Top Ten Driver Bloomers!

We all see drivers doing stupid thing in their vehicles every day and just for fun on this Friday afternoon I thought I would give the world my personal list.

10.  Driving with unrestrained pets. Just think what would happen if your small dog got stuck under the pedals or in the event of a crash that small dog will weigh as much as a baby elephant at 30 mph.

9.  Overloading the car.  All vehicles are designed for a purpose and cars certainly aren’t designed to transport the entire   contents of a 3 bedroom house even when it is in ‘flat pack’ form.

8.  Wheel spin away from the traffic lights.  We see drivers do this every day only to get caught at the next set of traffic lights.

7.  Changing lanes in traffic queues.  You would think that drivers would have learnt by now that if drivers change lanes just because that lane is moving more, due to the increase volume of traffic now in that lane, it will slow down and the lane he was originally in, will move faster.

6.  Dirty windows and lights.  Hello drivers! It takes a few seconds to wipe the dirt off the windows and lights and you can then see better.

5.  Talking on the mobile phone.  You cannot concentrate on two things at the same time (its called being human) so don’t expect to remember even half of the conversation, big problem if it is a business call. Your driving skills will also diminish, so expect to crash or at least get a few honks on the horn from other drivers.

4.  Overtaking inappropriately.  Why do drivers risk life with dodgy overtakes only to turn off at the next junction. Before you overtake, ask yourself: Is it safe, legal and necessary?

3.  Fluffy dice.  Why do some drivers insist on restricting their view? To drive safely you need to be very observant and yet some people think fluffy dice, stickers all over the windscreen and soft toys propped up on the dashboard are more important.

2.  Holding onto the roof.  You see these drivers as soon as the temperature starts rising in spring, they are the drivers who put their arm out of the window holding onto the roof. If the cars roof hasn’t come off during the winter it will stay on during the summer. Keep both hands for driving the car.

1.  Impatience.   Every day we all come across impatient drivers, they annoy the hell out of the good drivers. Although it is funny when it goes wrong for the impatient driver, except often it’s not just them that end up paying for their attitude.

How good are you as a driver?

In my business (Driver Risk Management & Training) this is a question I often get asked. But have you ever asked yourself that question, if the answer is yes, you will probably have answered the question as above average. Try it now. On a scale of 1 – 10 (1=dangerous 10=excellent) how do you rate your driving ability?  I bet you answered it as 7, 8 or 9?  But how do you know?  You probably said to yourself that you aren’t as bad as some of the idiots we all see on the road, in fact you are above average, so that’s why you scored yourself as a 7, 8 or 9.  Mathematically this has to be wrong, how can we all be above average?

What is a good driver? He or she is the complete opposite to the dangerous driver. Everyone notices the dangerous driver but no one notices the good driver. Some people call these drivers ‘advanced’ drivers, but what is advanced?  Advanced can be anything that has been learnt or practised beyond the basic learner driving test. I know some drivers who have passed an Advanced Driving test, who at best can be described as slightly above average drivers and others who I would describe as very good drivers, who can demonstrate an excellent drive.  No one can be excellent every time they get behind the steering wheel. To sum up a good driver, they are the ones who are always in the correct road position / lane, at the correct speed and with the most appropriate gear engaged to deal with the hazard or junction.  If you have ever had to remain on the brakes whilst going around a bend or as you squeeze through a tight gap, or changed gear as you are turning or negotiating a bend, you may want to revise how you scored yourself.

So if you are not the first class driver you thought you were, what’s stopping you from developing your skills? The answer is simple YOU!  The problem is we all are happy to learn new things providing it doesn’t dent our ego and especially us men…..we don’t like to be criticised about our driving. In fact we are told by insurance companies not to admit liability following an accident. The problem with this is if we blame the other driver, weather or road layout/conditions we will not learn from the experience and carry on making the same mistakes.

Are we really to believe the Government’s daily ‘spin’

Are we really to believe the Government’s daily ‘spin’ or take them seriously when they come out with political headlines that are almost impossible to turn into a reality? Take, for example, the current advert about driving 5 miles a week less to save the planet. OK – it makes a great headline, especially if you multiply it across all UK drivers. But in reality is that really going to happen? Who do you know that has actively reduced their mileage as a result? Surprise surprise. I bet you can’t think of anyone. And yet the Government will, I’m sure, be lauding it as their current great Green initiative.

Then we have Businesses who will tell you that they are doing well when they are on their knees. OK, there’s a sense of promotion and pride involved here. Which is why, naturally, companies will say they are doing well through the recession when in reality they’ve been sweating over the sales figures and having frantic meetings with their accountants.

