CHAIRMAN, Paul Burchell and Committee Member, John Rhodes, attended today’s award ceremony at County Hall in Bedford to see Bedfordshire County Council presented with a prestigious Prince Michael International Road Safety Award for their ‘Respect For Life’ course in conjunction with Bedford and District Driving Instructors Association.

Paul and John with Bill Brady, Head of the Road Risk Advisory Unit.

Bedfordshire County Council also won the award for their ‘Passport for Life’ scheme, teaching road safety to young school children, and their School Crossing Patrol Scheme.

YOUNG drivers are going to be given the green light for safer driving when they sign up to a new Staffordshire County Council initiative.

The Young Driver Programme, which was launched this week, involves having high-tech equipment fitted into a learner driver’s car to monitor how well they drive.

The black box records acceleration, cornering and other driver behaviours – giving instant feedback on a dashboard warning light system – and feeding into a computer record back home.

The Road Safety Unit at Staffordshire County Council has developed the programme which sees the unit, driving instructors, the novice driver and their parent or guardian working together.

By looking at their driving patterns with their families and road safety trainers, young drivers can learn about how to improve and develop their driving skills.

“Over 40 per cent of those killed and seriously injured on Staffordshire’s roads are aged 17 to 25 – but they are only 10 per cent of the population,” she said.

“That’s why this and wider young people’s safety campaigns are so important.”

Source: Tamworth Herald website

The black box electronic wizardry has won a Prince Michael International Road Safety Award.

UNDER-17s are being given a chance to get behind the wheel in a sponsored six day course at the Royal showground at Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire, from 25th October.

The Pathfinder course aims to introduce youngsters to the essential driving skills and knowledge needed to enjoy a safe driving career. It is open to 15 and 16 year olds and 50 youngsters will be taking part, each with a parent.

Students will drive their own family’s car and need to be accompanied by a responsible adult. They will be given expert tuition from Pathfinder (an educational trust inspired and set up by custodians of the Under 17 Car Club), and AA Driving School instructors who will also be offering one-to-one tuition in Driving School cars.

Simon Douglas, director of AA Driving School, points to the success of the Under 17 Car Club in preparing young people for driving. “Nationally, one in five young people are involved in a crash during their first year of driving, compared with 1 in 12 of those who have gone through the Under 17 Car Club. In addition, the conviction rate for young men passing through the Club is 22.2 per 1,000, compared with 144 per 1,000 nationally.

“I have no doubt that the Pathfinder course will help youngsters start their driving career responsibly and equipped with advanced safe driving skills they will never forget.”

The venue

The private show grounds at Stoneleigh include extensive open areas criss-crossed by metalled roads. Traffic lights, roundabouts, one-way roads and manoeuvring areas are being set up to provide a simulated road network. Youngsters’ progress will be carefully monitored throughout the six days in a combination of theory and practical driving.

Pathfinder runs 25th-27th October and 30th October-1st November inclusive, 09.30-16.30 daily (except Thursday 27th when the day is extended to include driving after dark)

The course is the first event in a proposed programme that is expected to be rolled out throughout the UK.

The event is organised by U17 Drivers Pathfinder Limited, an educational trust set up by the custodians of the Under 17 Car Club, which has taught more than 3,000 11-16 year olds to drive
Sponsors are AA Driving School, Jaguar Land Rover and, leading the initiative, Warwickshire County Council

CLICK HERE for more details.

Source: Easier.Com motoring website

LEARNER drivers could be spared the ordeal of having to convince a driving examiner of their ability to reverse round a corner or parallel park, under plans being considered by the Tories.

Performing a three-point turn could also disappear from the test under the proposals.

Generations of learner drivers have failed because exam nerves have made them incapable of carrying out these manoeuvres.

Instead, under proposals drawn up by Robert Goodwill, the party’s roads spokesman, these routine tasks would be “signed off” by a qualified driving instructor before the test takes place.

