The Newsletter of Chelmsford Advanced Motorists
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www.iamchelmsford.org.uk Issue 116 February and March 2016 IAM Group 7223 Registered Charity No 1059372
Driver Experience Days 2016
The dates for our Driver Experience days 2016 are: Sunday 10th April and Sunday 2nd October. Both will start promptly at 9.30am. Part of the day is taken up carrying out speed braking tests there can be quite a difference on where each the cars stops. Some of this down to the performance of the cars, some to the tread, condition and type of tyres, some of it down to the performance of the driver. These definitely open your eyes to how much gap you leave between you and the cars around you on a dual carriageway or motorway. All of what is done on the day helps you to learn more about yourself and your car. Money from the day goes to the Essex Air Ambulance Contact Scott to book your place see Page 8 for details.
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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
Monday 14th March
TBA
Monday 11th April
Education Officer at Chelmsford Cats Protection talking about the work of the charity.
Speaker
Roger Jeavons
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 James Harold
Siver End
Dawn Ramsey
Dunmow
Andrew Middleton
Writtle
Bradley Boreham
Broomfield
Tony Piercy
Goldhanger
Dan Rabbit
Great Baddow
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
1063
Christine Bhatt
15th December
Graham Robson
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.
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From the Chairman Firstly I would like to announce the winner of the competition launched in the last magazine to design marketing material for the soon to be launched refer a friend scheme. The committee agreed that a John Stone's submission was the best so a bottle of bubbly will be presented at the February group night. Secondly I am sad to report a reformatting of the groups newsletter. Currently the cost of printing and distributing the publication exceeds income from membership. Admittedly the group's accounts are healthy but this model is unsustainable for the long term. Currently the group writes off around ÂŁ1,800 per year. An attempt has been made to circulate the issue electronically but this has not been embraced by the membership. It was therefore agreed at our last committee meeting to lessen the quantity of publications annually. So from June of this year the magazine will now be a quarterly (rather than every two months). I hope you can understand the reason this decision was made and not be too disappointed. On the subject of the magazine although his job has been made easier I would like to thank Terry Joyce who works, and has worked tirelessly over the years producing such a high quality mag. This work is on top of loads of other things he does for the group "thanks Terry".
Regards Steve Wright Group Chair
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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.
See page 12 to find out more about the picture on the front cover. 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.
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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01245 468912 scott.bannister@iamchelmsford.org.uk
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A Bird’s Eye View Well, Christmas is all but forgotten and finally the rain has stopped for a few hours so we can all go for a walk – yes, really, it’s much easier to keep out the cold than it is the rain! If you’re a regular reader of this nonsense, you’ll know that we have had one or two scares in the recent past (the last one cost someone about £3,000) and I for one have been a bit rattled, so we’ve had a dash-cam fitted. We decided that this was not the sort of thing we wanted to do ourselves – I stopped adding things to cars a long while ago – so we bought it from that well-known car part and bike store on the Chelmer Village Retail Park and paid them to fit it. It only took half an hour and they’ve done a really neat job so I can recommend them. I’m also a fan of the dashcam, which sits quietly high up on the windscreen and as it’s facing the passenger rather than the driver, it doesn’t distract whoever’s driving. No doubt all new cars will have cameras factory fitted before long but in the meantime, I’m glad we took the plunge.
