The Newsletter of Chelmsford Advanced Motorists
You don’t want to meet this on the road
www.iamchelmsford.org.uk Issue 115 December 2015 and January 2016 IAM Group 7223 Registered Charity No 1059372
A very precise sign sent in by Paul Watkin. Do you know where this is? Have you seen any others like this?
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This sculpture is mentioned in the article on page 22. During World War 2 the now National Police Air Service base at Lippitts Hill was a prisoner of war camp. This Statue was cut out of solid concrete by Rudi Weber 540177 in October 1946.
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Forthcoming Group Meetings These are usually held on the 2nd Monday of each month at the Essex Police Sports and Social Club, Which is through the Police vehicle park at the very end of St. Margarets Road, Chelmsford. Group Meetings start promptly at 8pm, so please arrive at around 7.45pm.
http://goo.gl/maps/VrEwi
CM2 6DS
http://www.essexexplorer.co.uk/cam.kmz
Associates, Full Members & Guests Welcome Date
Topic
Speaker
Monday 11th January
Director of EMG Driver Training High Performance Course UK Ltd An Advanced Car Instructor & Trainer (Grade A), talks to us about his role.
Eunan MacGuinness
Monday 8th February
Service Development Team Leader from Chelmsford City Council who will be talking about recycling
Suzanne Lawson,
Make a note in your diary and please be there! Disclaimer—Please note that the views and opinions expressed in this Newsletter are those of the individual writers and they do not necessarily reflect those of the Institute of Advanced Motorists, nor those of the Chelmsford and District Group of Advanced Motorists. Their accuracy has not been verified. Notice—Data Protection Act: records are held of members personal details submitted on their application form. The information will be used solely for the Group’s administration purposes and will not be passed to any third party.
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Welcome to our new Associate and Full Members. We look forward to seeing and talking to them at our monthly Group nights Mark Criddle
Chelmsford
Angus Yeatts
Little Bardfield
Sue Goodman
Dunmow
Graham Bond
Matching Green
We are a friendly bunch, so don’t be worried about coming to our Group nights if you are on your own. Make yourself known to John who will greet you at the desk, he will find one of us to come and talk to you. John will also try to get you to part with some money for the raffle. There will be Senior Observers, Observers and generally an Examiner at the evening and you will be able to get answers to any questions that you have. Please come along, we’ll even give you tea or coffee and there is a bar - for light refreshments obviously! Terry Joyce
Electronic Newsletter & Emails Whilst new members have been getting their copy electronically for some time it would be helpful if more people joined in with the electronic age and did the same. We are not going to force anybody to move to electronic but we would appreciate it if you consider letting the newsletter editor know if you are willing to receive yours by email. In any event for the purpose of telling people about Group nights and the occasional event such as the skid pan it is useful to have as many e-mail addresses as possible so if you are not currently on our mailing list it would point to us not having your email address. Please let the newsletter editor know and he will pass it on.
Please let us know if you change your email address. Page 4
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Roll of Honour Congratulations to these latest Members of our Group who have Passed
‘The Test’. Test No
Name
Test Date
Observer
1060
Oliver Streek
16th October
Graham Lowe
1061
Rosemary Cooper
12th November
Scott Bannister
1062
David Williams
1st December
Gaynor Manthorpe
See page 2 & 23 for photos of our members receiving their certificates. To all those people who have passed their test: It would be appreciated if you could write a few words thanking your Observer and maybe something about the process and your test, to give those New Associates an insight into the process of learning Advanced Driving. Please remember: Do telephone both your Observer and Scott Bannister ( Associates Co-ordinator ) immediately after your test. Page 5
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From the Chairman I am writing this report to update the readership on what I believe to be some significant progress in restructuring the committee and reporting methodology within the group. As a direct action from our previous meeting we have streamlined the way in which we receive reports at the committee meetings thus freeing up valuable discussion time. Moving forward each meeting will have a theme allowing varying aspects of the group to be analysed in detail and improvement strategies identified and implemented. The theme of the first meeting was marketing. After much discussion we have agreed to redesign our marketing material and launch an exciting new marketing initiative. It was recognised that members often engage in discussion with friends, family, colleague and others about the IAM. I am as guilty as the next person and often get people interested in joining only to close the conversation with 'look them up online'. This results in no further action from that person. Instead we plan to launch a reward scheme. By reporting back the name, phone number and preferred contact time, members of the group will be able to earn ÂŁ10 per skill for life sale. Payments will be made quarterly and can either be received in cash or donated to a charity. IAM staff will then follow these leads up for us so no further action will be required by the nominee. The program will launch in early February but before then we need to design the necessary marketing material. Details are listed in this publication of how you can submit your design ideas. The person whose design is adopted will win a bottle of champagne which will be presented at group night. I hope you are of the same opinion as myself that this is a step in the right direction. Further meeting themes are 'getting on with IAM' and communication. If you wish to get involved with these meetings please contact me. Regards
Steve Wright
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~~~~~~~~ Editorial ~~~~~~~~ Hello, Unfortunately there are no photos of our members receiving their certificates in this edition but I hope you enjoy the pictures that have been sent in. The picture on the cover is relating to the trip organised by Pat Clements to the National Police Air Service base at Lippitts Hill. Still painted in Metropolitan Police livery but now NPAS. See pages 22 and 23.
