Tips For Safer Driving

In 2007, annual road deaths fell to a record low. Nevertheless, 2943 people were killed on British roads which included 644 pedestrians, 588 motorcyclists, 136 pedal cyclists and 121 children under the age of 15 years representing an average of 10 children per month. The vast majority of all of these deaths attributed to simple human error.

Safe driving is much more than vehicle control skills. These may be excellent but you are still potentially unsafe. You need to think about what’s outside of the vehicle; you need to follow the mnemonic "A COAST" as seen here.

Simply expand each word by clicking on the sign for an explanation below.

 A

ttitude

Every vehicle is potentially a lethal weapon. What we do affects the safety not only of ourselves, our passengers but all road users to whom we have a duty of care. They have as much right to the road as us.

We need to adopt a positive attitude to our driving. Some drivers are less skilled than others so aim to anticipate their errors, then accept them and do not criticise when they get it wrong.

We must always be ready and prepared to alter our driving to take their errors into account.

 C

oncentration

To enable us to be ready for anything we need full concentration. When concentration lapses, the unexpected will happen.

At a road traffic accident, phrases such as, "The car came out of nowhere," or "The other car suddenly……" are commonplace ie. the person making the statement was simply not concentrating. Be aware, many things can affect our concentration eg. satellite navigation, a mobile phone, lack of sleep or medication. We may be angry or agitated about a previous encounter.

Any one of these can adversely affect our concentration so to remain safe, be focussed and concentrate all the time.

 O

bservation

Problems when driving arise from things you have not seen. Anything we have seen we are either dealing with at that time or will be shortly.

Aim to seek out as much information as possible from the near, middle and far distance ahead. Look to the left, the right and don’t forget the mirrors. Read every road sign and marking. Look for reflections in shop windows or on the side of parked vehicles to tell you something is coming towards you. In the country, use gaps in the hedgerow for a view of the road further ahead.

Unfortunately, many drivers see things but do not understand their real significance. To observe is to fully understand the meaning of that road sign, the reason for the brake lights on that other vehicle and why there are so many chevrons on that sign.

Why not try our Observation Assessment?

 A

nticipation

As mentioned in the section on "Attitude", other road users may make mistakes. They may not look before moving, they may not stop when they should so we need to anticipate these lapses.

But it is not just drivers who may get it wrong. Typical examples are passing a school in the early morning or late afternoon when we can anticipate children stepping out in front of us or passing a pub towards closing time when a drunk may stagger into the road.

Alternatively, with two groups of pedestrians walking towards each other one person may step into the road without looking.

The only safe assumption to make is that all road users may get it wrong but with good anticipation, you will respond beforehand, not react afterwards.

 S

pace

Most drivers rarely leave sufficient space between themselves and the vehicle in front, which in good dry road conditions should be at least a 2 seconds gap. Double this figure in the wet to 4 seconds and if you are caught out in snow and ice, at least 20 seconds. Why so much space with modern brakes and ABS to help us?

Firstly, ABS will not necessarily help you to stop quicker, just steer whilst braking.

Secondly, we need to consider the distance we will travel in the time it takes us to react before we even start to brake. The accepted figure is 0.7 seconds for somebody who is fit and healthy which means that at 30mph you will travel 9 metres (30 feet or about 2 car lengths) before you start to brake. At 70mph this will increase to 21 metres (70 feet or over 5 car lengths). Either way, if the vehicle in front was to have a blow out or do an emergency stop you will not be able to avoid hitting them if you haven’t left enough space.

 T

ime

If you have left sufficient space you will have sufficient time. This means time to see, time to think, time to respond and time to stop. If we collide with the rear of another vehicle it is because we have run out of space and time.

This will always be our fault, not the driver in front no matter how stupid you think their actions were.

Do you want to be a safer driver?

The above gives some basic advice but to become much safer than the average driver, why not join our group? An interesting fact is that 98% of drivers consider themselves to be above average!

Now you can actually prove it by preparing for and taking the Advanced Test with help from our team of Observers and avoid becoming just another statistic!