Category - ADI

Merseyside Police Event to Cut Road Deaths

19/03/2011
DOAADI
ADI

This story on the BBC reports on an event by Merseyside police aimed at cutting the death toll amongst young drivers.

Merseyside PoliceAround 2,400 people under 25 have been injured in the last three years and 12 have died since 2009.

The event is being run today (I’m only commenting on the article, not advertising it), so it’s probably too late to go if you’re seeing this.

People can win driving lessons, breakdown kits, and even a go on the police skidpan. Police vehicle examiners will also be able to check cars to make sure they’re roadworthy.

One of the police officers involved says that accidents wreck lives. No one could disagree with that.

He also says one death on the roads [in Merseyside] is too many. No one could disagree with that (and that applies everywhere, not just in Merseyside).

Probably the most significant thing he says, though, is:

By nature young people are inexperienced but also tend to be over-confident, which can be a disastrous combination.

Young drivers, especially men, are more likely to take risks – driving too fast, too close to the car in front and dangerous overtaking.

And this is where it gets complicated. Having said that young people are “over-confident”, is an event like this ever going to change them? Having said that young men are more likely to take risks, will they change after going to such events?

The short answer is NO, on both counts.

The problem lies in the attitudes that young people have these days. It stands to reason that new drivers will always be at greater risk when they start driving on their own – it’s the Law of the Universe, so people should stop trying to fix it.

It is the attitude that some drivers have which needs changing. Voluntary attendance at a free event like this won’t do it, no matter how laudable to underlying motives for running it are.

Stop-Start Drivers a Nuisance

19/03/2011
DOAADI
ADI

This is an old article.

This story in Autoblog raises an interesting issue (link now dead).

It says that there is a group of drivers between the ages of 17 and 29 who have passed their tests, but rarely drive. As a result, when they DO drive they are a danger to themselves and everyone about them.

The “research” (aka survey) from the Axa insurance company says that 17% of drivers in the 17-29 group drive maybe once or twice a month at the most (many drive less with gaps of years). But the survey reveals that these people are more likely to have accidents that were their own fault.

The figures are astonishing (not to mention confusing – you can imagine Axa’s staff raiding their database and learning how to use Microsoft Excel to come up with these statements):

  • those who drive once or twice a month are FIVE TIMES more likely to have had FOUR own-fault bumps than those who drive daily
  • they were 14 TIMES more likely to have had FIVE own-fault bumps
  • they were 11 TIMES more likely to be uninsured when they had those bumps
  • only 11% described themselves as “confident” behind the wheel, compared to over 50% of regular drivers
  • 28% admitted to having forgotten most of what they learnt for their tests

The article immaturely ends by saying: never mind the over-70s having to retake their tests – what about this lot? I think we can just ignore that, because they are two totally separate subjects (how many over 70s are totally non-confident on the road, and only drive once or twice a month? Sunday drivers, anyone?)

The “research” is nowhere near deep enough to reveal whether these people don’t drive BECAUSE they are not confident, or if their lack of confidence stems from their not driving. For most of them it is quite likely to be the latter.

I remember when I passed. I couldn’t afford a car and didn’t drive for over a year. I never thought about it until I got in my first car, then all of a sudden I was nervous because I’d never driven alone before. So I warn all my pupils of that when they pass, and to consider easing themselves into it rather than jump in with both feet if they are nervous or worried in any way.

It’s fairly obvious that if they don’t practice then they will forget.

Somewhere along the way, that’s the point this story has missed.

And it should also be fairly obvious that you can’t just say someone who doesn’t drive very often is an insurance dodger without some serious qualification.

As for nervousness – it’s a separate thing altogether for some people.

Democracy Simply Does Not Work

19/03/2011
DOAADI
ADI, World

Idiot SenatorWith all the kerfuffle in the USA over texting while driving you’d have expected any proposed law to make it illegal to sail through the system and become enforceable in no time at all.

Not so in Montana.  The Republic reports that Bill 251 has been rejected by a 31-18 vote.

Apparently, it would be hard to enforce and create more work!

It’s nice to know that it isn’t just in the UK that people who should be under 24 hour care make it into government positions.

I wonder how they think they can stop it without it involving extra work?

Basically, these loonies have declared that texting while driving is OK by virtue of rejecting a bill to make it illegal.

In the words of Kent Brockman:

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: democracy simply doesn’t work.

Surfing Whilst Driving in UK

18/03/2011
DOAADI
ADI, World

The Market Rasen Mail has an article on Facebook and Twitter use behind the wheel. It seems that police in Devon & Cornwall are catching more and more motorists possessing phones with internet capability.

Inspector Richard Price, from the force’s roads policing unit, said: “With the new mobile phones, it is becoming more commonplace for people to use them to access social media than for texting while driving.

“The availability of information is sometimes too tempting to drivers and often they will be picking up the phone and updating their (Facebook) site.”

It’s frightening that people this stupid are even allowed out unsupervised, let alone permitted to drive cars. They even admit to it.