The Give Way sign on page 2 sent in by Paul Watkin is in Crow Pond Road in Terling, 107 yards before the junction with Hatfield Road. Is there any subject that you would like to see covered in an article? Thank you to those of you that have contributed to this edition. Please keep the letters and articles coming. Many Thanks to Sue Sweetland for her patient and educated assistance in producing this Newsletter.
Wishing you all a Very Happy Christmas and Safe Driving in 2016
Terry Joyce Please contact me by email at terry.joyce@iamchelmsford.org.uk
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Group contact information Our Group Enquiry number: - 07757 399897 Honorary Life Members
Mr Mike Corbett, Mr Glyn Jarrett, Mrs Ruth Jarrett, Mr Dave Travers, Mr Colin Snow.
Committee Chairman
Steve Wright
Secretary
Susan Sweetland
Treasurer
John Johnston
Membership Secretary
Ken Carrington
Website Editor Newsletter Editor
Terry Joyce
Events Organiser Publicity
Sally Langley John Stone
Group Contact
Selva Seeni
Committee Member
Dr Clifford Murira
Committee Member
John Ockmore
Committee Member Committee Member
Ken Howard Malcolm Kentish
Committee Member
Anthony Shilson
Committee Member
Norman Smith
Committee Member
Terry Hyland
Observer Examiner
Gaynor Manthorpe
Associates Co-ordinator & Chief Observer
Scott Bannister
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A Bird’s Eye View Well, that was a nice little burst of summer, wasn’t it? Sadly, we couldn’t expect it to last any longer – it probably would have resulted in a hosepipe ban!! I’m writing this on the 5th October and I wonder if any of you watched the television programme about Aston Martins (and Paul Hollywood) last night. I’ve always had a thing about Astons, particularly the DB5, so a whole programme about them meant I was a very happy bunny! The DB10 is something else – a car designed for drifting round corners with a nose reminiscent of a shark. Only 10 of these beasts have been manufactured and not one of them is for sale – shame, I quite fancied driving like James Bond…..
Susan Sweetland
Our Observers Ron Adams
Graham Lowe
Scott Bannister
Gaynor Manthorpe
Pat Clements Philip Cooper
Dr Clifford Murira
Paul Crosby
John Ockmore
Jamie Drummond Tony Hawes
Graham Robson Roger Spall
Helen Jeffries
John Tullett
Terry Joyce
Mark Warbey
Rob Laird
Brian Williams
George Locker
Rob Wise
Graham Lowe Page 9
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Brake Brake is a road safety charity working with communities and organisations across the UK to stop the tragedy of road deaths and injuries, make streets and communities safer for everyone, and support people bereaved and seriously injured on roads. Every day in the UK, five people die on roads, causing needless loss of life and about 60 more are seriously injured, inflicting terrible suffering. Their website http://www.brake.org.uk/ Below is information from them and other sources about eyesight . I know I have covered this before and in fact in the article ‘Cassie’s Law in the last edition but as drivers and in particular advanced drivers, we have a responsibility to continually check that we are fit to drive. This has been highlighted recently with the bin lorry crash in Glasgow.
It is recommended that you should have an eye test every two years. As a pilot I have to have one every year and this picked up a significant change in my eyesight this year. It did not impair my vision enough to effect my driving but it could have done.
