Bad Drivers - Diary Of An ADI

BBC3: Licence To Kill

26/04/2013

Sophie Morgan, who I mentioned in that last story, was on BBC3 last night in fronting a documentary about fatal road accidents. You can still catch it on iPlayer for the usual limited time.

I started watching it with a very negative mind – Ms Morgan’s attempts (deliberate or otherwise) to try and pin the blame for accidents on poor levels of driving instruction were still fresh. However, it became clear quite early on that the point of this programme was quite different. If anything, it contradicts what Ms Morgan has to say about “training” because it clearly identifies attitude and inexperience as the major causes of accidents.

Ms Morgan went to a boy racer meeting (the “Trafford Motor Cruise”). Interviewing some of the dickheads present, she got quotes such as:

Speed’s like a drug, innit, really?

Are you here for a race?

Yeah! It gets your adrenalin off goin’.

That second one was from a young girl, who looked barely old enough to drive (so still with wet ink on her licence). If you search for that particular “cruise” on Google, you’ll find forum threads with such quotes as this:

hey peeps,

anyone that goes or is interested in going to a well known cruise on the border of eccles and trafford park in manchester just give us a shout back.

i travel down at around 21.30 every friday night, can be anything from 20 to 70 cars there. ANY car is welcome in any condition its mainly to chill and watch races down the straight. theres regularly some Evo’s and Subaru’s going at it as well .

anyone interested in joining ?

its a straight road with a dead end at the bottom, it was basically made for HGV’s to park up on the side to sleep for the night, good surface, makes a good drag strip.

so very legal then…. i hope they dont go over the 30mph limit set down these industrial roads…. i know where you can do 135mph+ legally

course its legal , the police come most weeks, but they dont bother to do anything, too many people really, they just cruise down looking all mean, ask a few questions, then get off again.

they ask stupid questions really, like “what are you doing here” which gets the same answer “just chillin” what else would a load of modded cars be doing together ? racing each other down the big long road ? noooo…dont be silly

Back to the documentary, it was harrowing to see the aftermath of the crashes. But it was also surprising to hear the parents of the motorcyclist who was apparently killed on a “cruise” while driving at speeds approaching those of the Space Shuttle on re-entry – having only had his licence for a year -appearing to defend his behaviour somewhat. His mother said he “never grew up”, and his dad likened him and his motorcycle to a young girl and her horse:

…[It’s like] young girls and horses. What do you do? Do you take the horse off them because they’ve fallen off twice [spreads hands questioningly]…

Unfortunately, it’s not the same thing at all. Not by a million miles. It just illustrates something else I’ve said in various articles on here – that the problems go far deeper and farther back in time than just the individual involved. And by that, I mean that the parents (and society, as it deals with youngsters) are directly responsible for much of this attitude.

At about seventeen and half minutes into the documentary, Ms Morgan says something that I have said again and again:

One in three of all people who die on the roads is under 25. Experts say that that’s because young drivers are more likely to take risks.

But with less experience, they are less able to cope with those risks – especially if something goes wrong.

So, that’s two nails Ms Morgan’s hit on the head. Wrong attitude, and not as good as they think they are. You can’t help note the irony between this conclusion, and that other BBC show – Barely Legal Drivers – where an ex-cop talks up the most appalling driving to try and find good where none exists.

Although it might seem unfair to pursue this particular line of thinking in the context of this documentary, I have been unable to find out exactly what happened in the case of Ms Morgan’s accident other than the sanitised couple of sentences on the many websites and media stories in which she features. However, in this programme it is made clear that she was speeding, and she openly admits that it was her fault and she was driving badly, and all credit must go to her for that. But in the last 10 minutes she ruins it all by arguing that new drivers need to be trained better! I cannot for the life of me see how she links her own poor judgement and speeding – and that of all the others featured in the programme – with the need for better driver education! Better upbringing, yes. But not better driving tuition.

No amount of skid pan training is going to stop people behaving like prats, and no driving instructor teaches them to behave that way, either. The whole programme screamed out loud that attitude and behaviour were the key issues in all the accidents discussed. Skid pan training might save the bad driver in question – but what about the innocent bystander? Just because you can handle an artificial skid, it doesn’t mean you can handle a real one, nor does it suddenly become OK to drive at 70 in a 30mph zone, and to T-bone someone’s car as they emerge from a side street. Ms Morgan has it all mixed up.

