Mother and daughter achieve advanced standard

The following article was written by IAM Lincolnshire Member Linda Adams from Skegness. We were sad to learn that Linda passed away in June following a short illness. Our thoughts are with Linda’s daughter Dawn, granddaughter Steph and their family. It was Linda’s wish along with her family’s to publish this article.

Having noticed an online post offering fully funded Advanced Driver Courses for 17-24 years old, promoted by IAM Lincolnshire and the Police and Crime Commissioner for Lincolnshire, I thought this may be good for my grand-daughter Stephanie, who passed her driving test a year ago, and is definitely a petrol-head.

Being a driver for a number of years myself, and having developed a few bad habits along the way, in particular harsh braking, Stephanie said I’d never pass a driving test if I had to take it again. Worse still, her mum, Dawn, agreed!

So, rising to the challenge, I discovered we could take a no-obligation taster test with IAM Lincolnshire, and the first time we met Ash Behan, Dawn (my daughter) and I didn’t know what to expect. He took us both, separately, for a drive from Tesco car park (in Skegness) through Orby and Ingoldmells to assess our driving, with scores of 1, 2 or 3, being excellent, competent or needing improvement.

Horrified at the number of 2’s and 3’s I’d received, and in Dawn’s case, as she wanted to improve her driving as she now had young grandchildren to consider in the car, we both decided to enroll on the Advanced Driving Course.

We found Ash to be a great observer, who gave us tips and ways to improve our driving skills and there’s nothing like a bit of family competition and good-hearted rivalry to spur you on and so Stephanie signed up for the young driver’s course, although she’s had to pause due to work and college commitments. We did feel sorry though for Ash, as he had three hours in Skegness, observing Dawn, myself and Stephanie! 

We rose to the challenge and after many hours of Reg Local videos and miles of practice, we had run sheets where we were lost the ‘three’s’ and were scoring 1’s and 2’s, had a check drive with Richard Hardesty and put in for the test.

We were not familiar with the areas around Boston and Spalding that we took the test in, which took over an hour, but were delighted when both of us passed.

Linda and Dawn pictured above with DCS Andy Cox presenting their certificates

I know my driving has greatly improved and braking has never been smoother and I am inspired to drive to more areas I’m unfamiliar with. I wonder now how I used to drive before!  Dawn is more confident in her driving and feels happier to take her grandchildren out in the car. 

I am sure Stephanie won’t be far behind us (a full time student who hasn’t got as much time to practice, like we had) , and we will be there to ‘observe’ her along with her drives with Ash.

Although we haven’t been able to attend any member’s events due to covid restrictions, we are looking forward to the social aspect of meeting other members and perhaps even attending skills days.  We are definitely going to miss our drives with Ash.  Both him and Richard are great! 

Linda Adams, IAM Lincolnshire Member