Did you know that you can lose 40% of your vision before noticing it. Brake, the road safety charity, has produced a free interactive e-learning resource to highlight the importance of making sure your vision is up to scratch before getting behind the wheel. ‘Sharpen up’, developed in partnership with Specsavers, can be used by anyone who works with drivers, including: fleet professionals and employers; driving instructors; road safety professionals and emergency services; teachers; community leaders; and by individuals directly wanting to find out more about driver eyesight. See www.brake.org.uk/sharpenupinteractive
Here is a link to an online check for your eyesight http://www.vutest.com/seedrive/index.htm Here is a shortened version of the Driving eyesight rules. You must wear glasses or contact lenses every time you drive if you need them to meet the ‘standards of vision for driving’. You must tell DVLA if you’ve got any problem with your eyesight that affects both of your eyes, or the remaining eye if you only have one eye. This doesn’t include being short or long sighted or colour blind. You also don’t need to say if you’ve had surgery to correct short sightedness and can meet the eyesight standards. You must be able to read (with glasses or contact lenses, if necessary) a car number plate made after 1 September 2001 from 20 metres. You must also meet the minimum eyesight standard for driving by having a visual acuity of at least decimal 0.5 (6/12) measured on the Snellen scale (with glasses or contact lenses, if necessary) using both eyes together or, if you have sight in one eye only, in that eye. You must also have an adequate field of vision - your optician can tell you about this and do a test. See https://www.gov.uk/driving-eyesight-rules for more detail.
Continued on Page 11
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Brake continued
People with impaired vision are much more likely to be involved in a road crash, and are estimated to cause 2,900 casualties per year. Eyesight can deteriorate rapidly without you noticing, hence experts recommend having an eyesight test at least every two years. A 2014 survey by Brake and Specsavers found that one in four (25%) drivers hadn’t had a vision test in the past two years; and 4% (the equivalent to more than 1.5 million UK drivers) had never had their eyes tested. A worrying one in eight (12%) who need glasses or contact lenses admitted driving without them. Brake calls on all drivers to ensure that their vision is at a safe standard for driving, helping to keep themselves and others safe, through regular (at least two-yearly) eyesight tests and always wearing glasses or lenses if they’re needed. Brake also calls on the government to follow public opinion and introduce compulsory eyesight tests for drivers, a move favoured by almost nine in 10 (87%) people. Julie Townsend, deputy chief executive of Brake, said: “Making sure your vision is up to scratch is crucial to safe driving. It’s vital for drivers to get their eyes checked professionally at least every two years – eyesight can deteriorate rapidly without you noticing. Our new ‘Sharpen up’ e-learning resource shows people the dangers of driving with poor eyesight, encouraging them to make that vital trip to the opticians. The resource is a powerful tool that shows that if you drive, it’s not just your own health and safety that you are risking if you neglect to get your eyesight checked, but also the lives of the people around you. The resource is freely available to road safety practitioners, employers, driving instructors and educators to help them raise life-saving awareness."
The facts Crash risk is heightened by poor vision: if you cannot see well, you may not see a hazard or person in time to stop, or you may not be able to respond to the environment around you at all. Road crashes caused by poor driver vision are estimated to cause 2,900 casualties and cost £33 million in the UK per year. Vision problems are very common – almost three quarters (74%) of people in the UK either wear glasses or contact lenses, or have had laser eye surgery to correct their vision. Long- or short-sightedness is the most common7, and can affect anyone at any age. Drivers with visual field defects (problems seeing objects in their central or peripheral vision) have double the incidence of road crashes and traffic violations compared to drivers with a full visual field. Almost half of people with visual field loss are unaware of the problem. Several health conditions, including age-related macular degeneration, cataract and glaucoma, can cause serious and sometimes permanent damage to eyesight. These conditions are more common in people aged over 50, but can affect younger people too. They must be reported by drivers to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) in the UK. Be vigilant, check yourself regularly.
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Terry Joyce Issue 115
Roadcraft Chapter 6 covers manoeuvring at low speeds. I can hear you groaning from here. We all have difficulty with manoeuvres at one time or another, that is evident from when we have the manoeuvres in the car park or at or Driver Experience Days. Even some of our Observers including myself struggle sometimes. Why is that? Practise, we spend a lot of time working on getting bends right but not a lot of time parallel parking or reversing around a corner. You only get better at something by doing it over and over again. In the UK one of the most common and costly types of collision happens when drivers are reversing into confined spaces. Most of these don’t result in injury but they cause damage to your vehicle from a minor scrape to writing off a car. Most of these collisions can be avoided. Drivers commonly believe that driving at low speed is easy and hazard free, neither is true. The risks escalate when you drive bigger vehicles. The advice from Roadcraft.
