advance spring07

The official magazine of Dumfries & Galloway Group of Advanced Motorists and Motorcyclists

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© Dumfries & Galloway Group of Advanced Motorists & Motorcyclists1

What’s on? (check latest news at: www.iam.org.uk/groups/dumfries)

Monday 16 April Garage visit Lloyd Volvo, Kingstown, Carlisle 7:15 pm

View vehicles on display followed by introduction and information about Volvo carsand tour of the workshops. Your opportunity to test drive a Volvo demonstrator.Please call or e-mail the Secretary or Russell Wears if you wish to attend.

Monday 14 May AGM Dalston Hotel 7:30 pmMonday 11 June TREASURE HUNTDepart from Dock Park between 6:30 pm and 7 pm

Group Committee Members for 2006/07Group President: Tommy Jardine

To e-mail any member of the committee, please inthe first instance, use the group contact e-mail

address: [email protected]

This magazine was pub-lished by the Dumfries &

Galloway Group ofAdvanced Motorists &

Motorcyclists.

For more details of our activi-ties see our web site at:

www.iam.org.uk/groups/dumfries

Contact theGroup Secretary:

[email protected]

Magazine comments and con-tributions to:

[email protected]

Disclaimer:

The views expressed in thismagazine are those of the con-tributors and not necessarilythose of the Editor, Group orthe Institute of Advanced Mo-torists, to which the Group isaffiliated. Registered CharityNo. SC 023511

This magazineThis magazine is published three times a year and distributed free to members of theDumfries & Galloway Group of Advanced Motorists & Motorcyclists. It is also availa-ble on-line and distributed free to various places where the public have access. Itspurpose is to inform readers about our activities and to stimulate thought about safedriving and riding issues especially to those readers who are undergoing or havecompleted a ‘Skill for Life’ driving or riding course. Back issues may be viewed online, just go to our web site www.iam.org.uk/groups/dumfries.

Chair, GroupChief Obs

Alan Jones 01387 820527

Vice chair,Chief m/c Obs

Graeme McColm 01387 720425

Secretary Helen Cameron 07707 035518Treasurer Allan Graham 01387 269421Publicity &Events

Scott AndersonRussell Wears

01387 25782601387 263893

Minute Sec Anne Lind 07886 984380Associatecoordinator

Peter Dodds 01387 261523

M/c c’rdinator Andrew Bird 01387 259500NewsDistribution

ChristineDonaldson

01576 202805

Committee Charlie AllmanJohn DonaldsonAlan Dalrymple

01387 26375001576 20280501387 337322


Message from the chair - Alan Jones

I hope this magazine finds you in good heart as we approach another spring-time. So far we have been spared the worst of the traditional winter weather,in our region at least, but who knows what we might expect in April or evenMay! Given the amount of rain we have had from November onwards let’s justhope that 2007 brings with it a nice summer.

The last few months have been a relatively quiet time for us but even so I ampleased to report that we continue to make steady progress in getting ourAssociates to Test standard. Since April 2006 we have enrolled 82 Associ-ates, making our Group the most successful Group in Scotland in recruitingAssociates. In the same period we have achieved a record 52 Test passesand we still have a respectable number of Associates currently under trainingand not far off being Test ready.

Helen Cameron will make mention of the new Members by name in her report,but I just want to say here how pleased I am that our President, TommyJardine, lived up to his promise when he said that he wanted to be an activePresident. Tommy recently took his IAM Test and passed with flying colours.Well done Tommy and well done to all our new Members.

We have put just under half of our Observer resource into coaching youngpeople to Test standard and I am pleased to say that 5 of these new Membershave now become Observers themselves, and we have a further 2-3 who wewill be training shortly. The introduction of these young people into ourObserver team is very pleasing, as they will help to encourage other youngpeople to come forward and enrol with us as Associates.

Improving the driving and riding skills of young people remains an importantpart of our activities and providing we continue to have funding available wewill offer the IAM’s Skill for Life programme free of charge. To this end I ampleased to say that we have attracted significant levels of private funding fromcompanies such as DA Autoparts, The Station Hotel, Amey and Crossflags,all of which will help us fund our young people initiative. In addition, we are inthe process of receiving charitable donations from Arla Foods and John F.Black Motor Engineers, which will be put to good use in furthering our aims ofimproving road safety in a more general way.

We also recognise that we need to do more for other sections of our member-ship, especially those who, like young drivers, are at higher risk of having anaccident. To this end we have made representations to our Regional Coordi-nator, Steve Shepley. As a result of our petition, Steve and Robin Mair, ourDivisional Council Member, are in the process of putting a proposal to the IAM


that the cost of Skill for Life for new or inexperienced motorcyclists be reducedby £10. In addition, to show our support for this initiative, your committee hasagreed that we should match this discount for new or inexperienced motorcy-clists and motorists. We hope this initiative will make Skill for Life moreaffordable and thereby attract even more Associates. Above all however, wehope this initiative will demonstrate that we aim to spread our limited generalfunds as fairly as possible, and particularly to those at greatest risk.

I hope you were pleasantly surprised to hear the IAM advert broadcast onSouthWest Sound radio recently. Again, this was another of our initiatives toincrease public awareness in the area and through the medium of radio, toincrease our reach throughout the region. You will be pleased to learn that themajority of the cost has been funded by the IAM, although the initiative and theadvert itself was all our idea. Hopefully other Groups on learning of this willadopt a similar approach.