Under the current arrangements, learner drivers have to perform two out of three of these manoeuvres successfully to pass the test.

The Tory proposal would entail all three being completed successfully, but before the test itself.

It would free up 10 minutes from the test itself, which would be dedicated to more time on the road in traffic.

The Tories believe that the young drivers who pose the greatest risk are to be found in the ranks of the overconfident novice motorists who sail through their test, rather than their nervous counterparts.

However the party believes that extra safeguards would be necessary to ensure that instructors do not “sign off” these skills prematurely.

One option would be for “mystery shoppers” to carry out spot-checks on driving schools to make sure that these manoeuvres are being properly assessed.

The Tory initiative comes as the Government is considering the biggest overhaul in the driving test in more than five decades.

Both parties believe an overhaul is necessary to ensure that novice drivers are better qualified to take to the road on their own.

It is estimated that around 300 drivers and passengers are killed by motorists who have passed their test within the previous two years.

Ministers’ plans entail splitting the test into two with the manoeuvres being carried out separately from the rest of the exam and expecting candidates to produce a certificate, signed by their instructor, of their readiness to be examined.

The Tory proposals were given a cautious welcome by Rob Gifford, executive director of the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety.

“I think this is fine,” he said. “It would enable examiners to focus the test on other key skills such as hazard awareness, journey planning an so on.

“This would be a much better use of time. However the only query I do have is whether it would mean that everyone would have to have some professional tuition.”

Source: Telegraph website, By David Millward, Transport Editor

Check out what the general public think about the proposals in this article on the Telegraph website!

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THE Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents has launched a major research study aimed at helping young drivers to stay safe when they are on the road as part of their job.

RoSPA’s Young Drivers at Work project is seeking the views of managers who employ 17-24-year-old drivers. It will lead to a better understanding of the safety issues involved in these employees getting behind the wheel for tasks such as making deliveries, going to meetings or travelling between sites.

A questionnaire for employers can be accessed at http://www.rospa.com/roadsafety/youngdriversatwork/index.htm until December.

Young drivers and work-related driving are two of today’s biggest road safety challenges. Figures show that young motorists are more at risk of being killed or injured on the roads than more experienced drivers. It is also estimated that one in three crashes involves a vehicle being driven for work. This means that every week about 200 deaths and serious injuries on Britain’s roads involve someone at work.

As part of RoSPA’s project, employers are being asked to compare the driving styles of young and more experienced drivers, including how they assess risks, route planning, fuel-efficiency and awareness of the danger of fatigue.

They are also being questioned about: any policies they have in place, such as a minimum age limit for drivers; how well the present system of learner driver training and testing prepares people to drive for work; and whether post-test driver training would be useful in the workplace.

The views of young drivers themselves will be sought in focus groups taking place during the project, which is being funded by the Department for Transport.

Duncan Vernon, RoSPA Road Safety Manager for England, said: “A range of factors put young drivers at particular risk, including their lack of experience, their weakness in identifying potential hazards and some attitudes, such as over-confidence.

“We also know that driving is one of the most dangerous things that any of us do during our working lives. Deadline pressures, unfamiliar routes and making frequent delivery stops can make driving for work very different to driving at other times and issues such as these are not covered during learner training.

“The Young Drivers at Work project will help us to find effective ways to prevent accidents involving young motorists. The findings will enable us to develop new road safety resources and they will also inform the Driving Standards Agency (DSA) as it develops strategies for post-test training for young drivers at work and lifelong driver development in general.”

RoSPA is working on the project in partnership with the DSA, Driving for Better Business, Buckinghamshire County Council and Lancashire County Council.

A report on the findings will be published in March 2009.

Source: The Fleet Directory website and RoSPA for images.

Comments please from driving instructors and driving schools who are BADDIA (Bedford and District Driving Instructors Association) members giving driving lessons, Pass Plus, advanced lessons, automatic lessons, disabled lessons, towing lessons, refresher courses, motorway lessons, fleet training in preparation for driving tests or driver improvement in the Bedford area.

