THE LINK the newsletter of Bristol Advanced Motorists Circulation 450 no: 270 Sept 2014 The Newsletter of Bristol Advanced Motorists We hope you will find this September newsletter interesting. This LINK is a little different. There is much Group and Chiswick News. A few Letters. A Meeting Summary of Freewheelers Motorcycle EVS, and to continue the theme there’s a Motorcycle article near the back. On the back page are Contact Details for the Club Committee. Members, feel free to contact us to talk about what the Club is doing, and what you would like to see it do. In the middle find details of upcoming meetings, 3-in-a-Car driving update sessions, etc. on the Calendar. We hope to see you at (even just) one of our events soon. Got something to say? Please don’t be shy. Contact the Editor now. Find more information on our website www.iam-bristol.org.uk - in fact, this newsletter is put-up there about a week after you receive this hard copy. Would you like to read it there and cancel your hard copy? You can also sign up to our email distribution of IAM and Group news releases. Regards, PAUL, the Editor If you want to write something for the LINK – or advertise – contact: [email protected] 0117 960 8494 21 De Verose Court Hanham BRISTOL BS15 3SW th COPY DEADLINE for the next issue is: Sat 11 October Bristol Advanced Motorists Registered Charity No 289807 Run entirely by volunteers Affiliated to the IAM Ltd: Group no: 1009 Secretary. 22 Highfields Close, Stoke Gifford, BRISTOL BS34 8YB Tel: 0117 979 8061 email: [email protected] The LINK is produced every 2 months and is displayed freely on our website www.iam-bristol.org.uk Paper copies are printed, collated and despatched by Group volunteers. Views expressed in this newsletter are those of the contributors. Those views do not necessarily represent those of the Editor, the Committee of Bristol Advanced Motorists, or IAM Chiswick. The Group reserves the right to edit or otherwise amend original materiel submitted for publication. If you wish to reproduce any materiel in other publications or places, then please credit the LINK, Bristol Advanced Motorists, as the source. the LINK – newsletter of Bristol Advanced Motorists Page 1 Sept 2014 Read this newsletter on our website www.iam-bristol.org.uk Contents this Issue page Editorial 3 IAM Social Media 4 A new Phone Number for Enquiries 5 Recent IAM Test Successes 6 Refresher Course - Group Membership Stats 7 Star Letter to the Editor 8 More Letters to the Editor 10 Group News 13 IAM Chiswick News 16 Future Meeting Speakers 18 Three-in-a-Car Dates 18 Further Advanced Driving Course for 2015 19 Speakers for September and November 20 BAWA Location Map 20 CALENDAR – WHAT’S ON ? 21 Volunteers Needed - Charity Cashback Scheme 22 Freewheelers EVS at Monthly Meeting 23 Has Advanced Driving Changed? 25 Local Observer Requirements 27 Meet Steve George 28 What is a Midi-roundabout? 29 Driving News Items 30 66 years old in July 2014 34 I’m Gaining on a Slower Rider 35 Interested in Advanced Motorbiking? 37 A Blast from the Past – Portishead Show 38 Course / Assessment / Refresher / Dates 39 CONTACT US: your guide to who does what 40 All content compiled by the Editor unless otherwise credited. Contributors: Phil Baber, Valerie Bearne, Geoff Bevan, Andew Coltart, Martin Evans, Steve George, Mark Gollop, Andrew Nicholls, Clare Reeves, Ken Rossiter, Sgt Colin Taylor, Derek, Jackie, Mike, Vera. Thank‐you also to all people talked to during research, including Mark Trimmer, Paul Woozley, Sandra Worsfold. Photos by the Editor and unknown sources, unless credited individually. READ THIS NEWSLETTER ONLINE – OR BE NOTIFIED IT’S READY The LINK will continue to be printed and mailed – in the short-term at least. For those who request it, we can delete you from the mailing list and instead send you an email notification that the LINK has been put-up on our website www.iam-bristol.org.uk We currently have ten Members plus one Complimentary on that list. Page 2 the LINK – newsletter of Bristol Advanced Motorists Read this newsletter on our website www.iam-bristol.org.uk Sept 2014 Editorial by the Editor, of course ATTENTION: INTER-GROUP QUIZ Tuesday 16th Sept at Weston. To join the quiz team, phone Secretary Martin straight away - we only have one person but need a team of 3. ATTENTION: THREE-IN-A-CAR VENUE If you are going to the Three-in-a-Car on 13th September – and I am sure you are - go to GORDANO SERVICES. Calendar in centre pages. DON’T BIN IT – PASS IT ON for publicity When you have finished with your LINK, don’t throw it away. Please pass it on to a