We hope you enjoy reading this magazine. We try hard to keep the topics ofinterest to you so that even if you do not take an active part in the Groupactivities you will at least be kept informed and educated in road safetymatters. You will also notice in this magazine that we have a number of newsponsors. We welcome these new companies who, together with our existingsponsors, create the income to enable the costs of this publication and itsincreasing circulation to be met.December CelebrationOver 40 people attended a special cel-ebration evening at the Dalston Houseover the Christmas period.

The event was arranged to give all ofour members an opportunity to meettogether and to recognise the achieve-ment of our younger members in pass-ing the IAM’s Advanced Driving or Riding Test.

PC Les Kirkpatrick presented the young members with a T shirt displaying aspecially designed logo to reflect their new found skills.

Will McCulloch was identified by our Examiner, Robin Bell, as having given thebest drive on the day of the Test. To add some additional excitement to theevening Les Kirkpatrick offered to give a Demonstration Drive to Will in hispatrol car together with the winners of the Hazard Awareness competition andthe General Knowledge Quiz. We hope the 3 winners were suitably impressedby the standard of a Police Driver who holds an Advanced Driving Certificate.

T shirts and certificates being pre-sented at the December event


Bikers - Where you look is where you go!An innovative treatment for bends from Buckinghamshire’s Casualty Reduc-tion Team has won a motorcycling Prince Michael International Road SafetyAward. ‘Where you look is where you go’ (WYLIWYG) holds a rider’s viewround a bend, drawing them round safely.

The BCC team recognised that single vehicles losing control on rural roadsaccounted for the largest number of recorded crashes. Such is the success ofWYLIWYG that, at the treated bend, there were no biker accidents in thefollowing 53 months.

Male Drivers Take More Risks (source: YouGov/DfT)

Male drivers are more than twice as likely as women to assume good roadconditions are safer and then take dangerous risks, according to a newnational survey.A poll of 1,500 drivers by YouGov for the THINK! Road safety campaignrevealed that men are less inclined than women to consider road conditionswhen driving on rural roads and almost a quarter believe it is acceptable tospeed when they think it safe to do so.However, while male drivers may think that less traffic and fewer pedestrianson rural roads mean they're safer, the reality is that, per mile, you are threetimes more likely to die in an accident on a rural road than an urban one.Other rural road survey findings are that male drivers more readily find drivingover the speed limit acceptable compared to females, particularly whendriving:

· On open roads with few cars (32% v 19%)· When weather conditions are good (26% v 15%)· On familiar roads (20% v 11%)· Where there are no pedestrians around (17% v 12%)· One in five men admitted to usually driving over the speed limit on

rural roads, compared to 8% of women· A fifth of males only consider themselves to be speeding when they

are driving over 10mph over the national speed limit of 60mph· One in four people living in cities think they are more likely to have an

accident on an urban road yet one in three (31%) have had anaccident or near miss on a rural road

Details on the THINK! rural speed advertising campaign to remind motoriststo drive carefully on rural roads has been launched by the Dept for Transport:www.thinkroadsafety.gov.uk/campaigns/slowdown/slowdown.htm


Origins of the Planned System of Driving Source www.met.police.uk/

In 1934 there were 585 vehicles in use by the London Metropolitan Police butthe accident mileage ratio stood at one accident for every 8,000 miles travelled.

This high accident rate resulted in the famous racing motorist, Sir MalcolmCampbell, being asked to test a number of police drivers. Despite a difficultand strenuous test where a high standard was demanded, all the policedrivers passed with flying colours. In 1935 it was decided to set up the firstpolice driving school at Hendon in order to train future police drivers and itopened it’s doors for the first four week driving course in January of that year.The following year the first advanced driving course was held.

In 1936 one of the most famous racing drivers of the day, the Earl of Cotten-ham was appointed as a civilian advisor to the driving school. His aim was tobring to the technique of advanced driving a new standard of perfection. It washe who introduced what was the foundation of the modern System used bythe police. A system which by implementing a simple "drill" or sequence ofevents a driver would ensure that his vehicle was always in the right place atthe right time, travelling at the right speed and in the correct gear. Thus, it wasreasoned, a driver would be in complete control of any situation with which hemight be faced. By 1938 the efficiency of this new system proved itself for theaccident rate had dropped to one accident per 27,000 miles travelled.

Although this system has been revised and improved over the years it isessentially the same system that, as advanced drivers, we use today.

Traditionally, hazard markers are placed to highlight the ‘crown’ of a bend.WYLIWYG takes the marker posts further round the bend to the point wherethe vanishing’ point starts moving away from the biker’s view, which is ofteninto the straight.

The posts are also placed closer together so that they keep appearing in therider’s view, focusing him on a point around the bend allowing him to negotiatethe hazard safely. Riding, driving and filming the treated bend, the markerscreate an optical illusion – they ‘pop out’ of the ‘vanishing point’ into theapproaching rider’s view, concentrating their focus on the markers, so insteadof being distracted by anything else, ‘where the biker looks, the biker goes’!Source: Institute of Highway Incorporated EngineersONE in five ‘at-work drivers’ hasn’t had an eyesight test in the past five years!

