This is the 3rd in our series of tips from Stephen Haley, author of ‘Mind Driving - New Skills for Staying Alive on the Road’.

Choosing a safe speed is a driver’s responsibility, and cannot be delegated to a speed limit.

Most crashes happen at legal speeds, so ‘legal’ is often too fast. Speed limits might give the illusion of safety, but they do not give permission to ignore the circumstances.

Obeying speed limits is not a real skill, but properly assessing danger definitely is.

This is the 2nd in our series of tips from Stephen Haley, author of ‘Mind Driving - New Skills for Staying Alive on the Road’.

Staying safe is about how much control you have over what happens to you.

A threat is created if what happens to you is significantly in the hands of someone (or something) else, and a good question is always, “How much control are you happy to surrender to others (or to chance)?”

Reducing risk involves maximising control over how events unfold for you, and not giving it up needlessly.

This is the first of a series of tips, or rather thought-provoking statements, from Stephen Haley, celebrated author of ‘Mind Driving - New Skills for Staying Alive on the Road’, which will be published here over the next few days.

“You are part of every hazard you meet and this is what gives you control over the outcome“.

This statement involves a more involved approach to hazards, rather than seeing them as just ‘out there’. It encourages drivers to actively predict and prevent danger, rather than react to it.

It is a more realistic and constructive view which also promotes a higher sense of responsibility and being in control. It explains too how a poor driver will be part of worse hazards than a good one in the same situation.

Highway Code rule 244 (rule 218 in previous version of HC):

DO NOT park partially or wholly on the pavement unless signs permit it.  Parking on the pavement can obstruct and seriously inconvenience pedestrians, people in wheelchairs, the visually impaired and people with prams or pushchairs.

Clearly the driver of this vehicle gave no thought to the inconvenience to pedestrians, let alone the danger of sending them into the road so close to a ‘closed’ junction!

Do you have a particular pet hate?  Tailgating?  Poor signalling?  If so we would love to hear from you.  Email us and tell us all about it, and any notable incidents you would like to relate.  Perhaps you have your own tips you would like to share for dealing with the issue or for some of the topics already posted here?  We would love to hear from you as it is important we all learn from each other.  Your contribution, with your permission, will then be posted on the site.  Please use the contact form or any of the contact methods listed on the contacts page.  Thank you.

This was the front page headline in today’s EDP (Eastern Daily Press), warning readers that it has emerged drivers are 3 times more likely to be killed in a rural area than in a city.  This is no surprise to those of us in road safety, having been aware for a long time that the highest casualty rate is on rural roads (the lowest on motorways, which sort of puts paid to the ’speed kills’ argument!).  Naturally speed is quoted in the article, which is correct when you consider many of these crashes are single vehicle, the driver losing control on a bend, or perhaps as a result of skidding on mud, but the speed may not necessarily have been above the posted legal limit: many crashes on rural roads are due to the driver being unaware that his speed, which may be significantly below the speed limit, is still too fast for the conditions.  Stephen Haley, in ‘Mind Driving’, Skill 7, Risk Assessment and Control, clearly explains the difference in ability to stop in time in single track space, between meeting a stationary object around a slight bend, and meeting a moving object coming towards you, both of you using the standard stopping distance rule: the result of the 2nd is catastrophic!  Where space is limited to one vehicle, a driver’s speed should be significantly reduced on approach to a bend, no matter how slight, to account for all the possibilities, all the what ifs?:

• What if I meet another vehicle coming towards me and using all the available space?  Is a horn warning appropriate here (think horses!)?
• What if there is a large, slow-moving vehicle just around this next bend, could I stop in time?
• 
• What if I meet a horse and rider? (Are there any clues, eg fresh horse manure on the road?)
• What if I meet people walking, maybe with dogs?
• What if a deer, or other animal ran in front of me now?  (Visually scan the area around as you may catch a glimpse of such animals before they appear on the road)
• What if I hit a patch of mud, or grease, when I need to stop for another road user?
• What if I meet a group of cyclists?

In the countryside the list goes on!  Deceptively beautiful and quiet but holding more dangers for the unsuspecting driver than the busiest town centre or motorway!

Enjoy your drive along the lanes of this beautiful countryside of ours, but don’t be lulled into a false sense of security.  Take CARE!

With the summer we never had now behind us, it’s time to make all those necessary vehicle maintenance checks so you are prepared for the winter:

• antifreeze
• oil
• screenwash with antifreeze
• tyres: minimum legal tread depth is 1.6mm but caremotoring recommends at least 2mm
• washers and wipers
• lights (already there seem to be quite a lot of vehicles with one headlight out, and this is illegal)

If you have front fog or spotlights on your vehicle, please remember it is illegal to use these when visibility is greater than 100 metres so they should NOT be used at night to give you extra light, or because you think they look nice, because they dazzle other drivers and so can be potentially dangerous.  The same applies to rear fog lights, so do check you have not left these, or the front ones, set to ‘on’ inadvertantly.

Brake lights too, make sure they are all working, and be aware that these are also intensive lights: they act as a warning to following drivers, and can help warn of your presence when waiting to turn right.  However, if you use them whilst stationary at red traffic lights, these are dazzling to the driver behind, especially as most cars now have a brake light strip above the rear window, just the right position to shine right in the eyes of the driver behind!  Caremotorists show consideration to other drivers, and this is one such example - please apply your handbrake when waiting at red lights, and release the footbrake.

Before setting off, especially first thing in the morning if your car has not been garaged, ensure all windows are clear: remove moisture which has misted over and never drive with just a ‘peep-hole’ through iced-up windscreen!  And don’t forget to clear side mirrors, lights and number plates too - easily forgotten in the morning rush unless you make this a habit.

Speed limit signs are there to tell drivers the maximum permitted speed on that stretch of road, where conditions allow. The national speed limit sign does not mean it is safe to do 60mph if you are driving a car - how many roads can you name with the national speed limit where it would be total folly to drive at 60? So remember, when you leave a 30 limit, and enter the national speed limit, it simply means you are no longer restricted by law to 30mph, it does not mean it is now safe to do 60!

In order to maintain a safe gap with the vehicle ahead, choose a stationary object on the side of the road, eg a traffic sign, and count 2 seconds from the moment the car ahead passes the object - saying the sentence above, at a steady pace, will take 2 seconds. If you pass the same object before you finish the sentence, you’re too close. And if someone is ‘tailgating’ you, increasing the gap ahead puts you in control by allowing you greater braking time should the need arise.

In order to see further ahead, and so plan your actions earlier, think of your car windscreen as “upside-down” traffic lights, so that the upper part of your windscreen (immediately below the view of the sky) is green, and is where you should be looking most of the time. Move your eyes from side to side, coming forward to “amber”, then into your rear and side mirrors, then back to “green”. Use the “red” area for slow speed, tight manoeuvring only. Train yourself to use the “green” area (most people use the “amber”) on bends and around roundabouts – you’ll be surprised how much more you’ll see!