I find it really difficult to come to terms with the fact that someone so engaging and intelligent could draw such wrong conclusions from the data, and I can’t help think that her obvious bitterness about her accident and resulting disability is clouding her judgement. I agree with her that shock tactics might have some value in addressing the issue – in part. I disagree that this value would be as great as she seems to imply. Since time immemorial, young people have generally ignored facts and gone their own way. You see it with smoking, drug use, and behaving stupidly or illegally over all manner of things – and driving is no different. No matter how “shocked” they are at hard-hitting road shows, the majority of those attending such events will fall back to the teenage standard mode of behaviour quite easily. That’s where the problem is rooted. It’s not that these things don’t have a purpose – but we have to be careful not to overstate that purpose.

The programme concludes with Courtney Meppen-Walter being jailed for the the crash which killed two people and left another brain damaged. Again, Ms Morgan suggests that if he’d “better understood the dangers” then it wouldn’t have happened. What is there to “understand” about a 30mph speed limit? Meppen-Walter was doing twice that, and no instructor would ever have told him that was OK. Meppen-Walter knew it was wrong. Ms Morgan further argues that “we’re not preparing people for the roads” – another shot that misses the mark completely by suggesting that training rather than attitude is the issue.

Putting all of that aside, I’m going to use the programme as part of my own training package. If it shocks even one person into behaving properly when they go out on their own then it will have been of value. But nothing I can do will change everyone.

That responsibility lies with the parents and society.

Edit: I have updated this story here.

Crash Driver Appeals For Driving Test Changes

24/04/2013

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ADI, Bad Drivers, News, Training

This story first cropped up last November. Well, Sophie Morgan – who I didn’t name at the time out of respect – did. She cropped up again in December in another, related story.

Even back then, the claims she was making were factually incorrect. It is wrong for anyone with such inaccurate information to talk to newspapers or TV stations as if they were authorities on a subject, because the media has absolutely no interest in accuracy. Dangerous myths are started and perpetuated quite easily this way. It is also of dubious merit to play on one’s disabilities to get a bigger say in such matters.

Sophie Morgan is not an authority on learning to drive. In her own words, she was apparently to blame for the accident which put her in a wheelchair:

It was 2003 and I was 18. I had just received my A-level results and was at a friend’s party. A group of us piled into a Renault Clio and sped off down the road.

Like Lauren [used in the Daily Mail story’s computer simulation], I was inexperienced and overly confident. The passengers around me were drunk. That is my last memory of the night. I lost control and flipped the car into a field.

Note the words “sped”, and the fact that drink is mentioned. So it makes my blood boil when in this latest article she claims:

…the driving licence isn’t fit for purpose…

…We don’t experience driving on the motorway, or driving at night, or with passengers or loud music…

I’m sorry, but this is misleading nonsense. And I find it offensive that, in an indirect way, I am being held partly responsible by this woman for all the juvenile lunatics who end up killing or seriously injuring themselves because of “speeding” off and being around “drunk people” when they’ve just passed their tests. It is the lifestyle and the upbringing which is almost totally to blame – not the driving lessons or the driving test.

In the last two weeks I have taken at least half a dozen of my pupils on to the A46 – a busy dual carriageway and, as I always explain to them, “the nearest thing I can get to taking you on the motorway”. I make damned sure they get up to – and maintain – 70mph when it is safe to do so, and I make damned sure they overtake lorries and slower moving vehicles. I make damned sure they learn how to merge properly when joining, and how to watch for others joining when passing junctions. We get to see spanking new red, green, white, and amber road studs, roundabout junctions, the lot. To get there we journey along a single track road, and various rural roads with lots of bends. I explain clearly the skewed accident statistics associated with young drivers and rural roads. I cover limit points, anticipation, and planning.

Their early attempts to drive along rural roads – with poor positioning due to the narrowness, and jerky steering through not looking far enough ahead and anticipating – provide ideal learning material to explain why new drivers – with these same weaknesses potentially only just below the surface – have accidents when they go out on such roads with a car full of their mates and loud music blaring. Apart from “mind the kerb”, the second most common thing I end up saying is “that’s too fast” – which is particularly relevant when we first start dealing with lots of rural bends. It is closely followed with “watch where you’re going” when they turn late on a bend. By the time they reach test standard, they can comfortably drive any route I take them on. So all this is covered.