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Accident ScamYou will no doubt heard of the new scam where fraudsters stage a deliberateaccident, often by disconnecting their own brake lights so unwary motoristsdrive into the back of them. They then greatly exaggerate their insuranceclaims in a number of ways, including adding non-existent passengers to theclaim. The growing problem is costing more than £1.5 billion a year, adding5% to policyholders’ insurance premiums.A spokesman for the Fraud Investigation Team at insurance company Nor-wich Union said: ‘The trend is towards the fraudsters targeting predominantlylarger commercial fleets, those that have marked vehicles. They see targetingsuch fleets as a victim-free crime, affecting an organisation rather than aperson. It’s worrying.’The chairman of the new Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB), created by insurersto clamp down on such crime, added: ‘There are usually some tell-tale signsthat you have been involved in a fraudulent collision. Motorists should payextra attention to people braking suddenly in front of them for no apparentreason or otherwise driving erratically.’What do you do if you suspect you have been caught up in such an incident?

If you suspect you have been involved in a staged accident, do not sayanything other than ‘it is a matter for our insurance companies’.If anyone is injured, call the police.Take as many pictures as possible of the accident, including the driver,passengers, vehicle and any damage. (It’s a good idea to always have acamera in your vehicle)The identity of the driver is crucial so take a good description. Establish howmany passengers are in the other car and take a good description of them.Try to find an independent witness for the accident but be wary of anywitnesses quick to offer their services as they may be corrupt.Take note of any other cars involved, including damage and registrationnumbers.Be wary of any companies that contact you quickly, offering to repair your car,unless they are through your insurance company.If you suspect the accident was intentional, inform your insurance company atthe earliest opportunity.If you know of anyone involved in staging accidents, call the IFB Cheatline on0800 328 2550.Source: Royal & SunAlliance


Crash dieting - eating and drinking at the wheel doubles crash risk

Eating or drinking at the wheel dramatically increases the risk of a car crash,according to a study by Privilege Insurance. Tests revealed that drivers arealmost twice as likely to crash when eating or drinking as when drivingnormally. Although drivers try to compensate for eating and drinking by drivingmore slowly and carefully, they are often unable to react to avoid a collision.Privilege’s study found that drivers’ mental workload was significantly higherwhen eating or drinking, suggesting that the consumption of refreshmentsreduces a driver’s ability to deal with other events. So, although drivers wereslowing down and steering more consistently they were still not compensatingenough to avoid a crash.The experimental research was conducted on a Driving Simulator to uncoverjust how distracting eating and drinking at the wheel can be. Participants wereasked to drive an urban route once without eating, and once while eating froma bag of sweets or drinking from a bottle of water at two intervals, coincidingwith a pedestrian stepping into the road. The total number of crashes doubledduring the food and drink trial. Nine in ten occurred at the point the driver waseating sweets or sipping water, resulting in a collision with a pedestrian.Dr Mark Young, from Brunel University, who carried out the study explained:“The results of our experiment strongly indicate that eating or drinking whiledriving increases the risk of a crash. Drivers may not perceive the risk to beany higher than other menial in-car tasks, but the impaired reactions com-bined with the increased workload suggest drivers should exert caution.”

Mobile phone reminderJust a reminder that studies have shown that use of a mobile phone whilstdriving can impair your reactions even when using a hands free telephone.

The Government seem to have recognised that the existing penalties relatedto phone use in vehicles are widely flouted and have now increased thepenalty for using a handheld mobile phone while driving to three penalty pointsplus a £60 fine. The revised law also includes the same penalties to applywhere drivers using a hands-free phone are found by police to not to be inproper control of their vehicle.

You should note that if you are an employer you can also be prosecuted if yourequire employees to make or receive calls while driving. It is an offence tocause or permit the use of a hand-held mobile phone while driving, it is also anoffence to cause or permit a driver not to have proper control of a vehicle.

It is much safer to stop (in a suitable place) and take or make that call.

© Dumfries & Galloway Group of Advanced Motorists & Motorcyclists

Are We New To You?If you are reading this magazine for the first time youmay be a new member of the Dumfries & GallowayGroup of Advanced Motorists and Motorcyclists(DGGAMM) or you may know nothing about us. We area local group affiliated to the Institute of AdvancedMotorists (IAM).

DGGAMM is a charity devoted to promoting road safety through its advanceddriving and riding courses leading to the taking of the IAM Advanced Car orMotorcycle Test. We are a growing regional organisation, have a membershipof over 100, including qualified Advanced Driving and Riding Observers whoprovide guidance to assist drivers and riders to improve their skills on the road.We also work with and receive support from other road safety organisationsand local businesses to help promote our aims.

Our aim is to help drivers and riders improve their skills on the road and sohelp reduce collisions, injuries and deaths on our roads. We promote the IAM‘Skill for Life’ courses throughout the year and you can find out what is entailedby visiting our web site. Well over ninety percent of people who sit theAdvanced Test with us are successful. Once a candidate has passed the IAMAdvanced Test, we offer further driving and riding courses leading to qualifica-tions as Observers.