Avoid reversing your vehicle unnecessarily
Carry out all manoeuvres at a slow walking speed
Avoid turning in narrow roads with parked vehicles
Consider using junctions in which to turn or drive to a roundabout
What ever you are going to do whether it’s a simple reverse or a more complicated manoeuvre, plan it using the system. It takes constant attention to perform low speed manoeuvres safely and well. Think through what you are trying to achieve and carry out the manoeuvre with extreme care. So how do we use the system?
Gather information through careful observation throughout
Give signals if necessary
Plan your route through the manoeuvre
Wind your window down a little, you may hear that other vehicle or child playing. Consider the best position to take throughout the manoeuvre, not just at the start and end points. Assess where to go forwards and where to reverse. Make sure that you don’t cut out your view by going to far forward or backwards. Select the correct speed and gear , so that, if you are not parking you can accelerate away to best advantage.
Like all other aspects of our driving Observation is the key, the more we see the more we are able to plan our drives. Continued on Page 13
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Roadcraft continued
Good observation is vital for safety. Maintain all round observation throughout whichever manoeuvre you are doing. Remember to wind down your window a bit. Take any information that you can get to give you the best overall view of the situation. Low speed manoeuvring rarely causes serious injuries but they do happen. You have a number of blind spots in your car. The pillars can hide quite big things at certain angles. In my car a cabriolet when the roof is up I have a significant blind spot on the back corners of the roof. It is important to use your mirrors as well as looking through the windows. Sometimes it can beneficial to move the mirrors to get the best view and even reposition yourself to get a different view. An example of this is if you move your top half of your body from your waist up slightly forward and look into your side mirrors you will see further back than in your normal drive position. Planning When you are faced with an awkward manoeuvre, first consider whether it is absolutely necessary. Is there an alternative route that you could use? Steering Manoeuvring in a confined space sometime requires rapid movements of the steering wheel. The standard pull-push technique generally provides effective steering but occasionally other hand holds may give better control, especially when reversing. Don’t turn the steering wheel while stationery as this can damage the tyres and puts excessive strain on the steering linkages. It is easier to manoeuvre a vehicle when reversing than when going forwards because the steered wheels are at the back. This may seem counter intuitive but once you have achieved it is easier to be precise and to make steering movements at slow speed this way round but as you increase speed in reverse it becomes increasingly difficult to steer accurately. I find the slower you move in reverse the more time you have to see which way the car is going, which allows you to make smaller adjustments to achieve the manoeuvre. Remember to allow for overhangs. Even a small vehicle will have some overhang from the wheels. Be aware this will swing out and could hit another parked vehicle in a tight space. The tighter the steering lock the more the overhang will swing out. So before you reverse. Ensure your mirrors are clean and correctly adjusted. Scan the area for suitability and any hazards or obstructions. Make sure there is sufficient space for your vehicle. If you are not sure, get out of the vehicle and check. Plan to execute the manoeuvre where the space is greatest and visibility is at its best. Ensure that you have an unobstructed view. If you can ask someone to guide you. Wind down you windows to increase awareness and communication. Read Roadcraft for the full information Excerpts from Roadcraft and comments by Terry Joyce Page 13
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Dates for 2016 Don’t say we don’t give you plenty of advance notice for Group nights. Monday 11th January
Director of EMG Driver Training High Performance Course UK Ltd An Advanced Car Instructor & Trainer (Grade A), talks to us about his role.