Because let’s admit it. Last year (2009) was hard for any business. And you can understand why so many thought they had to keep smiling and pretend everything was OK in order to survive. But I think most of us got fed-up when it felt like the PR spin was closer to lying than it was to fair and appropriate PR. Do I use the example of MP’s and expenses now? Yes – why not! I’ve never heard such ridiculous justifications for disgraceful behaviour in my life. So what do we call that? Lying or PR? PR or lying? I’ll let you decide.

So is it time to tell the truth?  Well E-Training World has always had a policy of saying it how it is. Whilst others in our industry have been saying “if you don’t implement a full driver risk management programme including providing in-vehicle training, the company will be fined £millions and or directors sent to prison etc.” The truth is that this is highly unlikely, unless you are a manager who has told your drivers that they must disobey just about every rule of the road and health & safety requirement to get the job done.

So what is the truth about Managing Occupational Road Risk? You could ignore it and providing your drivers don’t get involved in a serious or fatal crash, you will probably never get caught. You could do the bare minimum just to be on the safe side or you could implement a programme of MORR and increase the bottom line on your company’s balance sheet, and that’s the truth. How will a programme of MORR increase profits? Simple, ask yourself this. “How is it that two company drivers, using the same type/model of car, doing the same mileage will cost the company two different amounts over the life time of the car?” Especially when you take into account servicing costs, tyres, fuel, depreciation/end of contract costs. The answer has to be the way the cars are driven. If you only provided training to the driver that is costing you most, you will see an improvement in the bottom line, but imagine how your profits will grow if you trained both drivers.  Driver risk assessments and training with E-Training World will cost just £60 per driver. For, a great return on your investment call us now and that’s the truth.

Who or What Should Police Our Roads?

It might seem like a stupid question, the answer surely has to be the Police? The problem is we don’t have many traffic police left in the UK… I travel about 25,000 to 30,000 miles per year and could probably count the number of traffic police that I see, using just my fingers. So if it is not the Police policing our roads who or what is? Technology mainly, speed cameras are everywhere, and cameras that detect if drivers have a valid tax disc for their vehicles are being used more and more these days. The problem with using technology is it can only detect certain driving errors such as speeding and separation distance between vehicles and these are flawed , for example on a single carriageway road a HGV is only allowed to travel at a maximum speed of 40 mph where as a car can do 60 mph. The speed camera can only be set to catch car drivers speeding. The other problem with using technology is it doesn’t give the motorist advice. In the days when Police Forces had traffic divisions, the Police Officer would stop a motorist and often just explain the error of the driver’s ways, even if a ticket was issued, at least the driver would know why they got it. Today the motorist gets a Notice of Intended Prosecution through the post often days/weeks after the offence. How is the driver expected to learn from his/her mistake? Most drivers will just curse the fact that they got caught and see the fine as a ‘tax on the motorist’.

So we don’t have enough traffic police and technology doesn’t detect all motoring offences, what’s left? Well the HSE, but they’re not interested,  not even in investigating work related crashes. That only leaves the Highways Agency, the UK has lots of those driving around in their 4X4’s that look like police cars. I have no doubt these people are dedicated and would relish the opportunity to do more for the Great British motorist, but they do not get anywhere near the same amount of training that a Police Traffic Officer gets. They come from many different backgrounds, some are ex Police but others were bank clerks, ex military etc. My fear is one day soon the government will give Highways Agency Traffic Officers the same powers as the police. Then they will be able to handout fixed penalty fines for all sorts of driving errors, and we the motorists will either have to pay the fine on the say so of a HATO who may have little knowledge of what is /is not safe driving, or argue our case in court, which will cost us more than paying the fixed fine.

Given the choice, I would rather see more traffic police policing our roads, if you agree please add your comments.

Getting the road safety message out

It seems to me that nowadays every man and his dog is involved in road safety. It used to be that the IAM , RoSPA , Road Safety officers, police and your local driving instructors, were the people who gave road safety advice. Today there are numerous road safety charities, Fire Service, AA, RAC, Leasing companies,  all trying to get their message across to road users of all ages.

I am not criticising any of above or anyone else who wants to promote road safety, but I do wish they would all try working together. They all seem to have their own agenda and some (but certainly not all) will not promote another company or organisations ideas and messages. For example: E-Training World produced a free to use interactive website on the dangers of drink driving www.drinkdrivingkills.com and although many organisations have placed links to this site, others have made excuses such as; “We are not allowed to link to non government websites”, “I will have to put it to the Council of Management” – that was 18 months ago!  

