Scottish plods' gaffe

A Scottish police blitz on speeders has done nothing for safety. Targets set to secure more convictions were met and exceeded; more seatbelt offenders were caught. More drivers were convicted for using mobile phones, more insurance and driving licence offenders (not informing DVLA of an address change) were apprehended than ever before. Chief Constable Sir Stephen House made catching wrongdoers a priority when Police Scotland was created last year, setting targets to increase the number of speeding offences in order to “better influence driver behaviour”.
The result was that road deaths went up by 24 in 2013/14, including 55 per cent more motorcycle deaths and 50 per cent more cyclist deaths, an increase of 14 per cent.
A report by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland suggests officers should have discretion over whether to issue warnings instead of fines. Neil Greig, the Institute of Advanced Motorists’ director of policy and research, and Edmund King, the AA’s president, said more emphasis was needed on educating rather than punishing drivers. Supt Iain Murray, head of road policy for the police was unabashed, claiming the force worked to meet Scottish Government targets to reduce road casualties. Speeding and mobile phone use “are all proven to contribute to collisions and to increase the likelihood and severity of injuries.”
QED I think.

Middle Lane Muse

What do they mean, hogging the middle lane? I set the cruise control to an indicated 80mph, that is 70mph plus the 10 per cent or so the law allows. At this speed the middle lane of the motorway is perfectly agreeable. Flyers fly by on the outside, trucks trundle along on the inside; everybody, you would think, would be happy.

But no. Self-appointed Guardians Of The Highway Code, which says in effect you should always pull to the left, come up behind at 85 or 90mph and make a great display of swerving out as they overtake. They flash indicators and point leftwards in rebuke. I am too old and dignified for road rage and let them get on their high-blood-pressure way.

Smooth consistent and predictable behaviour is far better than dashing from lane to lane. The Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) manual says: "Return to the left when you can, but do not do this over-zealously so that you end up constantly skipping from one lane to another. Far too often on motorways you see strings of cars bunched needlessly in the right hand lane queuing up to pass a few people drifting along in the centre lane."

Drifting along in the centre lane seems to exclude those, like me, going about their lawful affairs at around the statutory speed limit. Driving experts disapprove of Slow Lane, Middle Lane, and Fast Lane; the outside one is the Overtaking Lane but in theory if the Middle Lane is occupied by 70mph traffic nobody should be overtaking anyway.

The safest roads are those on which all the traffic is doing the same speed. If everybody is bowling along at 60 or 70 nobody is going to be taken by surprise. Consistency, changing lane as seldom as possible, and constant monitoring of what is behind are best. Yes of course I look in the mirror and pull over if there’s nothing in the leftist lane, but now I fear those Guardianistas will think the traffic plods are on their side and hector even more.

(top) Bugatti Type 57S Atalante. (below) Bentley blower by Amherst Villiers.

Seat belts

The Institute of Advanced Motorists is upset that one in five drivers knows somebody who doesn’t use a seatbelt. In America they think being told to wear a seat belt is an infringement of personal liberty and in New Hampshire only 72 per cent of drivers wear them. They had to invent an America-only kind of seat belt that fastened on you automatically when you shut the car door. Here 95 per cent of drivers and front seat occupants wear them. It’s 30 years since they were made mandatory and I can believe the statistics that show how many lives they have saved. Yet I can remember the furore that accompanied the law; it was like the one that made motorcyclists wear crash helmets. There was a gung-ho minority that thought it was effete and safety gear of any sort was counter-intuitive. That is to say if you had too much of it and felt too secure you would take more risks. Well, it hasn’t worked out like that. Maybe there are a few hooligans in their belted-in, air-bagged cocoons who think they are immortal, but who would want to go back to the bad old days? I’m not sure I would welcome the big harnesses I fitted in my first Mark 1 Sprite. It took Nils Bohlin (1920-2002) of Volvo to invent the simple lap and diagonal in 1958 and save a million lives.

What are your views on safety legislation? Have you ever been saved by a seat belt, airbag or roll-hoop?

Statistics - Taking Account

Understated elegance and a great drive: Jaguar XF 2.2 diesel
Stopping changing the clocks could save 80 lives a year. It is a pity the Institute of Advanced Motorists has fallen prey to presumption. It issues a press release with a statistic which, whatever happens, is no more than an airy heading. This is the stock-in-trade of lobbyists, cranks, fraudsters and well-meaning charities. The IAM is quoting 1998 research by the TRRL at Crowthorne, a Report 368 by Broughton and Stone titled, “A new assessment of the likely effects on road accidents…”

Note, “assessment” and “likely”. Thirteen years ago its authors were cautious.

“Lives saved” has resonance. Smoking bans achieved it but let’s insert “countless” before “lives”. Estimates like this attract publicists because they are unchallengeable, one way or the other. Anti-smokers bandied figures; 5,000, 10,000 deaths prevented through reducing lung cancer and heart disease, I can’t remember. But there was no accounting for side effects. Addictive smokers took to drink; cirrhosis increased. They over-ate; obesity is epidemic. The balance of probability still supports anti-smoking but propagandists should be more measured.