Happy New Year Everybody, 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
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Dash Cams Dashboard Cameras have been around for a while now, but after reading Sue Sweetland’s Bird’s Eye View I thought I would do a little research and write about them. During my research I came across an article on how one man saved himself a lot of money because he had one fitted. See Page 16. This is the camera Sue has had fitted to her car. It is one of the Nextbase range. In a survey by Nextbase, six in ten said they would fit a camera if it entitled them to a discount on their insurance. There are a number of insurance companies now offering discounts if you have a camera fitted. One company is the insurance brokers Adrian Flux. I insure my car through them as they recognize both the IAM and RoSPA advanced driving tests. Adrian Flux issue a list of approved cameras. There are 54 cameras on that list. So if you want one, what camera should you buy? Please don’t ask me because I keep looking and can’t make up my mind as I want to use it as a training aid as well as for peace of mind should anything occur. The cameras have a wide angle lens which I’m not sure will be good for training purposes although I was impressed with the quality of Sue’s dash-cam even though I viewed it at night. I have looked the various prices asked for these cameras and they vary dramatically. I found this one on Ebay which says that it is full HD 1080 quality for under £10 and other cameras several hundreds of pounds. There are a number of issues relating to dash-cams, below are some quotes from representatives of various companies that explain some of them. Gemma Stanbury, head of car insurance at Confused.com, adds that insurers may view dash-cams in the same way as telematics or black box devices, which record the likes of speed, braking and cornering. "If a customer is willing to have their driving recorded, then it demonstrates to an insurer they regard themselves as a more accomplished driver," she says. "But there are lots of dash-cams available, with varied picture quality, and the insurers who are now offering discounts will only do so based on the higher-quality, and therefore more expensive, cameras." Continued on Page 11
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Dash-Cams continued
Ian Crowder is a spokesperson for the AA motoring organisation. He says: "I think other insurers will be looking for demonstrable claims experience improvements through their use before offering discounts. "Another issue is that the camera can be switched on or off by the user and while it might well prove fault of a third party, a camera could equally demonstrate your own driving transgressions." Geoff Rolls a psychologist from the University of Southampton. He says: "Traffic accidents happen so quickly and cause such stress that it's highly likely the recollections of the people involved will be sketchy, even without taking into account the fact that people naturally interpret things to their own advantage. "Dash-cams provide a solution to this problem, and can even discourage dangerous or inconsiderate driving by making motorists accountable for their actions." So why invest in a dash-cam? Here are some reasons. Supporting evidence in the unfortunate event of a collision and help protect valuable no claims bonus. Protects the driver against potentially fraudulent claims, particularly costly personal injury claims, making the driver’s insurer less likely to have to pay out in such circumstances. Report irresponsible drivers/road rage. Protection for your vehicle whilst it is parked. Record your driving performance, monitor your fleet vehicles, record road trips and holidays, share fun or unlikely events with your friends and family.
Key features to look for. Integrated GPS allows you to track your position wherever you go. Record your location, speed and direction and display the recorded information in Google Maps when you playback the video. Bright lens, The lower the 'f number' of the lens, e.g. f1.8, the more light can be let in resulting in brighter videos - ideal in low light situations
Integrated microphone allows you to record audio inside your vehicle G-sensor, this records direction and force, including impact, turns and acceleration. Helps you to 'tag' accidents so you can retrieve the information from the hard-drive at a later stage. Wide angle lens, the wider the angle of view, e.g. 130°, the more of the scene in front of you the camera will be able to capture. Auto-start, the camera will start recording as soon as you switch on the ignition Photo Mode, This gives you the option to capture still images as well as video, which could be very useful in an accident or incident in the road Revolving mounting cradle, Position the video camera in any direction Auto-overwrite, If the memory is full, the camera will automatically over-write footage that you no longer need, if you select this option. Please let me know if you have a camera and how it works. Inspired by Sue, taken from various internet sources edited by Terry Joyce Page 11
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Roadcraft Chapter 7 covers Maintaining vehicle stability. This is something we are keen to do as failure is likely to be very expensive.
