake him and go off a slip road despite his indications. The lady was prosecuted and he was given the all clear in writing by the cops - but suddenly finds himself being hauled on this course.
And the other biker? Caught doing a wheelie down Oxford St.
If I learnt anything - don't give the cops an excuse to pull you over.