Monday, December 31st, 2007
With the beginning of every year we look to what it should bring, and Advanced-Driving.co.uk calls on the Department for Transport to set itself a determined New Year resolution to teach young drivers the safety skills they need. This is long overdue.
In 2007, novice driver safety came into sharp focus again. The Dft revealed that the driver death rate has been getting worse for some years, the Transport Select Committee published its recommendations, and the year ended with news from the Norwich Union that young driver claims have increased by a staggering 300% in the last 5 years, while claims from other drivers fell by 10%. Quite rightly, the debate throughout the year took on a renewed sense of purpose.
This sits against a backdrop of measures taken over the past 15 years specifically to reduce crash rates, including the Theory Test, Hazard Perception Test, Pass Plus, speed cameras and more. But just as 2007 showed the extent of failure, so 2008 should mark the beginning of an approach that will work.
The long-awaited consultation document due soon from the DfT is a huge opportunity. But the outcome must concentrate on the causes of high crash rates, not just the symptoms. This means teaching drivers the proper skills, rather than restricting their driving as a substitute. Improving safety skills should also be more about teaching the right things than simply changing the process of learning. The worst outcome would be further major actions that fail to improve the figures.
For this very reason, Advanced-Driving.co.uk was founded to draw attention to the direct need for a change in the way learner drivers are taught. We are totally convinced that safety must be based on teaching the proper skills. The skills developed by more experienced drivers need to be defined and adopted in methods for teaching the young.
Stephen Haley’s “Essential Thinking Skills” (see link below) is an invitation to the Driving Standards Agency to review its methods of teaching, and introduce better skills. The current L-test and levels of enforcement have failed, and restrictions should not be imposed to offset inadequate teaching.
“When will people realise that driving is not just a hands and feet exercise?”, said Darren Tipton of Advanced Driving UK. “It is fundamentally about the decisions you make based on the risks you perceive. Those decisions can mean the difference between life and death for a novice driver”. This is at the core of Mind Driving and Essential Thinking Skills.
“How well should we expect drivers to gain skills they have not been shown? Or should we be surprised that their period of discovery when they begin to drive unsupervised proves to be dangerous?” says Stephen in his Essential Thinking Skills.
Youngsters currently learn quite well how get the vehicle moving in a “point and go” fashion, but the proper beliefs and thinking are missing if we want them to negotiate our busy roads in safety.
This is what the DfT must resolve to get right in 2008.
Posted in Essential Thinking Skills, Motoring & Driving News
Friday, December 21st, 2007
Motorists will face tougher penalties for driving misdemeanours ranging from using mobile phones to splashing pedestrians, under new guidelines published yesterday.
Using a mobile, sat-nav or MP3 player while at the wheel could send drivers to prison for up to two years.
But they could also be fined up to £2,500 for driving through a puddle and splashing pedestrians or for failing to dip headlights.
In future a range of misdemeanours will be treated as dangerous driving, which carries a two-year maximum prison sentence, rather than careless driving, which can be dealt with only by a community order or fine.
The policy outlined by the Crown Prosecution Service could also mean that motorists in England and Wales who cause death on the roads face life imprisonment.
The new detailed guidance, first announced earlier this year, will make clear that prosecutors should consider manslaughter charges for the worst cases of death by dangerous driving.
Sir Ken Macdonald, QC, Director of Public Prosecutions, said in September when announcing the policy change: “We accept that in cases where there is clear evidence that danger has been caused by their [mobile phone] use – such as texting while driving – then our policy should spell out that the starting point for charging will be dangerous driving.”
Current guidelines say manslaughter is “very rarely appropriate” in road death cases but the change will mean alternative charges could be brought.
Someone who has killed on the roads could be charged with manslaughter as well as causing death by dangerous driving, for example, leaving a jury open to return the lower charge if they find manslaughter has not been proved.
Rob Gifford, executive director of the Parliamentary Advisory Council on Transport Safety, told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: “It’s not every single driver using a mobile phone while driving who faces jail, it’s those few drivers whose behaviour leads them to have a crash when they are using a mobile at the same time.
“What people are being reminded of is that driving is a complicated activity and it is better to concentrate on driving than talking.”
Sheila Ranger, head of campaigns at the RAC, said: “This is for people who are doing the most outrageous acts on their phone. We still see terrible crashes where people have been texting, driving into the back of stationary queues because they haven’t seen them.”
Jools Townsend, head of education at Brake, the road safety charity, said: “We welcome these new prosecution guidelines, which recognise that using a mobile while driving is an incredibly dangerous act. Too many people are still flaunting the law and endangering lives by using their mobile behind the wheel.”
Points
Dangerous driving
Maximum penalty of up to two years’ jail
— racing or competitive driving
— reading a newspaper
— sudden change of lane
Careless driving
Penalty points, £2,500 fine, possible ban
— tuning the radio
— lighting a cigarette, if avoidably distracted
Inconsiderate driving
Penalty points, community £2,500 fine
— driving a bus in a way that alarms passengers
— driving with lights on full beam
— driving through a puddle, splashing pedestrians
The Times
Posted in Motoring & Driving News