Recently, I’ve taken several of my ex-pupils on motorway lessons, and I’ve been impressed with how they’ve handled it (one last week hadn’t driven since she passed more than 6 months ago, but handled it perfectly). Quite honestly, there is little real difference between a 70mph dual carriageway and a motorway (except to the anal retentives out there) when it comes to driving safely on either of them. The biggest problem is other drivers, for whom the National Speed Limit (or any speed limit, in fact) is regarded as either an advisory or a bare minimum speed.

At least 80% of my pupils take some lessons in the dark, and only those who start and pass during the summer months are likely to miss out (I’ve had some who have only ever driven in the dark). Most have at least one lesson with mum or dad (or husband or wife) in the back so I can point out what to look for when doing private practice, and the pupil invariably drives differently in those circumstances, which I use as another demonstration of what can happen when they pass. And I have all kinds of conversations with people on lessons – using any mistakes that result as an example of what it would be like “with your mates in your ear” or “the kids playing up in back”.

So having covered just about all of the possible pitfalls in my lessons, what exactly does Sophie Morgan think is missing?

I ask that, because any one of my pupils – any of those who have driven at night, at speed, in snow, mum or dad in the back seat, and along the narrowest of country roads – is automatically at risk of having an accident as a result of judgement error if they push the limits of their little experience too far.

The driving test does not – and absolutely never has claimed to – put complete, experienced, mature drivers on the roads. It is the first stage of learning to drive; the beginning of a lifelong learning curve, recognising that the new driver is immature (and needs to grow up), inexperienced (and needs to gain experience), and is not the fount of all knowledge (even though he or she is almost certainly going to believe otherwise these days). And that’s where the problem clearly lies: the attitude of the individual.

When I passed my test – or rather, when I first got my own car and went out alone – I was absolutely shitting myself! I only ever had one accident that was my fault (that was more than 10 years later) when I braked on sheet ice and skidded into a kerb, damaging my front suspension. For these reasons, I explain to all my pupils about going out alone for the first time, and about driving in winter (assuming we don’t get a chance to do it for real). I have covered all the bases any instructor could – or should – be expected to cover.

This attitude problem goes beyond being a smart arse once they’ve passed, too. A lot of people want to learn to drive for the lowest amount of money possible. That causes problems in itself, because a cheapo instructor isn’t going to be taking anyone on any long journeys in order to save fuel, and a normal instructor faced with someone who is strapped for cash will be trying to balance “when can I book my test” and “I can only afford 1 hour lessons” (plus lots of cancellations) against the prospect of losing the pupil altogether. Add a good dose of “my dad says he only had three lessons before he passed”, and the driving lessons involved are likely to be intense and biased towards merely passing the test.

Is it any wonder that they have accidents? And yet they still try to blame their lessons.

No Entry Means… No Entry!

23/04/2013

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ADI, Bad Drivers, General

On the subject of pathetic drivers, I was on a lesson last night and we were driving through the city centre. We’d got to the end of Huntingdon Street when all of a sudden the traffic was at a standstill in the left lane.

It was because some imbecile (Black Ford Focus, reg. no. Y734 VGE) had stopped to turn left into Nile Street – which is clearly marked with No Entry signs because it is a one way road. To make matters worse, someone was coming out of Nile Street and couldn’t emerge because of the traffic overtaking the queue we were in caused by the idiot who’d started it all. So it was a gridlock situation in the left lane.

There’s more than one problem with the people who do these kinds of things. To start with, some of them know what they’re doing is wrong – they’re just arrogant tossers who don’t give a damn. Others are so appallingly bad at driving that they genuinely don’t see road signs, and if they do there’s no guarantee they understand them. And even after all that – in a situation like this one, where it is obvious you can’t go that way when there’s someone blocking the mouth of the road – they’re just too stupid to work it out.

Still, as we finally managed to get past, I pointed out to my pupil the No Entry sign. So at least it provided a further valuable learning topic for the lesson.

Turning Right At Traffic Lights

23/04/2013

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ADI, Bad Drivers, General

One of my pet hates is when I am at traffic lights waiting to turn left or go straight ahead, and the twat on the opposite side turning right decides that he somehow has the right of way. It happened today with a Vauxhall Cavalier (I think), reg. no. FG56 YPA.