relation, friend or work colleague - or take it to a Surgery or Dentist’s waiting room (if allowed under H&S rules), company rest room, or similar. It gets our name out there – and maybe attracts a new Associate. APOLOGIES DEPT The Editor unreservedly apologises to all members for various errors, omissions and inaccuracies in the last newsletter. The Editor has spoken to a couple of contributors concerned, and has apologised. THE EDITOR WRITES MOST OF THE MATERIEL IN THE LINK I must point out this fact to readers. Any piece without a ‘by line’ alongside the title is written or compiled in some way by the Editor. One Member writes, “I do think it’s important in general, that the LINK has a fairly positive outlook on the IAM – it is the voice of the Group, not the Editor’s! If you want to put your own views forward I think you should make it clear via the ‘ Letters ’ page or via a clear statement it is your own viewpoint as a member.” I admit that not everyone thinks that the sun shines out of every window at IAM House, but I thought that I was neutral in reporting things. The member’s statement quoted above implies otherwise. Oh, how I wish I could purely edit the LINK content. But sadly, committee reports are a thing of the past, as are event and meeting reports, and general contributions. So there is little to edit. For a Newsletter to exist, someone has to prepare materiel, and that currently falls to the Editor, using Minutes, notes of what is said at meetings, etc. That situation puts the Editor in a difficult, almost untenable position. Regarding any content, it says on the front page of every LINK issue: “Views expressed in this newsletter are those of the contributors. Those views do not necessarily represent those of the Editor, the Committee of Bristol Advanced Motorists, or IAM Chiswick.” the LINK – newsletter of Bristol Advanced Motorists Page 3 Sept 2014 Read this newsletter on our website www.iam-bristol.org.uk COLLATION VOLUNTEERS Thank-you to the team who assemble the LINK, staple it together and stuff it into envelopes. At the July evening the following helpers were at BAWA: Anne Attwood, Mike Ballard, Roger Joint, Dave Pengelly, and John Tyrrell. And thanks to Andrew Nicholls, who not only prints it at home, but also affixes stamps and address labels to the envelopes. POSTAL DELIVERY OF THE LINK Due to proposed changes by Royal Mail involving an earlier 3pm ‘last collection’ time, whereby delivery staff will, for efficiency, also collect some mail, your LINK may be delivered a day later than normal. THE FUTURE OF THE LINK There is a supply of covers to last until the end of 2015, but committee wishes to eventually go all-electronic with the newsletter, and new Associates are to be encouraged from the start to take the electronic option. Committee has advised the Editor to consider reducing the number of pages and reduce the content, particularly general news and articles. One of our neighbouring Groups has already gone electronic-only, whilst others now produce only a few hard copies. Another of our neighbouring Groups has had no newsletter at all since February, because no-one has volunteered to take-on the post of Editor since the previous one resigned. Do you use Un-Social Media? IAM Chiswick is moving heavily into the unsocial media sphere. You can ‘like’ the IAM on Facebook, follow the IAM on Twitter, LinkedIn or Google+, and subscribe to the IAM’s YouTube channel. In addition, IAM Drive & Survive has its own Twitter account. Bristol Group is not so heavily involved – but look at our efforts. Open access. No need to be a registered user. DON’T DO IT WHILST DRIVING THOUGH ! ! ! View our ‘open’ Facebook page. www.facebook.com/BristolAdvancedMotorists Freely see all tweets on our Twitter account. @iam_bristol Page 4 the LINK – newsletter of Bristol Advanced Motorists Read this newsletter on our website www.iam-bristol.org.uk Sept 2014 0117 256 5555 The new public contact number for the Group If any Member of the public wants to find out about the Group or our courses, this is now the number to ring – 0117 256 5555. It is not a physical phone line, it’s a ‘virtual’ number that we rent. Calls to it are redirected by us, via an online control, to landlines. For example, calls may be directed to Martin. If it’s not answered, it rings Geoff’s phone. It may go to an answering machine to let callers leave a message. If the caller hangs-up we are sent an email with details of the missed call. The old number, 07071 201173, will continue in operation in parallel for 12 months at least, to cater for people looking at old publicity.