The Group run social nights most months of the year at the Dalston HouseHotel, Dumfries or other nearby locations. These meetings are free to mem-bers and open to anyone who wants to come along and find out more aboutwhat we do. At these meetings we often invite guest speakers to talk on ageneral theme related to driving or riding, roads, vehicles, motorcycles, safetyand the like. Details of ‘What’s on’ can be found on our web site or on page 1of this magazine.

We are a non-profit making organisation, run entirely by volunteers who givetheir time freely to help achieve our aims. To find out more contact the GroupSecretary or visit our web site - see page 1 for details.

Did you know?That one moment of carelessness on the road canhave serious consequences. Thirty two percent ofcar occupant deaths occur in single vehicle acci-dents i.e. ones in which no other vehicles wereinvolved. Statistics show that these types of acci-dents are increasing. Source: Roadsafe/dft

9


Spot the differenceHere are the answers to the Winter 2006 ‘spot the difference’ competitionbased on the photos shown here.

There were ten changes to the original photo (shown with orange border):~Red doll in window~Different colour gable wall~Man on the steps~Wall across path~Man’s top changed to yellow~Extra parking sign by van~Man in blue shirt crossing road~Manhole cover in path by flowers~Silver car has no second sunroof~Piece of white line missing

Available on our web site nowIn an effort to be more accountable, Group Rules, Year End Accounts and theminutes of both AGM and Committee Meetings are available for inspection onour web site. Go to www.iam.org.uk/groups/dumfries to find out more.In a lay-by at nightHere’s a question for you; at night if you’ve stopped for a break at a lay-by outon the open road (e.g. on the A75) is it necessary to have your lights on?


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Members have their sayFor the past two years the Group has been working to a Plan which isapproved by the committee each year. The Plan is aimed at helping us bothto grow in size and become more effective in improving road safety throughoutthe region. You can see a copy of the current Plan on our web site.

For all this good work however, the one thing we cannot afford to do is toignore the wishes of our members. For this reason we asked Russell Wearsto develop a questionnaire to help us better appreciate your views about whatwe are trying to achieve, as well as giving you the opportunity to let us knowyour preferences for our future direction. We now have the results of thequestionnaire. Although so far we have only received replies from around onethird of our members I would like to share the results with you. If you did notcomplete a questionnaire it is not too late to comment, please let our Secretaryhave your views - you can download the questionnaire from our web site.

In summary almost 70% of the replies supported our focus on young people,although some replies expressed a wish for a recognition that other types ofroad users are also vulnerable. We hope our representations to Steve Shepleywill go some way to addressing this balance, which if the IAM supports the


The Secretary Reports - Helen Cameron

Once again we are coming towards the end of a very enjoyable season ofspeakers and visits. The meetings this year have been fairly well attended butthere is always room to squeeze in a few more.

Our annual 10 Pin Bowling challenge against Car-lisle Group recently took place and once again wewon the trophy. It was good to see a few new facesand it’s nice to hear ideas from different groups.

The three way quiz was due to be held in Marchbut has been postponed until the end of April. Ihave one volunteer so far but would like a fewmore. We will be defending last year’s win and itwill be held in Dumfries with Carlisle setting thequestions. Unfortunately Westmorland will not becompeting this year. I would like to thank all theparticipants of these events, especially as most ofthem volunteered without too much arm twisting.

Since our last magazine five new members have passed their IAM driving test.Congratulations to our President, Tommy Jardine who had more pressure onhim than most of us have when taking the test. Congratulations also to RichardRadcliffe, Jamie Wood, Emma Purdie and Paul Green. Our Motorcycle sectionis quiet at this time of year as far as tests are concerned but I am sure it isbuilding up for a burst of tests in the spring.

Carlisle Chairmanpresents Dumfries‘ Emma

Purdie with the cup.

proposal, will mean that returning motorcyclists receive a £20 discount andnew drivers or riders, regardless of age, will receive a £10 discount on the costof a Skill for Life package.

80% of respondents felt the Group had the balance of activities about right butthere was no majority either way for having more frequent events; there washowever a two to one majority against focusing on motoring themes. Therewas a similar majority in favour of holding events further from our home baseand most supporters would be prepared to cover the cost of these activities.There was almost overwhelming support for obtaining local discounts forMembers and although 60% of you said that you had seen publicity about theGroup in and around Dumfries, nearly 80% wanted to spend more on publicity.Our advertising on SouthWest Sound is therefore a step in the right direction.

Your feedback, which is too extensive to fully mention here, is appreciated andplease be assured that your committee will consider all your comments, andwherever possible we will take your suggestions on board.

CrossflagsAt Crossflags we strive to create the best customer experience in the area.Please come and see us when you are considering your next vehiclepurchase.

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We exist to promote road safety and improveddriving and riding standards to motorists and mo-torcyclists throughout Dumfries and Galloway, byproviding Advanced Driving and Riding courses.Whether you are an experienced driver or rider, ornewly qualified, why not find out how we can helpyou to get in, and stay in control on the road?If you are interested in improving your skills, evenif you have completed an Advanced course in thepast, then why not find out how we can help you.To find out how we can help you to help yourselfe-mail or call the Secretary (07707 035518), or vis-it our web site - it’s a ‘Skill for Life’

G e t i n C O N T R O L

DUMFRIES & GALLOWAY GROUP OF ADVANCED MOTORISTS & MOTORCYCLISTSRegistered Charity in Scotland No. SC 023511

Our invitation:

What’s different about our method of driving or riding?