Lets start with Rule 119 in the Highway Code Skidding is usually caused by the driver braking, accelerating or steering too harshly or driving too fast for the road conditions. If skidding occurs, remove the cause by releasing the brake pedal fully or easing off the accelerator. Turn the steering wheel in the direction of the skid. For example, if the rear of the vehicle skids to the right, steer immediately to the right to recover. Our speaker at the January Group Night Eunan Macguiness gave us a few insights into the technology on modern cars that can help with this and showed us what might happen if we get it wrong. Like me Eunan is an advocate of ‘winter tyres’. He so rightly pointed out that our tyres and their condition are an extremely important safety feature on the car. Just a reminder of the wording concerning tyre tread. The legal limit for minimum depth of the tread on your tyres is 1.6 millimetres, across the central three quarters of the tread around the complete circumference of the tyre. My opinion and that of a lot of other people backed up by tests is that 1.6mm is too low to let the tread go down to as the braking distances deteriorate significantly below 3mm. The picture on the front cover is a Bosch ESP unit, which is fitted to most modern cars. The link below will take you to a video about Bosch ESP system. Shown on a right hand drive motorway but I think that you will get the idea. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2uXzp2HzKg Electronic Stability Program units were originally fitted to the very high end cars but are now found on the smallest of modern cars. Although it is good to have this system on our cars the first line of skid avoidance is us, the driver. As you can see from the wording in rule 119 it is our input that causes skids. If you have any type of electronic stability system on your car Roadcraft states with rapid changes in technology, it is vital that you refer to the manufacturers handbook to know which safety features are fitted to your vehicle and what effect they will have on the vehicle. For instance the first time you experience the ABS cutting in can be quite disturbing and there have been instances where drivers have stopped braking because they thought that there was something wrong with the brakes. Research has shown that safety systems can give some drivers a false sense of security, causing them to become over-dependant on these features and take more risks than they would in a vehicle without them.
Continued on Page 13
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Roadcraft continued
As advanced drivers we should be able to control our cars so that they do not skid but this becomes more difficult with deteriorating road and weather conditions. We seem to be getting far more very heavy rain which can produce flooding increasing the risk of aquaplaning, so we must minimise the risk by adjusting our driving to the road conditions. Like all other aspects of our driving Observation is the key, the more we see the more we are able to plan our drives.
How does a skid happen? A skid develops when one tyre or more loses normal grip on the road, causing an involuntary movement of the vehicle. This happens when the grip of tyres on the road becomes less than the force or forces acting on the vehicle. These forces act on your vehicle whenever you operate the controls– the brake, the accelerator, the clutch or the steering wheel. If you brake or accelerate while steering round a bend or corner, two forces are combined. There is only limited tyre grip available so if these forces become too powerful they break the grip of the tyres on the road. Remember the tyre grip trade-off. The diagram below shows how each of these forces affect the vehicle’s stability and reduce tyre grip. Never drive to the limits of the tyre grip available, always leave a safety margin to allow for the unforeseen and remember it takes much less force to break the grip of the tyres on a slippery road.
Manual said about the sign on page 12.
Talking of slippery road, I looked up what the Road Traffic
The slippery road sign, is intended for use where the danger of vehicles skidding is greater than normal. The distance plate may be used with this sign. The degree of danger cannot be precisely defined as this depends upon skid resistance value, speed of traffic and the degree of superelevation on bends. It is for the traffic authority to judge whether overall conditions are sufficiently sub-standard that special warning is necessary. Detailed guidance can be found in HD 28 Skidding Resistance in Volume 7 of the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (see para 1.3). Care must be taken not to over-use the sign, or its credibility will be undermined. Remedial works to improve the skidding resistance of the road surface or to improve drainage should be undertaken as soon as practicable and the signs removed on completion of the works.
More on chapter 7 next time. Read Roadcraft for the full information Excerpts from Roadcraft and comments by Terry Joyce Page 13
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Dates for 2016 Monday 14th March
Group Night
Tuesday 22nd March
Committee Meeting
Sunday 10th April
Driver Experience Day
TBA
Monday 11th April
Education Officer at Chelmsford Cats Protection talking about the work of the charity, the site at Roger Jeavons Chelmsford & cats in general. He will be showing a short film & will have some items for sale.