Tuesday 19th January
Committee Meeting
Monday 8th February
Service Development Team Leader from Chelmsford City Council who will be talking about recycling
Monday 14th March
Group Night
Tuesday 22nd March
Committee Meeting
Monday 11th April
Group Night
Monday 9th May
Group Night
Tuesday 17th May
Committee Meeting
Monday 13th June
Group Night
Monday 11th July
Group Night
Monday 8th August
Group Night
Monday 12th September
Group Night
Monday 10th October
Group Night
Monday 14th November
Group Night
Monday 12th December
Group Night
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Eunan MacGuinness
Suzanne Lawson,
Issue 115
Young Driver Scheme Do you know of anyone who is not 17 years of age, but wants to learn how to drive? Chelmsford IAM group supports this road safety scheme to give people the opportunity to learn basic car control skills in Driving School Dual Controlled cars on private land before they go on the public Highway. Lessons, lasting for one hour, are run on the third Sunday of most months at Earls Colne (near Coggeshall). There is an initial Registration Fee of ÂŁ40 which covers registration and the first one hour lesson. Subsequent lessons cost ÂŁ25. Lessons must be booked in advance. The scheme is intended primarily for 16 year-olds but, if vacancies permit, places may be offered to 15 year-olds or even to older people who are nervous about
getting behind the wheel (again, or for the first time). Full details of the scheme, a letter from Essex Police and a map may be viewed, and the application Form can be downloaded, from www.youngdriverscheme.org Alternatively, forms may be obtained from the YDS Organiser. Nicola Hyland, 67 Main Road, St Lawrence Bay, Southminster, CM0 7NA Dedicated Mobile number 07847 645632 or yds@iamchelmsford.org.uk
Notification of Events There has been a lot of positive feedback from events organised by the Group. If you would like to be kept informed of any up and coming events please make sure that l have your current email address.
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Win a bottle of bubbly!!
Just design a business card with a return slip see Chairmanship report for more details Contact Steve Wright
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Is your car smarter than you? In September BookMyGarage.com quizzed 1,000 British car owners on the usage of specific features that are available to them in their vehicle, such as tyre pressure monitoring systems, cruise control, skid control systems and parking sensors. Their research exposed a number of features that are regularly being left unused, due to lack of understanding. Cruise control was the feature most likely to cause confusion and is commonly left unused, followed by 'Eco' settings and gadgets such as Bluetooth. BookMyGarage suggest car owners spend time getting to grips with the features available to them in order to make the most of their investment.
73% don’t understand how to use all of the features in their car. 1 in 5 of those surveyed claimed to use only one or two of the settings available to them regularly. 54% of British adults admit that they bought their car because of the features that it offered. See https://bookmygarage.com/smartercars/
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Spare wheel? There was some discussion in the last edition of Forward Vision regarding the presence or otherwise of spare wheels on cars. It would be interesting if someone had worked out the number of vehicle-miles driven in the UK per puncture. Looking at the amount of rubber shredded on the motorways I suspect the vehiclemileage is lower for trucks than it is for cars but the chances of an individual car having a puncture must now be quite small and that is in spite of the number of people who drive their vehicles up on to curbs. I sold my last car after 12 years having had it from new. The spare wheel was still in the boot with its original stickers on the tread; its pressure was checked occasionally but otherwise it was just a dead weight being carried around. My current car doesn’t have a spare wheel and even this small reduction in weight during a brisk overtake is appreciated. Over my motoring career I have had several blow outs and a few punctures. But these have all been on tubed tyres and caused by carcase failure where the inner tube flexes against the outer cover, such a problem cannot arise with the modern tubeless tyre. In my younger days when I drove Minis I would reckon to have the spare wheel fitted and be on my way well within five minutes – in jacking a car practice makes perfect and in those days the car was jacked up regularly for servicing or repairs. I’m not sure that today I am strong enough to lift a modern wheel with its wide tyre out of the boot! In those more relaxed motoring days of long ago engines were simpler and with a spare fan belt, a set of points, some spark plugs, a bottle of water, some oil and a few tools (plus of course the spare wheel) it was always possible to arrive at your destination. Today’s cars are so complicated and the components so inaccessible that it is essential to join the AA or some rescue organisation in case of breakdown, so they might as well also deal with a puncture if it happens. In any case, in most situations it is now too dangerous for the driver to attempt to change a wheel or put goo into a tyre and the safe solution is the large van with its yellow flashing lights placed where it protects both car and personnel. It may be that over time people will get used to not having a spare wheel and feel more relaxed. Those of us who also ride motor cycles have always ridden without a spare wheel and I have never heard any rider express a particular worry about this. Chris Gardiner Page 17
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Penalty Points Penalty points on driving licences are costing UK motorists over £132 million a year in higher insurance premiums, according to new research by the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) and MoneySuperMarket. Of these it’s the drivers with the highest number of points who are unsurprisingly paying the most – those with 10-11 points, and 12 or more have respectively paid 81.8% and 89.3% more for their car insurance.