We advocate using the ‘Planned System of Driving/Riding’. Just because youdon’t use this System does not necessarily make you an unsafe driver or rider.

What our method gives you is a means of driving or riding in a consistentlysafe, systematic way which leaves nothing to chance. Our method will not helpyou drive or ride through a hazard, say a bend, at the fastest possible physicalspeed but when perfected it should help you progress through it at the fastestspeed while at the same time maintaining stability and maximising safety.


Allan McNish to take the testTommy Jardine, President of the DumfriesGroup recently met racing driver, Allan Mc-Nish, during one of his visits to Dumfries.

During the meeting Allan agreed to lend hissupport to the road safety initiative plannedby Tommy's radio station, SouthWestSound. Allan was so impressed by thework our group does that he agreed to actas a role model for younger drivers bytaking the IAM Advanced Driving Test him-self during a future visit to Dumfries from hishome in Monaco.

Stop PressNews just in indicates that we are likely to have another successful applicationfor a Grant Award from the Council. This will mean enough funding for afurther fifty young people to prepare for and take the advanced test; andanother busy year for our Observers.


Annual General MeetingNOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN by order of the Group Committee that theAnnual General Meeting of “Dumfries & Galloway Group of Advanced Motor-ists and Motorcyclists” will be held at 7:30 pm on Monday 14 May 2007 atDalston House Hotel, Dumfries. to enable the Trustees of the Group(Registered Charity No. SC 023511) to present their Annual Report andAccounts for the year ended 30 April 2007 for approval by the Group Membersand to conduct an election.

Secretary: Helen Cameron; Contact: 07707 035518; Group No 6071;e-mail: [email protected] - 1 April 2007

All Members, Associates and Friends are invited to attend but only Fully PaidUp Members of the IAM and of the Group may vote.A Member entitled to vote at the General Meeting may appoint a proxy to votein his stead. A proxy need not be a Full Member of the Group.

CURRENT OFFICERS: All Officers retire annually and may offer themselvesfor re-election. (Group Rule 3.4)Chairperson: Alan Jones - Offering to stand for re electionVice Chairman: Graeme McColm - Offering to stand for re electionSecretary: Helen Cameron - Offering to stand for re electionTreasurer: Allan Graham – retiring at AGM

COMMITTEE MEMBERS: One third of the Committee (excluding Officers)must retire annually and may offer themselves for re election. (Group Rule 3.4)A. RETIRING BY ROTATION AND STANDING FOR RE-ELECTION:Russell Wears, Scott Anderson, Peter DoddsB. RETIRING BY ROTATION AND NOT STANDING FOR RE-ELECTION: noneC. COMMITTEE MEMBERS NOT RETIRING & NUMBER OF YEARS REMAINING:Anne Lind (I yr), Andrew Bird (2 yrs), Christine Donaldson (2 yrs)John Donaldson (2 yrs) Alan Dalrymple (2 yrs).

NOTE: The total number of Committee Members including the Officers mustnot exceed twenty. See the Nomination Form (available from the Secretary)for details, which must be returned by 7 May 2007. Group Rules and theMinutes of the May 2006 AGM are on the Group web site or via the Secretary.IMPORTANTThe Group belongs to its members and it will benefit from your input at theAGM and/or your participation on the committee, if you are able to help.

Any full member of the group wishing to help the group by volunteering to bea member of the committee should let the Secretary know in advance of thedate for return of nomination papers so that a Nomination Form can be raised.


Being conspicuous in poor conditionsThis picture may help you toconsider how much more con-spicuous a vehicle can be inpoor conditions (a wet daygetting towards dusk) depen-dant on which lights you use.

In this image the lead car has one headlight and one side light illuminated, thesecond has no lights and the third is driving with dipped lights. It is alwaysworth thinking about how conspicuous you will appear to other road userseven if your lights won’t help you to see any better.Observation, Observation, Observation - Alan Jones

I was recently asked, during a telephone interview with a newspaper reporter,what three tips I would give to members of the public to make them safer onthe road. I replied, observation, observation, observation! I thought I wouldamplify my comments here in order to provide a brief refresher for those GroupMembers who may have passed their Advanced Test some years ago andwho may need a reminder. The explanation may be of interest to other readerswho may have just picked up this magazine while sitting in a waiting room.

Observation is the first phase of the IAM’s Planned System of Driving and isthe “cement” which holds all the other phases together. Without it we wouldnot have a System. As Advanced Drivers and Riders we pride ourselves in ourobservation skills, which allow us to spot hazards far ahead of our vehicle orbike, so giving us time to take action. We constantly scan our environment andmaximise the use our mirrors so that we always have an awareness of thehazards in front, behind and to our sides. This gives us the opportunity to planour response to hazards, and in the case of pedestrians or other road users,allows us to give a timely indication of our presence by use of the horn orlights, should this be required.

Warning signs, road markings and the condition of the road surface are alltaken into account in helping us assess the risks associated with a hazard.Finally we continually seek to anticipate hazards, even if we can’t see any,since we know that they may only become readily apparent at a later point.

By concentrating on the task at hand and taking the necessary steps intoaccount as we drive or ride, the System gives us time to react to hazards in asafe and controlled manner. Through developing good Observation tech-niques our “road-craft” skills improve, which when combined with the correctuse of the System’s other phases, the chance of being involved in a collisioncan be reduced to around 50-70% than that of the average road user.