We all have ideas on how to get our message across, and we have all seen those government adverts which use shock tactics e.g. the current advert where a man sees a dead child everywhere, the slogan says “Kill your speed or live with the consequences”. Others tend to use statistics to get noticed and a few quote health & safety, often scaring employers to wrap their drivers up in cotton wool. The sad thing is unless you use shock tactics or your message is designed to scare the life out of the recipient,  then it is unlikely to get much air-time or many column inches.

 I would encourage those in the media to look at what everyone is doing in road safety and just occasionally promote those initiatives,  which may not be shocking, controversial or from the usual government departments or road safety charities.

For example this video from the Sussex Safer Roads Partnership doesn’t use shock tactics or any other method I describe above, it just gives a simple message that all age groups can understand.

This is the press release from Sussex Safer Roads Partnership.

A new technique for road safety advertising is ushered in with the launch of Embrace Life today (Wednesday 20 January) in cinema and online at www.embracethis.co.uk.

 Embrace Life is the newest road safety product from the Sussex Safer Roads Partnership, focusing on the use of seatbelts by vehicle drivers and passengers – a topic which continues to raise concern throughout the road safety profession both in the UK and across the EU.

Rather than concentrating on the consequences of a collision, the filmed product uses positive images and messages to reinforce the need to wear a seat belt, by placing the issue firmly in the family domain.  The advert has been developed so that it can be viewed by anyone of any age. 

Further to the departure from traditional consequences based advertising, Embrace Life has also been promoted through the use of graffiti across Brighton, East Sussex, as part of a drive to clean up local neighbourhoods. 

Working with local artist Aroe and Brighton & Hove City Council’s Cityclean team, Embrace Life can now been seen across Brighton, covering areas previously adorned with unsightly tags.  Aroe is one of the most high profile graffiti artists in the South East, and his involvement means that the promotion will act as a barrier to any further tagging.  SSRP Communications Manager, Neil Hopkins, explains:

“There is a hierarchy within the graffiti art community, and work created by an artist such as Aroe will not be defaced by taggers.  We hope that the promotion will act as a physical barrier to any further unsightly tags across Brighton, and feel that working with a high profile local artist brings the work firmly into the existing local community.”

The SSRP have also promoted Embrace Life across the creative industry through direct mailing of thermochromatic postcards – another new approach to road safety promotion – bearing a message to support the campaign’s launch.  Facebook, Twitter and MySpace have also been utilised to generate interest and web traffic.

 Embrace Life’s Writer/Director Daniel Cox is an award winning filmmaker, with two consecutive BAFTA 60 Seconds of Fame awards to his credit.  He was keen to be involved with the project and brought his own, unique, approach to the finished product.

“It was central to the development of the project that we root the concept of wearing a seat belt within the family circle, and create the advert so that it could be viewed by anyone of any age,” Daniel comments.  “Children are so important as opinion formers within their family that we felt it imperative to have a child take a pivotal role in relaying our message.

 “One key aspect to the storytelling is that we developed Embrace Life to be non-language specific, so that the message wouldn’t become lost when viewed by visitors to, or residents of, the UK where English might not be their first language.”

The Producer overseeing Embrace Life was Sarah Alexander, who has worked as a researcher on BBC Horizon and completed a three year traineeship with BBC News to become a Broadcast Engineer. Deciding that film was her main interest, she then moved to Pathé – first as a runner and then the Assistant to the Head of Production and only left this when she was offered the job of Assistant to the Producer on Jane Campion’s new film Bright Star. Since completing that she has worked at Ealing Studios as the Assistant to the Head of Studios and the Managing Director for three films and is presently working as the stand-in Production Executive on their new film Burke & Hare (directed by John Landis).

 To view the film, log onto www.embracethis.co.uk.  You can leave your feedback through the SSRP’s Facebook group – either search for ‘Sussex Safer Roads Partnership’ within Facebook, or type http://tiny.cc/SSRP into your browser.

Let’s Face It – Most Decisions in the Fleet Sector are Now Being Ruled By the Likelihood of Litigation!

I agree wholeheartedly with BVRLA Chief Executive, John Lewis, when he says that “duty of care and grey fleet warnings will continue to grab the headlines but little will be done unless we see a stricter enforcement of health and safety regulations or a major legal case making the headlines.”

Because let’s admit it. Everyone says they take the safety of their drivers and other road uses very seriously, everyone says that meeting their health and safety obligations is important, and Fleet News continue to report it as the number one priority. But those of us in the fleet risk management sector know that there is a very large gap between words and actions.

