The discussions regarding inadvertent IMC have raised some very good responses and it is in the interests of all VFR pilots to heed these words of wisdom.
I have noticed that many people state that if going IMC, they would make a 180 and get out of it, as they were taught to do. This raises an important issue, because the IF element of the PPL(H) syllabus is not designed to teach people to do a 180 if they get in trouble. It is IF awareness, designed to show people how difficult it is, and to give them some sort of chance of holding it together long enough to DESCEND to get out of trouble.
A 180 turn is neither the quickest nor safest option to recover from IMC - a DESCENT is the answer, as this will restore the forward viz you had before going IMC.
As a flight examiner, I am required to ensure that a student can perform a 180 turn on instruments as part of his License Skills Test. This is there to assess whether the student has sufficient ability to control the machine by sole reference to instruments, and is considered by JAA to be a manouevre that will demonstrate this or otherwise.
I believe that this test requirement has been adopted by some instructors as the IMC recovery method, and it is drilled into the student - make sure you can do a 180 for the examiner.
I always ask a candidate what he/she would do if they went IMC, and invariably the answer is - 'do a 180, because it was clear where you just came from'. Wrong answer.
Fly at a speed commensuare with the viz, if necessary go lower and slower, and then make the decision early and land, or turn back.
Get this idea of a 180 out of your heads, please.