Making safe legal progressThe ability to make good smooth progress is the mark of a good driver or rider.Maximising progress is also a requirement of the Advanced Driving and RidingTests but only where it is safe and legal to do so. Remember speed limitswherever they are, are just that, the maximum speed and not a target speed.On the other hand, moving along in town at 15mph in a quiet, relatively hazardfree area can be just as annoying to following traffic as the person who holdsup traffic driving at 45mph on an open road with few hazards. In thesecircumstances following drivers or riders can be tempted to follow too close orattempt to overtake in less than the safest of places.Sometimes the uninitiated have an incorrect view of what advanced drivingmeans and think it involves driving ‘defensively’ everywhere but at slowspeed. This is not what a safe driver seeks to do; consistently making andmaintaining swift safe progress is something that only the most observant andreactive of people can do.

The secret of good driving is smooth progress,always being on the right part of the road, travel-ling at the right speed and in the right gear; nevermaking unnecessarily jerky moves or changes ofdirection. Progress is smooth because you arealways in control, aware of what is in front, be-

hind and to the sides, thinking well ahead and planning your course of action.Often drivers have a very high opinion of their own driving skills which may ormay not be deserved, but as far as safe driving is concerned, attitude isprobably significantly more important than handling skills. Of course the bestdrivers can perform well in both areas.So to make safe legal progress you need a flexible and considered approachto the use of speed especially in respect of safety margins, creating space andthe identification of escape routes. This applies whatever the type of road, theconditions or the speed limit; indeed it applies equally to an urban environmentand to the open road.On motorways for instance you don't have tostay with the bumper huggers in the outsidelane to make progress, with a bit of thoughtand planning you can still make legalprogress whilst at the same time maximisingyour safety and that of your fellow road users.This does not mean you never use the outside lane it just means you activelyconsider which lane to use rather than just following the rest of the traffic. Byhoning your skills you should gain the confidence to know you can drive at anylegal speed when the situation is safe enough to allow you to do so.


O B S E R V E R’ S C O R N E R

This section is intended to help when considering the best course ofaction. It is up to every driver to actively assess each scenario.

Know your roadside furniture

Many drivers pass bollards and posts at the side of the road, unaware thatthey could be the key to useful information. The bollards incorporate reflectors(red on nearside and white on offside) and it is only the reflectors which areshown in the 'Know Your Traffic Signs' book. Amber reflectors are reservedfor use on the offside of dual carriageways. The posts or bollards on whichthey are mounted can be of many different patterns; commonly in our areathey are single colour (black or white), a ‘black & white banded’ pattern, oreven wooden as on the road to Moffat. They are used, of course, to markhazards and as such should be of interest to an observant road user.

The choice of mounting post/bollard is made by the Roads Engineer whotakes into account various things relevant to a particular hazard location, forexample how conspicuous do the posts need to be? How posts react in thecase of impact may also be important and this may mean using a post thateasily breaks when hit. Other regions may use different styles of posts.

As a general rule in our region, on the open road, solid white bollards marksingle hazards and ‘black & white banded’ posts delineate a feature. Forexample, a white post is often used at an access but the bend leading past itmay use ‘black & white’ posts. A pair of white posts are often used in isolationeither side of an active entrance or side road, for example on the A75.Sometimes markers are not fixed to posts but to another permanent roadsidefeature. Hazard markers may often be found on plain black bollards in town.

To maximise your safety when you spot these markers actively seek to identifythe hazard to which they refer and plan your approach accordingly.


When seeing isn't believing!Good observation skills require you to look inthe far, middle and near distance ahead, be-hind and to the sides. Looking for confirma-tion that what you have seen really is whatyou are going to encounter is also important.

Here an approaching driver or rider observingout and ahead could spot this maintenance lorry and get a glimpse of thearrow on the rear of it. As a result it may well be assumed and planned for thelorry to be stopped on the offside of the carriageway.

Good observation is the cornerstone of The Planned System of Driving soconstantly reviewing the hazards and your driving plans should put you in aposition where your assumptions don’t suddenly turn out to be false.

With this in mind it soon became obvious that themaintenance vehicle was stopped on the nearside butthat the arrow inadvertently had not been rotated to suitthe situation i.e. Keep Right.

As long as you keep reviewing your observations andlook for corroboration of your assumptions you should

have time to react and modify your driving plan accordingly.

Another example where benefit comes from maintaining a high standard ofobservation and reviewing your driving plan is shown below.

On this road you will find a warning triangle (1) which warns of a double bend, firstto the right then to the left. Your forward observation shows a wall ahead across theroad so you plan for this and look for corroboration of the road layout as youapproach. Progressing towards the first bend (2) the layout seems to confirm thatthe road may well go to the right but once nearly there (3) it becomes obvious thatthe road actually turns sharp left but that there is a house entrance to the right. Thenext bend is a sharp right (4).

1 42 3


Mind the gapControlling and creating the space around you is an important aspect ofadvanced driving. Often drivers complain of tailgaters and believe that there isnothing that can be done to improve their safety in such a situation. Whilstindeed you may not have any control over the way a following driver ispositioning his vehicle that does not necessarily mean you should resignyourself to the situation.