ALL of the major English speaking countries in the world, except for the UK, have some form of graduated driving licence.

The schemes are intended to allow new drivers time to build up their skills, confidence and road experience so that they become fully competent behind the wheel.

In New Zealand the scheme is described as “a powerful tool to limit the number of accidents on our roads”.

And in Canada graduated licences have been hailed as a “resounding success in reducing death and injury among novice drivers”.

Graduated licence systems create fixed lengths of time before drivers can advance to the next licensing stage.

Restrictions usually relate to things that have been proven to affect a novice driver’s ability, such as blood-alcohol levels, driving in the dark, or with passengers.

But now, as the Government’s Learn To Drive consultation nears an end, it is expected that recommendations for more pre-test learning will be made, rather than further testing once a licence is granted.

That goes against pleas from the Lancashire Telegraph, the road safety charity Brake and even the influential Commons Transport Select Committee.

Hyndburn MP Greg Pope said that a GDL would work in the UK.

He said: “I hope that the Government has listened during this consultation period and takes heed of what is said.

“The number of young people dying on our roads, especially here in East Lancashire, is far too high and the range of imaginative and workable ideas that form the Wasted Lives campaign deserve to be listened to.

“They have the support of the police and the support of the majority of the public.

“Similar schemes have worked elsewhere in the world and that cannot be ignored.”

The Telegraph’s Wasted Lives campaign has called for a two-part driving test to be introduced to include a series of modules that must be passed before sitting the Part One test.

Then, after a minimum of one year has passed, a Part Two test can be sat. Between passing the two tests a motorist must prove their ability to drive in a number of different circumstances, including night-time and motorway experience.

After passing Part Two a driver will still be limited to a car of no more than 100bhp for two years, will not be allowed to carry any passengers aged between 10 and 25 except family members and in an emergency.

Other recommendations include the immediate loss of a driving licence if a driver under 25 is caught doing more than 10mph over the speed limit.

This echoes what has been happening across the world for years.

In New Zealand a multi-stage graduated driving licence was introduced as long ago as August 1987. Learners cannot pass their test until they have six months of experience behind the wheel and then they can only possess a restricted licence which they must hold for 18 months.

In the USA to address the high fatality rate among teenage drivers, most states have adopted one or more elements of a GDL system. Many include restrictions on carrying passengers.

In Canada a two-step licensing process takes at least 20 months to complete.

Pendle MP Gordon Prentice said: “What I want and what the Telegraph wants and what the people of East Lancashire want are graduated licences, and restrictions on novice motorists.

“The statistics make it clear that many young male drivers are a danger to themselves and other road users.”

In New Zealand restricted licence holders must not drive between 10pm and 5am unless accompanied by a supervisor and cannot carry passengers (apart from spouses and dependents) unless they have a fully qualified adult with them. A second, more advanced test is in place, which focuses on higher order driving skills such as hazard perception, and restrictions are then lifted.

A spokesperson for New Zealand’s Ministry of Transport said: “Overall there has been a reduction in the number of 15-24 year old drivers involved in crashes since 1985.

“The system is seen as a powerful tool to limit the number of accidents on our roads.”

A 2002 study, by the Injury Prevention Research Unit in New Zealand, found that young people were reasonably accepting of the restrictions, although they did not like having passenger limits placed upon them.

In the US, a graduated system was first introduced in Florida in 1996. To address high fatality rates among teenage drivers, most states have since adopted one or more elements.

In California after passing a practical test and receiving a provisional licence, the holder must not drive between midnight and 5am for the first year and must not carry passengers under the age of 20 for the first six months. A full licence can be applied for at 18.

The NHTSA study on California reported a 20 per cent reduction in at-fault fatal and injury crashes for 16-year-old drivers, and a 21 per cent reduction in deaths and injuries amongst teenage passengers of 16-year-old drivers.

A rigorous graduated licensing scheme was introduced in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, in 2000.