Which leaves us in the situation where nothing significant will happen unless company directors genuinely believe they could be sued or convicted of a crime. Look at the schools closing when it snowed. Many weren’t closed due to lack of access. They were closed for fear of a child slipping in the playground, the school being deemed negligent and a case being made against them. We all know that’s what was going on, but its like a taboo subject – no-one seems to be saying it.

Which is the same in fleet. Fleet News must know what’s really going on in their sector, so why keep publishing headlines about fleet operator sincerity in taking health and safety seriously.

Wouldn’t it create a far meatier debate to report that fleets believe there is diddlysquat chance right now of being prosecuted which is why they are continuing to “say” the right things about health and safety whilst investing their money elsewhere.

For me, the frustration is twofold. Firstly, that no-one seems to be looking at the real benefits of risk assessing and training drivers. How that drives down costs, reduces accidents and absenteeism, improves fuel consumption, reduces the wear and tear on vehicles – and so the list goes on.

Secondly, that so many people in our industry are not prepared to say it as it is. To speak the truth and explain in real terms why this issue is being treated with such apathy.

If we could turn the issue around and look at it more positively and truthfully, I believe, we would start to make better progress with fleet operators looking at it positively as a cost saving and improvement tool process rather than one to only adopt when Fleet News tell us about the first company director to go to prison.

IAM want elderly drivers banned from motorways. Are they right?

The Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) is calling for elderly drivers to be banned from using motorway and dual carriageways (Daily Mail 21/01/10). Why? Because police data shows elderly drivers are at an increased risk on motorways and busy dual carriageways. I have not seen this research, but I would bet I could find some research that concludes young drivers are at risk when driving at night or when they have passengers (in their age group) in the car. Should we be banning young drivers and whilst we are at it, why not ban high mileage drivers, drivers suffering from medical conditions, shall I go on? Maybe not, the list is very long!

What should be done? Well, I believe all drivers should take and pass the basic driving test (like they do now) followed by a second, more advanced style test after 2 years. This would ensure new drivers continue to develop their driving in the early years. Having passed this second test every driver should pass a fitness to drive assessment every 10 years. Included in this assessment should be (a) an eyesight test, (b) medical, (c) theory test, (d) practical driving assessment. So who should be responsible for these checks? The logical answer has to be the Driving Standards Agency overseeing it, but suitably qualified ADI’s conducting the assessments. The results could then be used by insurance companies to determine discounts i.e. a low risk driver would get a much cheaper premium than a high risk driver, a fairer system than the current No Claims discount, don’t you agree? After all why should a driver who has passed all three advanced driving tests, but only been driving for two years,  have to pay more for his insurance than a driver who has never done anything to improve his driving, but has been lucky for the last five years and not been involved in an accident?

If we are serious about improving road safety in the UK then we should be brave and put a system in place that ensures drivers of all ages continue to develop their skills and update their knowledge throughout their life. No one who started work in the 70’s in any profession would still be employed in the same job if they hadn’t accepted training and changed the way they work / operate equipment. So why are we all happy to change the way we do just about everything accept our driving?

Scottish and Southern Energy Rule One: Always Reverse when Parking.

Energy company Scottish and Southern have told their employees to always reverse into spaces when parking in the company car parks (The Mail on Sunday 17/01/2010). Is this health and safety gone mad? Well those of you that read my blogs regularly would probably expect me to say “yes, this is just another example of the ‘Elf & Safety’ lunatics at it again!” Well I actually agree with Scottish and Southern Energy, in that it is best practice to reverse into a space and drive out.

The article in the Mail on Sunday does state that some SSE employees don’t like to be told how to park, so my only criticism of this initiative by SSE is that they haven’t explained the benefits of reversing into a space as opposed to driving in.  Unfortunately this is common in a lot of organisations: they implement a rule, or provide training (especially driver development training) without explaining why the company has decided to take this action and the benefits of doing so, simply expecting staff to comply with the new rule or be enthusiastic about attending the training. At E-Training World we come across this all too often, despite our efforts to encourage companies to talk to their staff prior to any training. However, as soon as a few drivers have completed the training and the word gets out, that it is actually very useful and informative, drivers accept the reasons why the company is providing this type of course.

So what possible benefits are there to reversing into a space, that has made Scottish and Southern Energy make this the number one rule on their ‘top five safety golden rules’? Actually there are a few benefits including:

• Reversing is more dangerous than driving forward (restricted vision) therefore it is safer to reverse into a space rather than out into the path of moving vehicles.
• On cold days, there will be a lot of exhaust smoke when starting a cold engine; this smoke will severely restrict visibility if you were reversing out of a parking space. I once employed a driver trainer, who whilst serving in the police, attended an incident where a driver who was late for work one cold morning, got into his car and reversed out of his driveway. Sadly he reversed over and killed his 3 year old son.
• A cold engine will use more fuel when reversing.
• There are also a few personal safety benefits, for example you would be able to drive away quicker if you felt threatened by someone.