Monday 9th May
Casualty Reduction Manager of Essex Police highlights the work of Roads Policing in the force providing an overview of road safety & road crime activity.
Tuesday 17th May
Committee Meeting
Monday 13th June
Tony Carter (road traffic cases & legal matters as a result of injury) & Andy Grant (wills, probate & LPS's) from MW Solicitors (speakers from 2015) return to talk more about their work & come along to answers any questions members might have.
Monday 11th July
Group Night
Tuesday 19th July
Committee Meeting
Monday 8th August
Tony Carter Andy Grant
Site & Operations Manager of Stow Maries Great War Aerodrome talks about wildlife. He will show Russell Savory, slides & a film & discuss how he captures the various images.
Monday 12th September
Group Night
Tuesday 20th September
Committee Meeting
Sunday 2nd October
Driver Experience Day
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Adam Pipe
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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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The Dashcam that saved a motorist £750 For several years now, Adrian Flux have been offering discounts of up to 15 per cent for anyone who fits an approved dashcam to their car. And this story of a Flux customer who did just that shows exactly why. See https://www.adrianflux.co.uk/dash-cam-insurance/ for more information. One of the chief reasons has always been that evidence from a dashcam can be used to prove who is at fault in a claim, helping both innocent motorists and their insurers save money on loss of no claims bonus and claims payments respectively. So when Kent motorist Linden Ellis was clipped by another motorist, who denied liability, he – and his insurers – were able to fall back on dash-cam footage to prove he was not at fault. The £16 dashcam saved Mr Ellis up to £750 on his car insurance renewal premium after the claim was settled in his favour. Sales of dashcams, small video cameras that record the road ahead, have grown by more than 900 per cent in the past year after insurance companies confirmed video evidence could be used to help settle claims. Mr Ellis, a security services manager from Chatham, has reaped significant benefits from fitting a camera to his Vauxhall Vectra earlier this year after watching a TV programme about the devices. Mr Ellis was driving in Maidstone town centre when a van cut across him, clipping and damaging the front of his car. “He said it was not his fault, and without the video evidence it was his word against mine so it would have been almost impossible to prove,” he said. “The camera has been a godsend – it’s not a lot of money to spent so you can’t really go wrong. “It’s saved me hundreds of pounds, so I wouldn’t be without it and think it makes sense for everyone to have one.” Without the footage, Mr Ellis would have lost two years’ no claims bonus, potentially adding up to £750 to the cost of his renewal premium. Adrian Flux Insurance Services, which handled the claim for Mr Ellis, was the first broker in the country to recognise the benefits of dash-cams, providing discounts of up to 15 per cent on approved cameras back in 2012. General manager Gerry Bucke said Mr Ellis’s case highlighted the value to motorists and insurers of the cameras, which are also playing a part in reducing fraudulent claims. “This may have only been a fairly minor accident, but losing your no claims bonus unjustly can have a huge and unfair effect on premiums,” he added. See the video https://youtu.be/zlekdYA-sq8
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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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Penalty Points Holders Not Banned Three drivers with more than 40 points on their driving licences are still allowed on the road, according to a Freedom of Information request to the DVLA by the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM). The enquiry also found that 13 people in Britain currently have 28 or more points on their driving licence, the worst of those amassing 51 points. In addition, the numbers of drivers with 12 or more points has gone up by 9% in just seven months between March and October 2015 – from 6,884 to 7,517 (reference 1). While the DVLA does not hold details as to whether all of those individuals were still on the road, it did state that individual courts have the powers to choose not to disqualify a driver. In its reply to the IAM’s request, the DVLA said: “In a small percentage of cases where the driver has accumulated 12 or more penalty points, the agency understands that a court can exercise its discretion and not disqualify the driver. “In the majority of these cases, magistrates may have decided to allow drivers to retain their entitlement to drive where it is considered that disqualification would cause exceptional hardship,” it added. The location of drivers with 28 points or more across Britain by postcode district is as follows:
Points
Location
Points
Location
51 42
Oxford Liverpool
30 30
Sheffield Southend-on-Sea
42 39 38 33 33
Basildon Wigan Burnley Northampton SW London
30 30 29 28
Slough Cambridge Peterborough Stevenage
Continued on Page 19
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Penalty Point Holders Not Banned continued
Separately the IAM has looked into the ‘top five’ and has discovered the following: 51 points holder (Oxford): provisional licence holder, three speeding offences in 30mph zone, seven offences of not providing driver details. Not disqualified. 42 points holder (Basildon): seven offences, all of which were for failing to report driver details. Previously held points for speeding including one at 109mph. Not disqualified from driving as magistrates accepted mitigating circumstances including ‘extreme hardship’ through loss of income. Not disqualified. 42 points holder (Liverpool): currently seven counts on record, including two of speeding in 30mph areas and five of not reporting driver of vehicle. Not disqualified. 39 points holder (Wigan): 13 counts of exceeding the speed limit for a goods vehicle. Not known if this driver has been disqualified. 38 points holder (Burnley): 10 counts of speeding in 30mph areas. Not disqualified. DVLA data shows that of the 45 million driving licence holders in Britain, three million have points on their licence. Some 100,000 have been disqualified over the past four years for reaching 12 points and four per cent got all their points in one go. The DVLA also says their evidence suggests 90% of drivers not disqualified are due to ‘judicial discretion’. Sarah Sillars, IAM chief executive officer, said: “The IAM has been highlighting this issue for several years now and we appreciate that the flow of information between the DVLA and the courts is slowly improving, which will allow the courts to make better decisions while armed with the full facts. “However these improvements cannot come quickly enough to deliver a truly joinedup approach to the judicial process. Individual courts making decision on prosecutions can lead to inconsistency in how the law is applied which risks devaluing the simple ‘12 points and you’re out’ road safety message. If the public sees that persistent offenders are getting away with it, they may believe that road traffic rules – which let not us not forget, are designed for their safety – are ineffective or unimportant.” See the article here: http://bit.ly/1mHOit8
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Speed Limits Several years ago the present government floated the idea of speed limits being raised on motorways. The idea was fairly rapidly dropped after some hostility in the press but it has been raised again in the latest IAM survey. So it seems an appropriate time to re-consider the implications of such a move.
When I was first introduced to the idea of motoring in the mid nineteen forties it was still something that could be done for pleasure. When we had enough petrol coupons and it was a fine summer’s day we would take a picnic and my grandfather would drive us into the country where we would stop by the side of the road for a time before returning home; the drive itself was all part of the pleasure. Today, driving is purely functional and its purpose is to get from A to B in the minimum safe and legal time and the only pleasure to be had driving is on track days, 4x4 days or similar off-road activities. One way to get from A to B faster is to raise the speed. All modern cars are designed for speeds well in excess of the national speed limit so this is not generally a limiting factor and their safety is entirely down to the capability of the driver. If the speed limit is to be raised it has to be done in a manner that does not compromise safety. I suggest that this would require changes in four main areas and many of these changes would be controversial. The Vehicle A motor vehicle is at its inherent safest at about 1000 miles from new. At this age the tyres will be run-in and achieving maximum grip and the vehicle will have had its first inspection to correct any minor faults. Because of the higher speeds a regime will be required to keep it in this condition throughout its life. The current MOT test would have to be upgraded and become more intrusive allowing the inspectors to dismantle components if they think it appropriate, tyres would have to be changed sooner, possibly adopting the German rules, and it may be necessary to change some components on a time or mileage basis similar to the rules for aircraft components. These changes would increase the cost of motoring considerably. The Driver No driver on the roads today who is younger than 67 will have driven without the national speed limit being in force. In 1965 few cars had a top speed (not cruising speed) above about 85 mph so the number of drivers who now have experience of driving at high speed is very small and in any case they will be long out of practice. To bring drivers up to an appropriate standard would require a massive reeducation effort the implementation of which would be a tougher driving test and Continued on Page 21