In terms of regions, motorists in London, Glasgow and Birmingham are having to shell out the most, paying more than £8 million, £4 million and £3 million respectively in more expensive insurance. The IAM and MoneySuperMarket have calculated the increase in premiums for drivers with one to three penalty points, four to six points, seven to nine, 10-11, and 12 or more for every postcode area of the country, as well as major towns and cities. The research shows that even getting the lowest number of points (between one and three) is costing drivers in London more than £2.4 million, Glasgow £1.5 million and Birmingham more than £1.2 million. It adds that across the UK those with one to three points will pay an extra £49.5 million in higher insurance, those with four to six points an extra £57.4 million, seven to nine £18.9 million, 10-11 £3.5 million and 12 or more £2.6 million. The full top ten are: London - £8,079,529, Glasgow - £4,080,190, Birmingham - £3,423,840, Nottingham - £2,833,865, Newcastle - £2,642,079, Cardiff - £2,586,075,
Sheffield - £2,535,609, Edinburgh - £2,070,783, Swansea - £2,036,358 Manchester - £2,026,561. People in Bournemouth, Brighton, Bristol, Chester, Coventry, Derby, Leeds, Liverpool, Norwich, Oxford, Portsmouth, Preston, Southampton, Stoke and York have all paid more than £1 million in additional insurance premiums. Bath and Plymouth sit just below the £1 million mark. Continued on Page 19
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Penalty Points continued
MoneySuperMarket says that those with one to three penalty points have paid 5.1% more for their insurance than someone with no points at all in the past year. Having four to six points really hikes premiums up, costing motorists 25.8% more. Having seven to nine points has cost drivers 45% more in the past 12 months.
Sarah Sillars, IAM chief executive officer, adds: “If people don’t understand the safety dangers of the offence they have committed which has earned them the penalty points, they should certainly understand the damage it will do to their bank balances. “Someone with multiple points and fines is paying through the nose for car insurance; just think what other things they could use that money for. Driving safely could put thousands back into your pocket.” Kevin Pratt, insurance expert, MoneySuperMarket, says: “When it comes to driving offences, points definitely don’t mean prizes. In fact, points on your driving licence mean pounds – extra pounds payable on your car insurance. Insurers want to know about your motoring offences so they can build up a picture of what kind of driver you are.
“The more points they see for offences such as speeding and careless driving, the higher your premium will be. A typical £500 premium would increase to around £525 for someone with just a single three-point speeding offence. But someone with six points on their licence could see their premium leap to £625. “Drivers with points on their licence should shop around and compare prices when it is time to renew their insurance as it is highly likely they will get a cheaper offer with another provider. “The message is simple: points on your licence puts pounds on your premium. So stick to the speed limits and drive with care, courtesy and attention to avoid unnecessary costs.” See the article here: http://bit.ly/1YWwZ5U
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Letters & emails On all matters relating to motoring and the Chelmsford Group, this newsletter or your experiences in preparing for or taking your test are most welcome. Just a few words to say that I passed my test this morning with examiner Mark Wilson.