What annoys me most, I guess, is how they put their heads down and refuse to make eye contact afterwards (assuming they use their mirrors when driving in the first place, of course). They know they’ve made a bad decision, but are too stupid to learn from it.

On the roads these days there’s a lot of monkey-see-monkey-do behaviour. I get it with some of my pupils, when they start following cars in front (or signal when they do), and I have to point out how dangerous it is, especially when they go out on their own. A good example is the speed bumps along Shelton Street in St. Anns in Nottingham. I can remember when one or two people started driving in the middle of the road to try and avoid them – and within a few months you had every idiot driver doing it, even when traffic was coming the other way.

It’s the same with this traffic light problem. It’s far worse in certain areas – the rough places, where everyone has six kids and owns a Staffie. It used to be only the boy racers or young pillocks who did it (like the one I mentioned above), but it’s got to the stage where even the more “normal” – but horrendously even-less-gifted drivers – do it. Their judgement is appalling.

Audi And Vauxhall Vectra Drivers Exposed

26/03/2013

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ADI, Bad Drivers, News, Training

Very old post. But still completely relevant – if not more so.

A reader sent me this link to an article in the Daily Mail. It identifies Audi drivers as the worst in the country at parking (it forgot to include “at driving” too, but I guess that there’s no point stating the obvious).

Anyone who has been following this blog (or the monthly ADI News version) will know that I don’t have much time for Audi drivers. As long ago as 2008 I had begun to identify them as an exclusive bunch, i.e. exclusively a bunch of prats. When we had the first white stuff back in January this year there was an article in the newspapers about a jackass in an Audi who had deemed it “amusing” to drive at 70mph in thick snow, having cleared a tiny 8-inch porthole to look out of, and with almost a foot of the stuff on his car covering all the lights and other windows. Stories like this keep the fires well stoked.

It comes as no surprise to learn that Audis (and therefore their drivers) have been officially identified as the worst parkers by a mile.

There are two obvious reasons for this, which the news story doesn’t elaborate on. Firstly, the typical Audi driver is an arrogant pillock who doesn’t give a toss about anyone else. Secondly – and aided immeasurably by that first thing – the typical Audi driver is also devoid of any tangible driving skills.

Audis are the car of choice for the average male chav if he can afford one. Immediately, therefore, you have a mind-set whose sole purpose is to go faster than everyone else, with no regard for speed limits, and yet with almost no experience with which to be able to read normal road situations, let alone read them at speed.

One of the things I cover on lessons is what signs to look for when reading the road ahead. Dealing with buses, for example, would include subtle signs like:

has the bus only just stopped?
has it been there since it came into view?
is it still signalling left?
have the brake lights just come on?
is it signalling right?
are the hazard lights on?
are there people getting on or off?
how many?
is someone with a pushchair getting on or off?
what time of day is it?
how many times has the bus stopped so far?
and so on

By considering these sorts of things it can help drivers decide whether to go past the bus or not. And it’s the same when dealing with other road users. Questions like: does the driver in front look elderly? Is the driver messing around with something on his passenger seat? And my favourite: is it an Audi?

That’s because you can virtually guarantee that NO Audi will stay behind you – even on a single carriageway, and even if you’re driving at the speed limit. On multi-lanes, if you make the mistake of getting into the outside lane – otherwise known as the Audi lane – then you’re going to get either tailgated until you move, or overtaken on the inside. I think Audi must write this sort of behaviour into the vehicle handbook, or make it a condition of owning one.

A QC Who Thinks He Has The Answer

23/02/2013

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OK, I suppose they’re not that rare – QCs who think they know it all, that is – but whenever they open their mouths you still have to wonder what planet they come from.

This letter in the Financial Times (you have to register, but it’s free) is from Julian Malins, QC (he’s signed it, so that’s why I’m mentioning him by name). It came through in the newsfeeds with the headline title “Driving test is too difficult so many do not bother at all”, so it naturally caught my attention.

It is all to do with a previous FT story about the declining numbers of young people taking the driving test, explained as being due to financial constraints and the like.

Our expert QC berates the FT for this. Apparently, it is obvious (to him, at any rate) that the only reason people don’t take the driving test as much is that it is too hard!

