WHEN the Institute of Advanced Motorists found out they were going to have to school a daily newspaper journalist, they were expecting to have a speed-crazed lunatic on their hands.

They were half-right. I don’t generally speed – but sitting through countless council meetings has left me slightly crazed. The opinion was confided in me by my trusted driver observer David Eastwood after we had completed (and survived) several drives out on the open road together.

He did seem genuinely surprised I had not turned out to be an enginegunning, arrogant oik. And I took it for the compliment it was.

Having written a story about dodgy road diversion signs, it was David Wornham, the chairman of Worcestershire Group of Advanced Motorist, who suggested I “might learn a thing or two” about driving by taking the Skill For Life course and Advanced Driving Test.

The idea appealed to me as I do like my cars and I reasoned that taking and passing the test meant I could officially tell my dad and older brother – also petrolheads – I was a better driver than them.

Mr Eastwood curbed any thoughts of Lewis Hamilton-style J-turns and doughnuts in the road when he calmly told me: “Anyone can drive a car fast, but not everyone can drive a fast car.”

The course involves observed runs lasting about an hour-and-ahalf over a period of six to eight weeks. You are taught the same techniques as police drivers, and in fact many advanced driver group members in Worcestershire are ex-police drivers.

The recommended guide book to accompany the course is Roadcraft, the police drivers’ own manual.

The very fact that you are learning what the police drivers get taught was enough to pique my interest – and the thought that you are becoming part of a special group of people who can honestly claim to know better.

I have only praise for Mr Eastwood, who did nothing but encourage and gently steer me towards success.

The course teaches you a new way of driving, with a system designed to keep the car in precisely the right spot and at the right speed on the road, at any given time, and best prepared for any hazard which might rear up.

At the heart of the system is the mantra; information, position, speed, gear, acceleration.

As a driver you must gather information, glancing in your mirrors, scanning ahead for potential problems or risks.

While driving, you are encouraged to talk to yourself (I already do) giving a running commentary because it helps you think about your driving.

The commentary used to be compulsory in the Advanced Driving Test you take at the end of the course, but was phased out.

I ended up talking through my test anyway as by then it had become second nature and shows your examiner you are making the correct judgements.

Mr Eastwood said: “The whole point is you are approaching driving in a systematic way. And with the system, you are always giving yourself enough time to react to whatever is on the road.

“But the whole point is to make driving much more enjoyable.

“A good rule is to imagine you have got a VIP like your mother-inlaw in the back of the car and you want to keep the journey as smooth as possible.”

Bob Chambers, an experienced former police driver who has seen his fair share of fatal road accidents, was my examiner for my test. He told me: “When you’re driving you should not be thinking about anything else.

“Because any lapse in concentration is when you might miss something important.”

One weakness the system helped eliminate in my driving was a tendency to brake, change gear and turn the wheel all at the same time, unbalancing the car.

None of these changes are supposed to overlap. You are taught to give yourself enough time to make sure they need not overlap.

If you unbalance the car so the weight is shifting rapidly between the front and rear of the car, at slow speeds you will give passengers an uncomfortable ride and at high speeds end up in a ditch or the back of someone’s car.

However, the test run did prove the system worked.

Travelling outside Wychbold, I applied the system and saved us at least a near miss as a lady BMW driver pulled across my bow from a junction to the left-hand side.

I had been watching the driver and the junction, and had prepared to stop, which was just as well as she pulled out 10 yards from my bumper.

I must have done something right as Bob passed me as an advanced driver and I have a shiny certificate proving the point.

The course and the test make you a better driver, but it does dawn on you there is nowhere to hide anymore. Once you have met the standard, you have to keep to it.

􀁥 A Skill For Life course costs £75 (£55 for those under 26) and an Advanced Driving Test is £69.

For more details visit the website worcsgam.org.uk, e-mail: worcester@groups.iam.org.uk, or call David Eastwood, group secretary, on 07505 224355.