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Speed Limits continued
re-testing of drivers at periodic intervals. A suitable regime might be a three stage practical driving test taken at one year intervals for beginners, then every ten years until the age of 65 or 70 when it would reduce to 3 years, the current interval for renewing licences. Clearly the cost of all this testing and possible training would have to be borne by the driver – another motoring expense. My estimate is that around 15 or 20% of drivers would not be able to pass these enhanced tests, either because of age or aptitude, irrespective of how much training they were given. Medical Currently, the medical requirements for driving are particularly lax. The eyesight requirement was introduced at a time when speeds were generally much slower than the current national limits, this needs to be tightened not only in terms of distance but also peripheral vision and possibly some eye diseases. The drink drive alcohol level would be considerably reduced, we would need to find a reliable and easy method of testing for recreational drugs and some classes of prescription medications would have to carry a driving ban during the days they were being consumed. These restrictions would generally affect older drivers the most, which would create some displeasure among pensioners and could be difficult for a government as these are the people who vote. Roads The original design parameter for the M1 motorway was for speeds well in excess of the present 70 mph although the design speeds were reduced for the later motorways. Nevertheless, these roads will be able to cope with much increased speeds without modification. However, the way they are used will have to change. At present the closing speed on a truck is 14 MPH if everyone is travelling at the legal limits. If speed limits are increased this closing speed will double or perhaps treble and to mitigate the dangers there will have to be restrictions on the use of the outer lanes by heavy goods vehicles possibly limiting them to only two lanes of a four lane motorway. This would not be popular with the Freight Transport Association. It would also be sensible to employ the French approach and reduce the speed limits when the weather conditions are other than good. With more miles of smart motorway this would be easy to manage. The above comments are only an outline of what would have to be done to safely raise the national speed limit. Such proposals would obviously create opposition from lobby groups like the FTS (qv), charities like Brake and politicians from the Green party but with 45.5 million licence holders in this country all of whom need to get from A to B by car or bike at some time an increase in speed limits surely demands serious consideration By Chris Gardiner Page 21
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Issue 116
IAM Driving Tip This week’s tips from the IAM’s Director of Standards, Mark Lewis, are about driving with the correct lights on under different circumstances on the road. Read our latest tips to find out more. http://bit.ly/1zoPhxJ
1. Lots of cars now have dashboard warning lights to let you know of a bulb failure, however, you should still check your lights manually on a regular basis. If any bulbs need replacing, change them beforehand to reduce the risk of any road incidents taking place. 2. Use your full beam lights only when you’re driving on an unlit road and where there is no vehicle in sight ahead of you. However, remember to switch back to your dipped headlights to avoid dazzling other road users, including pedestrians and cyclists. 3. Dipped headlights can be used during any time of the day and should be switched on in poor weather conditions. Don’t rely on daytime running lights as the rear lights will not switch on with them – they are not sufficient in reduced visibility conditions. 4. If you cannot see beyond 100 metres switch on your fog lights. It’s illegal to drive with fog lights on in clear visibility so don’t forget to turn them off. 5. Hazard warning lights may be used when your vehicle is stationary to warn that it is temporarily obstructing traffic. However, don’t use them while you’re driving or being towed unless you are on a motorway or unrestricted dual carriageway and you need to warn drivers behind you of a hazard. Mark said: ‘It is so important to make sure you can see and be seen at all times, so keep all lights working correctly and use them when you need to’.
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Chelmsford Advanced Motorists
Issue 116
‘Road to Heaven’
Here are a couple of pictures from the Daily Mail A spectacular road in Chongqing, Southwest China.
See the article http://dailym.ai/2062XR2 Page 23
Chelmsford Advanced Motorists
Issue 116