The first thing to remember is that the gap between vehicles whether to front,rear or to the sides is shared safety space. When someone is following closelyresist the temptation to concentrate too much of your attention on the mirrorsbut consider redoubling your efforts to observe ahead and to the sides toidentify hazards which may require you to slow or alter course.

By anticipating what may happen you can plan to build in extra time in whichto deal with hazards. In this way you may, for instance, be able to brake moregently or adjust your position more carefully so allowing the close followermore time and space to deal with the situation. Often the close follower is notlooking ahead very far and may be just reacting to the car immediately in fronti.e. your car.

If you are driving in traffic consider compensating for the lack of space behindyou by increasing the gap between you and the vehicle in front just througheasing off a little. If there is nothing in front of you still carefully consider yourspeed in relation to approaching hazards so you have time to deal with themby gentle adjustment of speed rather than risking firm or harsh braking whichcould catch out the following driver.

Don’t try to antagonise the driver behind by going unnecessarily slow; eventhough it could be annoying you may want to consider turning off or stoppingto let the other vehicle pass you, especially if you can see from their bodylanguage that they are not paying proper attention to their driving.

Concentrating on a close follower too much can lead to mistakes. After severalmiles of the Peugeot following very closely the MPV driver crossed the solid whitelines. Although the MPV was making good progress maybe it would have been saferto stop in a lay-by to let the close follower get by?


Reading the road and adjusting the shared safety gap in front should becomesecond nature to you, in this way you can exert some control over the situationbehind you. Consequently when vehicles in front brake you won’t necessarilyalways have to apply your brakes. You will have to brake when the situationdemands it but in a measured way rather than as an automatic reaction to thebrake lights of the vehicles in front. Often you will be able to adjust your speedsimply by judicious use of acceleration sense (lifting off the throttle).

In the situation shown in the photos on the previous page maybe the driver ofthe Peugeot believed his positioning was conducive to making progress andif he maintained a position as close as possible to the vehicle in front he would

be ready to grasp anovertaking opportunity.

This was far from thetruth, more than one op-portunity was missed be-cause forward visibilitywas compromised andthe car in front had toremain the focus of at-tention to avoid a colli-sion. Keeping backwould have allowed ob-servation of the far andmiddle distance.

Keeping a safe distance can help you identify potentialovertaking situations. Here by looking up and out unfold-ing potential overtaking situations could have been iden-tified and planned for at an early stage; being too closecan mean they will be lost or not carried out safely.

Who goes first?When approaching a junction, obstruction in the road or the like how do youdecide who should go first? The answer of course is that you should take intoaccount the Highway Code and look for signs and markings to help you decide.

Some junctions or hazards may have the same signs and markings visible tovehicles approaching from either side, or even no markings at all. In this casea little common sense is needed, especially if two vehicles arrive at the sametime. Making eye contact with the other driver can help as can taking intoaccount visibility through the junction/hazard and the relative movement andposition of other road users.

At junctions or obstructions sometimes it might be safest to let the other drivergo first, in which case you may be able to give precedence merely by carefuladjustment of the speed and position of your vehicle to ‘engineer’ your arrivalafter other traffic. This may allow others to negotiate the junction or hazard


without the need for both road users to negotiate who goes first. Converselythere could be times where it could be helpful to ‘engineer’ your arrival first,before other vehicles. All this, of course, will depend on good observationskills, whether you can get an advance view of all the approaches to thejunction or hazard and your abilities to effectively plan for the situation. You’llneed to take into account what is happening behind as well.

Is it good practice, in circumstances where priorities are unclear, to wave theother driver on or give a flash of your headlights to let him know you are givingway? Consider an approach to an unmarked junction where you see anothervehicle approaching from your right and one from your left, they arrive at thejunction simultaneously and just after you. There are no signs or lines and noobvious indications of who has priority. The vehicle to the left then flashes hisheadlamps and looks towards you. Is he giving way to you?

The answer is only you can decide,maybe he is, but you need to lookfor other evidence before proceed-ing (you’ll obviously also need tocheck for other hazards too). Youshould take note of the headlampflash - if it was meant for you?

However although the other drivermay have been trying to tell you

something don’t rely on it, instead look at the speed (if it is still moving) andposition of the other vehicle. Where is the driver is looking, what is hisdemeanour, where are his front wheels pointing etc.? You’ll need to considersimilar elements for any other road users too.

The Highway Code tells us that headlamp flashes are to be used ‘to let otherroad users know that you are there’, ‘never assume that it is a signal to go’,‘use your own judgement and proceed carefully’ (Rules 90 & 91). Of coursemany drivers do use headlamp flashes to give others precedence.

Don’t forget that a headlamp flash may well be seen by other road users too,not just the intended recipient. The other road users may think the flash is forthem and respond by making an unwise manoeuvre which could have safetyimplications.

Of course waving another road user (including pedestrians) on could haveequally unsafe consequences as the recipient of the gesture could interpret itas being safe to proceed and so move on without checking adequately forother hazards.


Reasons why you may fail your advanced driving testTest failures can come from a variety of problems on the day but overallfailings can often stem from one of the following categories:

Poor preparation; e.g. poor guidance, failure to practice, failure to read uptheory, vehicle not prepared or non availability of driving documents.