NSW drivers must pass three different stages over a period of four years before they get a full, unrestricted licence.

Throughout this process they must notch up a certain number of hours behind the wheel, are subject to varying speed restrictions and must not only pass a practical test but also two theory exams based on hazard perception and safety knowledge.

In 2004, the year after the drivers undergoing the new process became fully qualified, the fatality figure of 510 was the lowest recorded since 1947.

The figure dropped again in 2005 to 508 fatalities, and the number of people seriously injured also fell from 26,323 to 25,209.

British road safety charity Brake said that about one in eight UK licence holders was aged 25 or under, yet more than a quarter of motorists killed are from this age group.

The charity believes the introduction of a graduated licence system would change these statistics.

A spokesperson for Brake said: “Urgent measures are needed to improve the road safety of young drivers.

“Brake would like to see the introduction of graduated licensing to help prevent the tragic deaths of teenagers on our roads.”

Source: The Lancashire Telegraph website, by David Watkinson 

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THE Driving Standards Agency (DSA) is updating part of its national award-winning campaign Arrive Alive.

Arrive Alive sends driving examiners into schools and colleges, young offenders units, prisons and other youth groups within the 16-19 target age range to deliver important safe driving messages to youngsters.

The aim is to improve attitudes towards learning to drive, the driving test and the longer term skill of safe driving for life.

The DSA has chosen to launch its Arrive Alive Module One at Brockenhurst College’s Drive Safe event which aims to raise awareness of the importance of road safety to it’s students, staff and the wider community.

The event on Thursday September 25 will take place between 9.55pm to 3pm.

The new module is based on Department for Transport research which has shown exactly which attitudes and behaviours to prioritise if we are to reduce casualties among the young. These include attitudes towards risk taking, drink & drugs, speed, rural roads, seatbelts, night driving, distractions and vehicle handling.

The DSA’s Chief Operating Officer Brian Gilhooley said:

“The Driving Standards Agency is delighted to be involved in an event like Drive Safe which has road safety for young people at its core.

Our new Arrive Alive Module One shares this aim and has been refreshed to reflect the attitudinal issues affecting young people learning to drive today.

The topics are presented in an interactive and engaging way to connect with young people”.

An independent evaluation of the programme carried out by BITER (The British Institute of Traffic Education Research) confirmed that the overall impact was very positive and the content was relevant to the age group targeted.

DSA has received a number of road safety awards for our Arrive Alive programme and we deliver over 6000 presentations a year.

Source: The DSA website

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DID you know that you must renew your Photocard Driving Licence every 10 years?

Old style paper licences are not affected. 

CLICK HERE for DVLA’s leaflet which should be sent to you two months before the photo expires. 

Source: DVLA website 

Comments please from driving instructors and driving schools who are BADDIA (Bedford and District Driving Instructors Association) members giving driving lessons, Pass Plus, advanced lessons, automatic lessons, disabled lessons, towing lessons, refresher courses, motorway lessons, fleet training in preparation for driving tests or driver improvement in the Bedford area.

AGE, inexperience and gender impact most on the safety of young drivers, according to new IAM (Institute of Advanced Motorists) Motoring Trust research.

Most at risk are the under 20s, who have the least driving experience; drivers under 25 have an exceptionally high risk of being killed or seriously injured (KSI) in crashes; and up to twice as many young men are involved in crashes as young female drivers.