The Mail on Sunday did approach the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) for their comments on Scottish and Southern Energy parking rule and their reply was “In general it is preferable to allow drivers a choice depending on the car park layout or circumstances”.  I believe that if that’s the best a road safety charity can do, it is no wonder drivers ignore what they class as silly rules made for the sake of it.

 As I said earlier, you have to educate drivers about the reasons why you are introducing something.  Managers should be encouraged  to contact road safety professionals to get the full facts including the pro’s and con’s about any initiative they intend implementing, thereby paving the way for a more accepting and compliant workforce.

Finally may I congratulate SSE on this Road Safety initiative and I hope that they continue to implement further Road Safety schemes within their company.

Digital Dashboards

No sensible person can argue with Peter Rogers (IAM Chief Examiner) that the proposed Intel and Google digital interactive dashboards, which will be a 10 inch screen showing 3D maps, web pages and even video, will be a distraction to the driver if used whilst driving.

It seems to me that once again we are treating the adult population like 2 year olds. Yes there will be those idiots who will drive whilst trying to search the web, but those idiots can do that now with a mobile phone or a laptop on the passenger seat. So after these digital dashboards have been introduced will we see a huge rise in the crash statistics? No, because contrary to the belief of this government and some organisations, 99% of drivers are not 2 year olds, they are responsible adults who are quite capable of making sensible decisions like I won’t try to surf the net whilst driving!

Over the last 20 years we have seen more and more control of the drivers; speed cameras, traffic calming, explosion of signs warning of everything from junctions to frogs crossing the road. All these measures have cost £millions and I have no doubt have reduced crashes, but could we have reduced crashes by any other means? Well how about this as a novel idea; education. If the government spent just some of the money that they spent on the above, then drivers wouldn’t need a sign telling them there is a junction ahead, they would know by looking at the hazard lines on the road, or be able to recognise areas of increased risk (the government tell us speed cameras are only placed in accident black spots) and adjust their driving/speed accordingly.   

If we want to further reduce crashes on our roads, then we should (a) Stop treating drivers like machines that can’t think for themselves, as one day it just might happen and we won’t be able drive unless we have computers and satellites controlling everything we do in a vehicle. (b) Spend more on education, driving courses (and not just for those who have been caught speeding etc), TV road safety films, road safety education in schools etc. (c) More traffic police not just to prosecute drivers but to educate those who commit minor offenses such as leaving fog lights on when visibility is greater than 100 metres.

I also feel the road safety sector has a role in this by not encouraging greater mollycoddling. We’re in severe danger here of taking away responsibility from drivers and creating more danger on our roads than less.

Snow wages

Some of the largest employers including Sainsbury’s, Tesco’s and Virgin Rail are saying they won’t pay workers who don’t turn up for work because they are ‘snowed in’.  As a business man I can understand that to pay staff to stay at home doesn’t make economic sense, especially in the middle of a recession.  However, as a champion of road safety, I have to disapprove of the no pay initiative by those employers. I do so on the grounds that it will encourage their staff to attempt to drive in unsafe conditions.

The bosses at these companies should consider the following scenario; a member(s) of their staff attempts to drive to work, but sadly crashes on the way, due to the conditions. Will the company pay them? If they are injured, they may be off work for weeks or even months, how much will that cost the company? Staff morale will be affected and what about the bad publicity which will certainly follow?  

Although companies do not have a duty of care to ensure the safety of employees on non business related journeys, or whilst they are commuting, they do have a moral duty not to place their staff in increased danger and asking them to drive in the current conditions will certainly put them at risk.

This is not the first time large employers have threatened to stop employees pay.  I remember a few years ago one of the large supermarkets announcing that staff who went sick would not be paid. At the time I wrote to Fleet News about my concerns for road safety, as the policy would encourage their employees to drive whilst unfit through illness and/or through taking medication.

 I believe it is now time the government looked at this issue, because here we have a situation where their agencies are telling us not drive, whilst employers are saying that if you don’t you won’t get paid.

 So who is right? Should businesses receive financial support from the Government for loss of staff and revenue during these difficult weather conditions to ensure that they support the call for people to stay at home, helping to keep our roads remain empty, ensuring accidents are reduced and that the strain and expense placed on our emergency services is cut down dramatically?