…research by the RAC had shown one in five motorists in the south-west had admitted to checking social media alerts whilst driving…

So up to 20% of people on the roads down that way are liable to be surfing while they are driving. I’d wager it is even higher around London and in the south-east.

Inspector Price summed up the whole problem surrounding driver behaviour on the roads – and that would include the behaviour which kills all the little chavs everyone is always prattling on about:

A minority of drivers have a complacent and sometimes arrogant attitude to driving.

He didn’t define “minority” in this case.

£24,100 to Insure Volvo

18/03/2011
DOAADI
ADI

A Southport teenager has been quoted £24,100 to insure his 12 year old Volvo, which is worth £700.

I have to say that the article is a little biased in favour of the teen. It says:

The Crossens youngster flipped his Corsa, despite driving at low speed, and came to a standstill in the front garden of a Bankfield Lane house.

Now, this is where the problem is. A basic understanding of physics makes it hard to imagine how going slow and carefully can flip the car off the road, across the pavement, and into a garden. Obviously, having no understanding of physics at all means newspapers anxious to sensationalise can make such statements with ease.

If I was going to draw up a typical likely-to-drive-like-a-chav profile for a teenager, one of the first things I’d put on it would be “Vauxhall Corsa”. I won’t say where said teenager would come from, but some areas of the country would feature higher than others.

I drove in the bad weather and at no point did my car show any signs of leaping tall buildings and landing on its roof in someone’s front garden. Sir Isaac Newton would be happy to know that around here at least, gravity and the laws of motion still work as you’d expect, even if they’rer suspended up in Southport.

The teenager was quoted £24,100 by the AA. On price comparison websites he was quoted £12,000 and £15,000. It is fairly obvious that he is seen as a high risk – no matter what car he is driving.

Perhaps he could consider that Co-op blackbox scheme that has been launched. Then he can prove his last accident was a fluke and nothing at all to do with going too fast.

Texting School Bus Driver

18/03/2011
DOAADI
ADI, World

Another American story, this time about a school bus driver in Connecticut (link now dead – it was on the CBS News website) who sent over 1,000 text messages while driving between April and May 2010.

The investigation appears to have been triggered by alleged assault by the bus driver’s daughter on the autistic daughter of another parent. But the texting problem was revealed by surveillance cameras set up to investigate the allegation.

We have to remember that this isn’t an “American thing”. Obsessive texting is a real problem in the Western world.

This story has been picked up by the Daily Mail over here.

Raising the Driving Age in USA?

18/03/2011
DOAADI
ADI, World

If the UK isn’t careful, America – where some states require a pack of Pampers to be carried in the boot in case the driver needs a nappy change – could overtake it in the road safety stakes.

This article indicates that Texas (of all places) is seeking to make 16 the minimum age for a learner licence, and 18 the minimum age for a full licence across the whole country. In addition, they wouldn’t be allowed out at night, wouldn’t be able to carry more than one passenger under 21, and wouldn’t be allowed to use their mobile when driving.

Experts warn this won’t happen without a big fight, as some states will oppose the change.

The most telling comment comes from a driving instructor over there:

Kerryne Wilshire says she’s not sure if STANDUP [the law in question] would actually keep teen safer. She says at the end of the day it depends on the driver.

“Every kid is different and that’s a kid by kid basis,” she said.

The only thing I would say is that 14 or 15 is WAY too young to be driving. Some people are still children at that age, still playing with dolls or fighting in the mud. At least by raising the minimum age you are removing a large part of that issue.

But age is only part of the problem, as Kerryne Wilshire suggests.

We Do It Differently!

18/03/2011
DOAADI
ADI, General

Yes, of course you do! This article in getwokingham made me smile.

All it is is a story about two learners who have won 30 hours of driving lessons each. That’s ALL it is – unless you listen to the driving school who put up the prize, for whom it is a major advertising exercise.

At [big-headed school in question] we have a slightly different way of learning which aims to help people develop their driving skills rather than just pass the test.

If I had £1 for every driving school – single- or multi-car – which has claimed this, I’d be able to retire.

SmugLet’s just set the record straight on a few points. Every ADI is self-employed, and the way they teach is purely down to them. So no school or franchise can claim that all of its instructors are identical, because they aren’t. Nor could they ever be.

An ADI might be taught to teach a certain way by his instructor, but once he is out teaching he will develop his own style. Simple fact.

In exactly the same way, learner drivers will do the same once they pass their tests.

Every driving school in existence is there to teach people to pass the test – that’s because there is a test that must be passed, and that creates a market for people who can teach you how to do it.

Like everything else in life, learning new things is merely a stepping stone to further development. When a child learns to write, they quickly learn to express themselves in ways that are specific to them. They don’t just learn to write the alphabet and nothing else – they apply their knowledge and develop new skills independently of anyone else. This is one of the miracles of the human brain.