Young drivers – where and when they are unsafe compares drivers between 17 and 70 in an analysis of almost a quarter of a million KSI crashes between 2000 and 2006. The study reveals where, when and why many young drivers die or are seriously injured on the roads compared with drivers over 25.The highest risks are:

• In older cars with less EuroNCAP (New Car Assessment Programme) crash protection
• When there are three or more casualties in the car
• On Friday and Saturday nights
• On rural class ‘C’ or unclassified roads
• In single vehicle crashes involving no other road user
• When running off the road and hitting something at the roadside
• When skidding and possibly overturning
• In fog, mist or rain, or on wet roads in “fine weather”
• On bends, particularly on rural roads

“Novice drivers, particularly the under 20s, are most at risk in the early weeks and months after they pass their driving test. This study helps to explain why and points to what needs to be done,” said Neil Greig, Director of the IAM Motoring Trust.“Most young drivers, particularly young women, have the skills and the right attitude for driving safely. Post driving test restrictions that limit the number of passengers young drivers can carry or the imposition of night time curfews are not the answer. They would penalise the relatively safe majority but do little to curb the dangerous excesses of the reckless, mainly male, minority.”

The IAM proposes a 10-point package of actions for making younger drivers safer:

1. Encourage more understanding of driving in a wider range of road conditions where novice drivers are most at risk, including at night, in poor visibility and poor weather, and on rural roads.

Why? The study shows that these are the conditions and roads novice drivers are least able to handle safely. It’s not practical to drive in all these situations while learning, but the theoretical test could be slanted to give novice drivers a much greater awareness of the risks, and what to do to avoid them.

2. Prepare learner drivers better for driving solo or with passengers by making them more aware of where and when they are most likely to crash.

Why? The study points to situations where novice drivers face the biggest risks compared with older more experienced drivers. By making them aware of situations – where, when and why they are more likely to crash – they will be better equipped to deal with them. Our study can be the basis of this element of education for L drivers.

3. Integrate road safety education in core school curriculum subjects so that young people develop a self-taught awareness of the risks and responsibilities of using the roads as drivers, riders and as passengers.

Why? The youngest novice drivers (17-19) are the riskiest group. Many start learning to drive while still in school; getting them to understand the maths and physics of their safety would have an immediate and lasting impact. For example, skidding – teaching in physics about friction and the loss of friction when tyres are wet/bald etc; teaching in maths about deceleration and how wearing a seatbelt deals with the forces; teaching in biology the effect of alcohol and drugs on judgment and driving abilities.

4. Guide parents on how to help their children become safer drivers through additional, supervised driving practice in the family car.

Why? There is evidence from several countries (eg Sweden) that the more driving practice novice drivers have pre-test, the less likely they are to be in a crash. In Sweden, 50 hours is recommended but 120 hours reduces crashes by 40 per cent in the following two years. Parents should be encouraged and helped to give their children additional driving practice in the family car to supplement professional tuition. Giving their children this extra experience will help make them safer drivers.

5. Persuade insurance companies to recognise that additional driving practice with a parent before taking the test is low risk, and to set premiums accordingly.

Why? L drivers on the family car policy can be very heavily loaded. The House of Commons Transport Select Committee has also found this and in its report on Novice Drivers, it says, “We would encourage the insurance industry to re-examine the high insurance charges imposed on supervised learner drivers, in the interests of encouraging them to gain maximum practice, a factor which has been shown to be crucial in promoting novice driver safety”

6. Identify the minority of young and inexperienced (mostly male) drivers exhibiting dangerous driving behaviour through corrective education and training.

Why? Many years of research shows that most novice drivers have the skills to drive safely, but a significant minority chooses not to. Some are plain reckless; some are criminal in not taking a driving test, or insuring the car (see 7 below). The police can often find the plain reckless early in their driving career when they commit motoring offences. If they are licensed and insured, there needs to be a better system of requiring them to go on a rectification course, even if the offence is relatively minor (drivers who commit motoring offences in the first year are much more likely to crash – see page 20).

7. Target police enforcement at the reckless, unlicensed and/or uninsured minority of young drivers, to find them and to get them off the road.

Why? Unlicensed drivers tend to be younger and male, and they drive up to 3.7 million hours a month. Uninsured drivers are typically young males living in urban areas: 60 per cent convicted of uninsured driving are under 25, and half are under 20. They have a high risk of crashing, and there is a perception among their peers that they can get away with it. Young people must be convinced that the only way to drive is to be licensed and insured. The majority of safe younger drivers should have their efforts to remain legal supported by knowing that the police and the courts are targeting the reckless minority of those who flout the law.