Nerves; the Examiner may be able to make some allowance for this in the firstcouple of miles.

Reversion to type; where non advanced techniques show through a thinveneer of advanced skills; the Examiner has to ask if the Candidate is thefinished article or faking his or her abilities?

Test Candidates may not meet the standard through consistent failure toemploy best practice in any one (or a combination) of these elements:

System - e.g. failure to use the System Phases in order to identify and dealwith hazards safely and efficiently.

Poor observation - the Examiner asks “Is the Candidate maximising obser-vation all around and seeing things in the same way as I do?”

Poor anticipation - e.g. late braking or moving to the opposing side of theroad too early when approaching temporary traffic lights.

Poor hazard assessment and planning - e.g. too fast into bends or junctions.

Poor positioning - e.g. too close to oncoming traffic or following too close.

Failure to make safe legal progress - e.g. too slow on open roads.

Gears – use of inappropriate gears for the speed/hazard - e.g. negotiatinga roundabout in 5th gear.

Poor use of acceleration sense - e.g. failure to make smooth and balancedprogress through a series of bends using acceleration sense.

Steering - e.g. crossing hands, driving one handed.

Speed limits, signs and lines - e.g. break the law and you fail the test.

Safety - if safety is not of paramount importance in your drive, you will fail.

Do you feel the pain?Do you get back pain driving your car? According to The Chartered Society ofPhysiotherapy choosing your car carefully and setting up your seat correctlycan make a big difference. A detailed publication showing you how to choose


What to do if you have an engine fireThere are over 70,000 car fires every year, many are as a result of arson butyou could be affected by fire caused by a malfunction of your vehicle.

If you think you have an engine or under-bonnet fire, you should take thefollowing precautions:

Stop your vehicle, switch off your engine and all auxiliaries including electri-cal items and get everyone out of the vehicle.

Call the Fire Brigade or get someone to do this for you.

If the fire is severe get yourself, passengers and bystanders well away.

If you want to investigate the cause of what may be a small fire don’t do sountil you have got your fire extinguisher ready. Check the instructions on theextinguisher carefully, remove the safety pin, unfold the nozzle and makesure you are familiar with its operation.

Don’t lift the bonnet to investigate the cause of a fire if you don’t have anextinguisher and you are not prepared as the the fire is likely to intensify, andthe angle of the bonnet will likely direct the flames towards you.

If you cannot put out the fire, or haven’t got an extinguisher, don’t return to thevehicle but retire to a safe distance and wait for the Fire Brigade to arrive.

a vehicle and how best to set up the seating to minimise back pain is availablefree from them at www.csp.org.uk/. Some of their tips are outlined below..

Vehicle attributes:The seat should adjust for the height and tilt independently.The seat should be wider than your hips and thighs.The back rest should support your shouldersA steering wheel adjustable for reach and rake is best.Automatic gearboxes can reduce strain on the legs.Steering wheel and pedals should be centrally positioned.

Adjusting the seat:The advice sets out eight steps to adjusting your seat to its optimum from apain free back perspective.

The steps involve starting with the steering wheel fully up and fully forward,the seat height at its lowest, the cushion tilted so that front edge is in lowestposition, the back rest approximately thirty degrees reclined from vertical, thelumbar adjustment backed off and the seat fully rearwards. It then takes youthrough all the steps to enable you to optimise your vision, reach of thecontrols and comfort but is far too lengthy to reproduce here.

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Summary of recentIAM Fact Sheets

These are aimed at helping you becomea safer driver/rider and enjoy your timeon the road more.You can download them fromwww.iam.org.ukNo. Subject

22/001 Classic Cars

21/001 Safety Cameras

20/001 Successful Towing Techniques

19/001 Driving Attitudes

18/001 Emergency Vehicles

17/001 Sharing the Road with Cyclists

16/001 Use of Gears & Adv Driving

15/001 Driver Fatigue

14/001 Driving in Wet Weather

13/001 The 'School Run'

12/001 Scooter Riders should be styl-ish but SAFE

Recent IAM News Releases all available at: www.iam.org.uk

Mobile phones - new survey by the IAM Feb 07

Mobile phones - new survey by the IAM Feb 07

Mobile phone law and you Feb 07

New Year Honour for IAM Chief Executive Jan 07

Driving in fog: advice from the IAM Dec 06

My Worries for "Hamster" Dec 06

IAM Driving Tips - each week throughout 2006 and into 2007 the IAM have pub-lished a driving tip, they are available to view now - just go to: www.iam.org.uk

Lay-bys at night (read P11 first)

Have a look at the Highway Code Rule223 - this tells you that all vehicles mustdisplay parking lights at night whenparked on a road or lay-by where thespeed limit is greater than 30 mph.T-shirtsYoung persons who pass the advancedtest through us are given a T-shirt carry-ing the relevant logo shown below.These T-shirts are now available to pur-chase by any group member at a re-duced cost of £5.

Place your order with Helen Cameron.

Free Membership offer still onAny Member introducing an Associate who goes on to take the IAM Test willhave free membership of the Group the following year. The committee encour-age you to let friends and relatives know about us and what we do.

advance spring07

Documents

group president

dumfries tel

group contact emailaddress

magazinethis magazine

stranraer tel

pmgroup committee members

used parts

stranraer new used