Driving is the same. If people are taught appropriately – I’ll leave the word “correctly” to the idiot school in the article – then they are given all the necessary tools to carry on developing. They do not need showing how to use them in every conceivable situation. Anyone who thinks they do – like the school in the article is implying it does – is not as clever as they think they are.

A few ADIs out there take things to extremes, of course, and only drive test routes. Of course, I’m sure the school in question is going to drive miles and miles away from test routes during those 30 hours the two learners have won.

The bottom line back in the real world is that someone somewhere has donated around £1,500 worth of free lessons and got their company splashed all over a newspaper. It would cost a lot more than £1,500 to do that through normal advertising.

Oh, yes. And they are driving instructors like most others. They teach people to drive.

And one final thing. One of the prize winners said:

I was really surprised and shocked to find out I had won. It will save me a lot of money, well, it will save my dad a lot of money.

So like every other learner out there, her main priority is to spend as little as possible in order to get her licence.

So it matters little that the driving school claims that it “does things differently”. The only “different” thing any school can do to get people to become safer drivers than they would otherwise be is to get them to take more and more lessons. Because experience only comes with driving time.

Making them take more lessons is a certain way of making them go to a different school – it happens all the time when people know they aren’t being taught quickly, and end up spending too much time parked up and yapping away.

Still, it was a nice advert for them.

Try and Squeeze Through That One!

18/03/2011
DOAADI
ADI, General

I saw this story about a new traffic calming measure in the Watford Observer.

This Google Maps image shows the feature (BEFORE it was modified, judging from the descriptions in the article):

Woodmere Avenue, WatfordThe restriction in question used to be 236cm wide, and it had a single post either side. After being modified, it is now 213cm wide, and it has three posts on each side.

The question you have to ask is why was it made  narrower?

Apparently, numerous cars have been damaged – some can’t even get through it – and at least two are in the process of suing the council.

It is also on a driving test route.

The article points out:

On the day it was re-opened, police were forced to close the road while engineers came back to shorten the steel posts, which had knocked the wing mirrors off dozens of cars.

So it was poorly installed even in the first place. This should automatically lead you to at least consider that it might have been poorly installed in other ways, or that it was perhaps poorly conceived at some point. The fact that it is causing so many problems surely points to something being wrong somewhere.

…several drivers have continued to hit the shortened posts, with one engineer admitting one in ten vehicles are being damaged by the obstacle.

There comes a point when you can’t keep blaming the motorist. When 10% of them are experiencing the same problem, maybe you have found that point?

Unless you are a council held by this Mickey Mouse coalition we have at the moment.

The problem seems to be that the restriction is now not so much a bottleneck as a channel – the three posts either side mean you have to drive in a precise line over a finite distance instead of just at a single point, so you have to be absolutely parallel with the kerb as well as more equally spaced either side to negotiate the 23cm narrower gap – and you have to maintain it over several metres.

But here’s where it gets really funny. It’s the part where the Mickey Mouse councillors try to justify it:

Council bosses claim the work, costing £18,000, was carried out to save them money repairing the previous posts.

A resident points out that all six of the new posts are already damaged.

The police say they have had reports of drivers hitting the posts as well as of them using the bus lane in the middle. Ah yes, the bus lane – I wonder if that is any wider than it was before?

Hertfordshire County Councillor Stephen Giles-Medhurst, who sits on the authority’s highways and transport panel, said it was a possibility a camera could be introduced to prevent this.

The Liberal Democrat representative for Central Watford and Oxhey said: “If it continues it is something we could consider.

Wow. What a way for the Mickey Mouse government to save money – spend cash needlessly altering a chicane, end up spending more to maintain it than you did before to contradict your alleged reason for changing it at all, then put a camera in to make sure it isn’t used incorrectly as a result of its rubbish design and build quality!

Giles-Medhurst then reveals his true feelings about those he is supposed to represent:

“I drove my car, a Toyota Prius, through the posts and had no problem. It shouldn’t be an issue unless you misjudge it. I would ask, if you lose you wing mirror, are you driving at the right speed?

“There have been a lot of complaints, particularly from people with cars wider than 7ft, but there are signs up and if you ignore them, you do so at your own risk.”

What a prize moron he is.

In any case, all this is about the bus lane and nothing else. The modification was done for the buses, not motorists or anyone else.

What a Teacher They Must Be!

18/03/2011
DOAADI
ADI, General

I’m getting a lot of hits at the moment on things like “dangerous adi” and “overtaking adi”.

I’m not sure precisely what the searcher is searching for, but maybe they’re looking for evidence of the silver Renault Scenic (reg no. R511 NRR ) that overtook me at traffic lights last night along Wilford Lane.

The pea-brained driver had decided he or she was going to overtake before a lane merge at Compton Acres, and overtake they were going to – even though there was no room. It’s also worth pointing out that the 30mph speed limit both before and after their idiotic manoeuvre obviously meant nothing to them.

The scary part was the “baby on board” sticker in the back window, and the L plates on the back. There’s every chance it DID have children inside, seeing as it headed off towards Clifton (big surprise). God help whoever it is they’re teaching to drive.