My observer was Mr Scott Bannister. He was very good and very knowledgeable and we had a few debates along the way all of which Scott won. Thanks Scott for your time and constructive criticism you managed to get me to the standard to pass the test and I am very thankful. Rosemary Cooper
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dear Terry
Has the Met. Office and others gone soft on fog? In the past a thick fog meant one where you could hardly see the road in front of your car. Fogs of this density largely disappeared after the Clean Air Act of 1965 but nowadays it seems that a thick mist where the visibility is down to 100m is described as thick fog and causes traffic disruption. One of the tenets of good driving is to be able to stop on your side of the road in the distance that you can see; one hundred metres is in excess of the overall braking distance at 70 MPH so the visibility should not be an issue. In misty conditions the roads are often wet but as those of us who were at the last driving day at Dunton will testify having a wet road does not significantly extend the braking distance with modern tyres. I’m not suggesting that 70 MPH is necessarily an appropriate speed in 100m mist, as visibility can change very quickly and in a manner that cannot be predicted from observation of the environment. I do, however, think that describing mist as thick fog can create undue nervousness in some drivers and may well cause collisions that a more relaxed driver might avoid. Yours sincerely Chris Gardiner
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Chelmsford Advanced Motorists Library List DVDs Drive Smarter, Essential know-how for your driving career (2 copies) By Gem Motoring Assist Roadcraft, The Police Driver’s Course on Advanced Driving By The Police Foundation
PC CD-ROMs The Interactive Highway Code HMSO/ Interactive Driving Systems Hazard Perception Test
HMSO/Oasis
BOOKS Roadcraft Human Aspects of Police Driving The Tyre Digest (2 copies)
TSO Scottish Police College Michelin
Driving Abroad
Robert Davies
The Official Highway Code Rev. 2007 Edition
HMSO
The Official Guide to Accompanying L-Drivers
DSA
Sideways to Victory
Roger Clark
The Myway Code
Ian Vince/Dan Kieran
Paul Ripley’s Expert Driving
Daily Telegraph
The Inner Game of Tennis
W Timothy Gallwey
Mind Driving
Stephen Haley
Older Drivers – Safe or Unsafe? Traffic– Why we drive the way we do Boreham, A History of the Racing Circuit
IAM Tom Vanderbilt Bryan Jones & John Frankland
CDs Awake, Driver Reviver
THINK
Advanced Road Craft
Bespoke Driving Training
The Driving Test – Your Licence to Drive
IAM/Safety on the Move
If you have any books etc from the Library can you please contact Clifford Murira
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Chelmsford Advanced Motorists
Issue 115
Helicopter Visit It would take more than the powers of Houdini to escape once in the sights of the National Police Air Service base at Lippitts Hill in Essex as we found out when we arrived one fine but chilly autumn morning to be introduced to the group of eyes in the sky and their three sleek helicopters. There were three Eurocopter EC145’s costing over £5,000,000 each. The helicopters are still in the livery of the Metropolitan Police. Drawing up in front of the forbidding high metal gates that afforded glimpses of a somewhat run down compound within, our venue presented as an army camp of second world war vintage. I could almost smell that damp and acrid air blowing between the old huts and picture the iron bedsteads and scratchy grey blankets folded neatly thereon. This was not far from the truth as it had been used as an army base, an anti-aircraft establishment and finally an Italian prisoner of war camp. A large and interesting sculpture of a man, created by one of the prisoners, set the seal on this rather forbidding entrance. There are apparently many more interesting items locked away. Two gun emplacements adjacent to the helipads are still visible. Our welcome more than made up for any qualms we might have felt at such an entrance. We were put in the charge of the delightful Holly and her airside partner Brad, both police constables, together with their pilot, an ex RAF Afghanistan veteran who is not a policeman. We spent the morning in their company. Questions were encouraged and never ceased from start to finish. We started off in the classroom, much like the ops room depicted in war films. As we lounged nonchalantly back in our comfy chairs we were given a general information about the base and its purposes, currently the training of police recruits to become operators of the photographic equipment carried aboard the helicopters and the methods in use when the helicopters are used for many different backup and organisational purposes. These include crowd control, overseeing police chases of cars, manhunts, searching for missing persons, rescue and transporting other services such as fire and dog patrols. They can, at a push, transport a medical emergency. They are not fully equipped for this but they are able to take a stretcher. Though much training takes place at Lippitts Hill, the unit is fully operational 24/7 and is the busiest of the five units in the south east. While we were there we witnessed two calls and were able to watch the police operation from the control room as they hunted for a naked man seen in a residential area. The ground force, the dog patrol and the helicopter were able to work as a team. Sadly we didn’t see the final outcome. In addition to the ordinary camera, the helicopter is fitted with an Infra-red camera which allows work at night and in poor visibility. I am sure that I speak for us all when I say we had a very special experience and were most privileged to watch a dedicated and happy team at work.
Thank you Pat for organising the outing so efficiently. Dagmar Hampton Page 22
Chelmsford Advanced Motorists
Issue 115
Pictures from the trip to the National Police Air Service base at Lippitts Hill organised by Pat Clements. G– MPSB Eurocopter EC 145 coming in to land. Built in 2005. Maximum Take Off Weight 3585kg 2 Turbomeca Arriel 1E2 engines
. Holly a Tactical Flight Officer with the National Police Air Service explaining the complexities and capabilities of the EC 145 to our group.
Holly showing how one person can move a 3.5 tonne helicopter around.
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Chelmsford Advanced Motorists
Issue 115