Has IAM Roadsmart given up on advanced training?
Posted: Thu May 12, 2022 10:56 am
I encourage you to listen to this BBC podcast – it’s fascinating and thought-provoking. But the IAM’s representative (Neil Greig) accepts Vision Zero's removal of individual responsibility from the safety equation, focusing on “systems” managed by the authorities instead:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000yknw
It implies IAM Roadsmart is happy to talk itself out of business (the business of advanced motoring). This IAM position would be highly controversial with many of its members! So, how does the IAM form and agree on policy positions?
And while the podcast made me more sympathetic to Vision Zion’s approach, I feel it would be a mistake to give up on all attempts to improve driver behaviour. For example, fleet training had a highly positive impact on many of my colleagues and reduced the company’s accident rate. Yet Vision Zero’s approach assumes behaviour change never works – removing responsibility from individual road users and handing all responsibility to the authorities.
One Vision Zero consequence is imperative to “manage kinetic energy”. So, cars can’t travel at speeds that could kill vulnerable road users (cyclists, pedestrians, etc.) unprotected by crumple zones. Hence 20 mph limits where cars share the road with cyclists. But nobody – not even the IAM’s Neil Greig – mentioned motorcyclists and scooter riders once in the podcast. What about powered two-wheelers?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000yknw
It implies IAM Roadsmart is happy to talk itself out of business (the business of advanced motoring). This IAM position would be highly controversial with many of its members! So, how does the IAM form and agree on policy positions?
And while the podcast made me more sympathetic to Vision Zion’s approach, I feel it would be a mistake to give up on all attempts to improve driver behaviour. For example, fleet training had a highly positive impact on many of my colleagues and reduced the company’s accident rate. Yet Vision Zero’s approach assumes behaviour change never works – removing responsibility from individual road users and handing all responsibility to the authorities.
One Vision Zero consequence is imperative to “manage kinetic energy”. So, cars can’t travel at speeds that could kill vulnerable road users (cyclists, pedestrians, etc.) unprotected by crumple zones. Hence 20 mph limits where cars share the road with cyclists. But nobody – not even the IAM’s Neil Greig – mentioned motorcyclists and scooter riders once in the podcast. What about powered two-wheelers?