Road Safety Week tips from IAM Roadsmart

Articles of interest to the AD community, currently in the news.
waremark
Posts: 898
Joined: Fri Oct 02, 2015 9:23 am

Road Safety Week tips from IAM Roadsmart

Postby waremark » Thu Nov 24, 2016 1:09 pm

I hope IAM will not mind me copying and pasting this section. Seems quite good to me. What do others think?

Slow down around schools and in residential areas. This may not be rocket science but it’s easily forgotten whilst rat running on the morning commute. If you want to be on time simply leave earlier. Remember we have speed limits, not targets, and in busy traffic ’20 is often plenty’.

Seatbelts are a must. If you are the driver it’s your duty to ensure all passengers are wearing their seatbelts. Passengers over 14 are responsible for their own seatbelts but it is you as the driver who will be stopped. Take charge and tell them all to ‘belt up’. With that in mind loose items in a car can become projectiles in a crash as can an unrestrained passenger. Keep your car tidy and store bags or tools in the boot.

Jumping red lights. We have all seen drivers, motorcyclists and cyclists do this but the traffic lights are there for all of our safety. If they have been green for some time, plan for them to change and be ready to stop.

Keep to the speed limit. Rushing from junction to junction or hold up to hold up is often counterproductive. Why ‘hurry up to wait’? A 50 mile journey at 80mph will save you at most six minutes compared to the same distance at 70mph. Is it worth the stress and the extra fuel?

The dangers of hand-held mobile phones are well known but taking or making calls by Bluetooth can be just as distracting. Switching the phone off when you get behind the wheel allows you to concentrate fully on perfecting your driving skills. (Well, I think we already know who is on which side about that one!)

Dazzle from low sun is a factor in more crashes than dazzle from headlights. Keep your windscreen clean and don’t put those sunglasses away just yet.

It is legal for motorcyclists to filter through traffic so give them space and never try to deliberately block them. Check carefully before changing lanes.

Richard (Gladman, Head of Driving and Riding Standards) said: “Most delays on our main roads are caused by accidents and breakdowns. Prevention is so much easier than cure. Check the car over before your journey, keep your distance, manage your speed and we can all have an incident-free week, year and lifetime.”

User avatar
GTR1400MAN
Posts: 2209
Joined: Fri Apr 29, 2016 12:23 pm

Re: Road Safety Week tips from IAM Roadsmart

Postby GTR1400MAN » Thu Nov 24, 2016 1:35 pm

Yep, all good points.
Mike Roberts - Now riding a Triumph Explorer XRT. My username comes from my 50K miles on a Kawasaki 1400GTR, after many years on Hondas of various shapes and styles. - https://tinyurl.com/mikerobertsonyoutube

martine
Posts: 1016
Joined: Mon Sep 28, 2015 8:26 am
Location: Bristol
Contact:

Re: Road Safety Week tips from IAM Roadsmart

Postby martine » Thu Nov 24, 2016 1:58 pm

Don't like the emphasis on speed.

How about any/all of these:
  • Brush-up your driving skills and learn modern driving techniques
  • Don't rely on what you learnt when you were 17/18 - update your skills
  • Think you're a good driver? Most people do but there is so much more to good driving than you may realise
  • Learn from mistakes - we can all be better drivers
  • Take responsibility in your driving - don't blame others
  • Sharpen your driving and you might look forward to that next journey
  • Keep space in front - 2 seconds or more, is less stressful, smoother and safer

You get the idea.
Martin - Bristol Advanced Motorists: IMI National Observer, Group Secretary, Masters (dist), DSA: ADI, Fleet, RoSPA (Dip)

User avatar
Horse
Posts: 3557
Joined: Mon Sep 28, 2015 9:20 am

Re: Road Safety Week tips from IAM Roadsmart

Postby Horse » Thu Nov 24, 2016 3:33 pm

waremark wrote: Slow down around schools and in residential areas.