Remember the campaign against driving with hand-held phones. “Lives saved” estimates were rampant. Who knows now? Lives probably have been saved. But others may have been lost because a reassuring call advising of lateness was never made. Motorcycle crash helmets were made compulsory following crusades, with guesses on lives that would be saved. The principle was probably right, head injuries were reduced but the legislation never took account of necks broken by heavy helmets. Nobody knows how many. A deliberate approach, taking account of the unexpected and never ignoring both sides of an equation is required, instead of bullying and hectoring, frightening legislators by overbearing claims. Climate scientologists and electric car zealots take note.

Caution campaigners. Seat belts and airbags have saved lives but let us not be misled by the guesswork and emotive language of safety lobbyists over-reaching themselves in pursuit of a headline.

Number One grandson. "I don't want to hear another word."

Alice's Adventures

Lewis Carroll’s parody on the Caucus race has been lost on the Institute of Advanced Motorists.`What is a Caucus-race?' said Alice; not that she wanted much to know, but the Dodo had paused as if it thought somebody ought to speak. `Why,' said the Dodo, `the best way to explain it is to do it.' First it marked out a race-course, in a sort of circle, (`the exact shape doesn't matter,') and then all the party were placed along the course, here and there. There was no `One, two, three, and away,' but they began running when they liked, and left off when they liked, so that it was not easy to know when the race was over. However, when they had been running half an hour or so, the Dodo suddenly called out `The race is over!' and they all crowded round, panting, and asking, `But who has won?' This question the Dodo could not answer without a great deal of thought, and it sat for a long time with one finger pressed upon its forehead, while the rest waited in silence. At last the Dodo said, `Everybody has won, and all must have prizes.'
I benefitted, as a teenager, from IAM monitoring. But rather like egalitarian schools that run sports days with no losers, the IAM is missing the point. Today it launched Momentum: “…for 17-25 year olds who have passed their driving test, incorporating two modules: an interactive online assessment, followed by an on-road session with an IAM examiner. Momentum does not involve an exam and there is no risk of failure.”
This is the world of Alice, where everybody wins and all must have prizes. Seventeen to twenty-fives might actually like a distinction, a badge showing they’ve achieved something. Advanced drivers have a certain cachet. I liked to think I was more “advanced” than others. It is a shame there is no official encouragement for “advancing” beyond the driving test. It’s cultural I suppose – avoids elitism. But this age group suffers more than its share of deaths and injuries and its driving improves, or sometimes doesn’t, largely through trial and error. Post-test guidance can reduce fatalities by a third and it’s time standards were raised. Hand out stars for better driving.
Driving skill. RAC Golden Fifty Rally, 1982, driving Victor Gauntlett's Aston Martin with radio reporter Greg Strange
Momentum courses cost £40, which will be taken off an IAM Skill for Life programme bought within a year. Skill for Life developed from Momentum helps predict hazards, anticipate others’ behaviour and assess roads and traffic. Buying Momentum between now and the end of April might win a place on an IAM young driver experience day at a UK track. More information on www.iam.org.uk/momentum

An American Alice. Detroit Motor Show 2011

Institute of Advanced Motorists' initiative

This is me. I first passed IAM test in this Austin-Healey Sprite.
Experience teaches distrust of claims that one measure or another will prevent x number of road deaths. Earnest but false campaigns by Brake, the charity that promotes slowness is among the culpable. Today it presents a petition to replace 30mph by 20mph in towns. The Institute of Advanced Motorists’ claim that young driver deaths could be cut by a third if post-test training was made compulsory makes more sense. In Austria it has produced a 30 per cent reduction in fatal accidents to new drivers.

Simon Best, CEO of the IAM says: “We need no reminding that 17–25 year olds — particularly men — proportionally have more crashes and suffer more death and injury than any other group. Despite this, very little is being done to ensure that young people improve their driving after passing the test. The high numbers of them who continue to be killed or seriously injured highlights the need for legislation insisting on post-test training over all kinds of roads; especially rural roads on which young people suffer disproportionately.” *

Young driver, 1960s, me, Glasgow Herald Highland Rally, Aberdeen tests.
This Blog has always advocated better training for young drivers. Pre-17 experience has been invaluable in our family (see older posts). The IAM is writing to the Under Secretary of State for Transport about post-test training, which would not be an unpopular option. There would be no question of taking a new driver off the road if they ’failed’, however. A second phase of short coaching sessions and driving practice off the public highway would be compulsory within a year of passing the test. In Austria, legal requirements for novices for further assessment have had outstanding results.

The IAM is launching Momentum in the New Year, offering young drivers a low-cost assessment by an IAM examiner to improve confidence, raise awareness, and reduce risk. What a good idea. I have to declare an interest. As a journalist I first passed the IAM test in the 1960s, repeating it three times more for features I was writing, although I never formally joined the Institute. Passing the test was not the important bit. Observed drives with real IAM members mattered far more. I thought I was an OK driver until my first mentor, Bill Jackson of the Glasgow IAM asked me what was on a road sign I had just passed. It was a tutorial in observation I still apply. Making sure drivers look where they are going is better than 20mph limits for safeguarding GrandTeddy. (see older blogs)
*Rural roads – the biggest killer: IAM Motoring Trust

Beautiful GrandTeddy - well worth a Preservation Order