8. Place greater emphasis on training and improvement before the driving test, and after it, ensuring that this covers the full range of roads and conditions new drivers have to deal with.

Why? See 4 above. New young drivers are under-prepared for driving on rural roads in particular. Government and its agencies should be more pro-active in encouraging young people to continue developing their driving by undertaking further training. The insurance industry should incentivise those who are helping themselves, as well as loading the policies of those who prove themselves to be a risk.

9. Make roads themselves more forgiving of novice drivers’ mistakes by investing in features such as skid-resistant surfaces and crash barriers, and removing potentially lethal roadside objects.

Why? This study shows that novice drivers are more likely to skid, lose control of the vehicle, run off the road and hit something or lose control on a bend. In these circumstances, what dictates the injury is the EuroNCAP safety rating of the car, the speed of impact, and what the car hits. Safer drivers represent the most important element of road safety, alongside safer cars and safer roads.

10. Incentivise the take-up of technologies such Electronic Stability Control in the new cars of today that will be driven by young people in the years to come

Why? These new technologies can mitigate the effects of the mistakes all drivers make and help reduce casualties. But take-up is slow and relatively few of today’s smaller cars have them as standard. These are the cars that will be bought by the novice drivers of tomorrow. Incentivising the fitting of these safety features in new cars today will save the lives of novice drivers and their passengers five to ten years down the line.

Greig added, “More than 1100 18-year olds are killed or seriously injured on our roads every year and there is no higher road safety priority than preparing young people to drive safely, on their own and with passengers, after passing their test. And all novice drivers are at greatest risk in the weeks and months after passing the driving test. The IAM’s 10-point plan shows the way forward to make novice drivers, safer drivers.”

Source: IAM website

Comments please from driving instructors and driving schools who are BADDIA (Bedford and District Driving Instructors Association) members giving driving lessons, Pass Plus, advanced lessons, automatic lessons, disabled lessons, towing lessons, refresher courses, motorway lessons, fleet training in preparation for driving tests or driver improvement in the Bedford area.

FAMILIES struggling to cope with the credit crunch have started to cut back on the classic 17th birthday gift of driving lessons.

 Picture DirectGov

Figures from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency show that there were 52,000 fewer applications for provisional driving licences this year compared with the same period last year - an 8 per cent fall.

It is the first time this decade that the number of people learning to drive has fallen. From 2000 until the end of 2007, the number of applications rose year on year by an average of 3 per cent. But thousands of families looking to reduce non-essential spending are no longer willing to pay for lessons - the average cost of learning to drive is now £1,500.

The AA said the number of people taking lessons at its driving schools mirrored the DVLA statistics. ‘We think people might be reaching 17 and thinking about the rising cost of fuel and insurance and deciding to wait,’ said AA spokesman Ian Crowder. Both the number of people taking tests and the percentage passing first time had fallen, he added.

 Picture DirectGov

The sharp fall in the number of learner drivers comes against a backdrop of rising fuel, food, council tax and mortgage costs, which have added £145 a month to the average household’s bills, according to figures from uSwitch.com. Its latest findings show that people now have less money in their pockets than at any point since 1997. Soaring insurance premiums for newly qualified drivers have also added to the financial burden of keeping a car.

There is mounting evidence that more and more drivers, not just learners, are staying off the road. Last week the RAC Foundation said that road congestion had eased by 12 per cent in the past year, significantly cutting journey times.

Source: The Guardian Observer website by Lisa Bachelor 

Comments please from driving instructors and driving schools who are BADDIA (Bedford and District Driving Instructors Association) members giving driving lessons, Pass Plus, advanced lessons, automatic lessons, disabled lessons, towing lessons, refresher courses, motorway lessons, fleet training in preparation for driving tests or driver improvement in the Bedford area.