There's a potential rat run on my daily commute. I actually choose not to us it during school drop-off time.
Your 'standard' is how you drive alone, not how you drive during a test.

Gareth
Posts: 980
Joined: Mon Sep 28, 2015 2:44 pm
Location: Berkshire
Contact:

Re: Road Safety Week tips from IAM Roadsmart

Postby Gareth » Thu Nov 24, 2016 5:13 pm

waremark wrote:Dazzle from low sun is a factor in more crashes than dazzle from headlights. Keep your windscreen clean and don’t put those sunglasses away just yet.

I'm less certain about this one. Yes, dazzle is a big hazard but I'm not convinced sunglasses are the answer unless you're willing to repeatedly take them off / put them on as light conditions change.
there is only the road, nothing but the road ...

User avatar
Horse
Posts: 3557
Joined: Mon Sep 28, 2015 9:20 am

Re: Road Safety Week tips from IAM Roadsmart

Postby Horse » Thu Nov 24, 2016 6:03 pm

Sunglasses darken everything. Using the sun visor, however, allows detail to be seen.

If the sun is so low that the visor isn't low enough, then slow down or - this is radical, perhaps - stop :)
Your 'standard' is how you drive alone, not how you drive during a test.

User avatar
GTR1400MAN
Posts: 2209
Joined: Fri Apr 29, 2016 12:23 pm

Re: Road Safety Week tips from IAM Roadsmart

Postby GTR1400MAN » Thu Nov 24, 2016 6:28 pm

Or flip down my fighter pilot style dark visor inside my crash helmet :)
Mike Roberts - Now riding a Triumph Explorer XRT. My username comes from my 50K miles on a Kawasaki 1400GTR, after many years on Hondas of various shapes and styles. - https://tinyurl.com/mikerobertsonyoutube

fungus
Posts: 439
Joined: Sun Dec 13, 2015 5:26 pm
Location: Dorset

Re: Road Safety Week tips from IAM Roadsmart

Postby fungus » Thu Nov 24, 2016 7:10 pm

martine wrote:Don't like the emphasis on speed.

How about any/all of these:
  • Brush-up your driving skills and learn modern driving techniques
  • Don't rely on what you learnt when you were 17/18 - update your skills
  • Think you're a good driver? Most people do but there is so much more to good driving than you may realise
  • Learn from mistakes - we can all be better drivers
  • Take responsibility in your driving - don't blame others
  • Sharpen your driving and you might look forward to that next journey
  • Keep space in front - 2 seconds or more, is less stressful, smoother and safer

You get the idea.


+1

It's a bit like the advice posted up in the services of the M6 Toll. Keep to 70 or you might not live to 70. :roll:

I personally prefer to keep a gap of about three seconds as it gives a much better extended view ahead.

I find that low sun is in many ways worse than headlights, appart from some of the very white zenons.

Nigel.

User avatar
Horse
Posts: 3557
Joined: Mon Sep 28, 2015 9:20 am

Re: Road Safety Week tips from IAM Roadsmart

Postby Horse » Thu Nov 24, 2016 10:34 pm

GTR1400MAN wrote:Or flip down my fighter pilot style dark visor inside my crash helmet :)


My BMW lid has a flip-down sun visor - and a strip of tape slong the top of the clear visor. The latter is more use in low sun.
Your 'standard' is how you drive alone, not how you drive during a test.

User avatar
GTR1400MAN
Posts: 2209
Joined: Fri Apr 29, 2016 12:23 pm

Re: Road Safety Week tips from IAM Roadsmart

Postby GTR1400MAN » Fri Nov 25, 2016 1:43 am

I know some riders find the tape strip useful. I find the top of the eye port on my Schuberth is just at the right height if I dip my head slightly to get the same effect.
Mike Roberts - Now riding a Triumph Explorer XRT. My username comes from my 50K miles on a Kawasaki 1400GTR, after many years on Hondas of various shapes and styles. - https://tinyurl.com/mikerobertsonyoutube


Return to “In The News”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 19 guests