It would appear that his sole source of evidence is that the police once told him that as much as 10% of all drivers on the M25 at any time are unlicensed.

He should look outside of London, EC4 (he probably isn’t aware that people even live outside of EC4). In some places, notably in Yorkshire, as many as 90% of all drivers are uninsured or unlicensed in some areas, and I got that off the police in those cop shows on cable.

I’m not sure what our expert QC would suggest, though if you join the dots the obvious answer is that the test should be made easier or just abolished. Malins suggests that this is why magistrates courts are filled with these people.

You have to wonder how such naïveté could be found in someone who is actually capable of destroying someone’s life as a result of these totally inaccurate beliefs.

Result! Cassie’s Law Is Going To Happen

31/01/2013

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A reader provided me with this link, which I hadn’t seen – it’s in today’s Daily Mail.

Readers will be aware that I ran a few articles on the Cassie’s Law E-Petition. The petition closed last November, and I honestly thought that it had failed to gain enough support to be debated in Parliament.

The reader who sent the link referred to MY campaign. I wish I could claim that honour, but all I did was report on it and push it as hard as I could. I was not involved with it beyond that, and did not liaise with Jackie McCord (Cassie’s mother) in any way at all. The story just touched me – as well as hitting a nerve! The only thing I do know is that the stories I posted got quite a few hits and I’d like to think that this led to the petition gaining some extra signatures.

Anyway, as the story reveals, Cassie’s Law is to become LAW.*

For those not aware of the story, Cassie McCord was 16 when she was hit by an 87-year old driver who mixed up his accelerator and brakes, flew on to a pavement, and crushed her against a wall. He had already been involved in an accident days earlier and had refused to surrender his licence. Police were powerless to do anything.

You can read the full story for yourselves, but this was great news to see. And we mustn’t forget the others who lost their lives due to elderly drivers who shouldn’t have been on the road.

* the changes are not actually a change in the Law, but procedures have been put in place to get elderly and medically unfit drivers off the road quicker – something that would have saved Cassie’s life if it had been in place sooner.

Prat In Audi Drives At 70mph With Almost Zero Visibility Due To Snow Cover

23/01/2013

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This came through on the newsfeeds. A complete twat in an Audi – what else – was pictured on the M4 in Wales driving at around 70mph with a foot of snow on his car, and only a narrow slot on the front window to see out of.

It compares well with what I saw today: a BMW with private plates (reg. no. P19 RMW) doing similar speeds with a geometrically perfect half of the rear window – the driver’s side – covered in at least 6 inches of snow. He must have thought it was brilliantly funny to be doing that. He shot off down the ring road, and I could tell he’d passed because of the huge pile of snow half way down which had blown off – creating a skid hazard for everyone else.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Audi drivers and people with private plates shouldn’t be allowed to breed.

That report above was a result of the prat with the Audi being posted all over the internet – and police are now investigating. God! They’re SO clever, these idiots.

The Crassest Parents On The Planet

04/01/2013

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This one appeared on the newsfeeds today. Up in Scotland, an example of the crassest parents imaginable filmed their 7-year old daughter driving the family BMW.

You can view an original YouTube clip here, although I don’t think this is THE original. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if the parents who posted it in the first place haven’t pulled it down now, having realised what a deep pile of shit they’ve gotten themselves into.

The girl is clearly not wearing a seatbelt. She appears to be controlling the pedals herself, though the news article says she’s on her mother’s lap. Either way, several laws are being broken. A seven year old girl driving a car is not something decent parents should be encouraging. The father has defended it, saying his father did it with him and he “passed his test first time”.

Yeah. But look what a crap parent it’s turned him into. He hasn’t worked that one out for himself yet, has he?

In the article, the stunt is condemned by IAM, but they need to be careful about sending out mixed messages to people with the IQs of frogs, as they also support the young driver initiative I have criticised on several previous occasions. Because when it comes down to it, the parents of this Scottish girl are not that much different to those who gleefully send their 11-year olds for driving lessons.

The parents of that girl are going to be in serious trouble. And it serves them right.

A Good Idea In Theory, But Still Missing The Point By A Mile

03/01/2013

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Another story from the newsfeeds. It involves IAM – but I won’t diss it outright since just for once they haven’t tried to blame the behaviour of the last 10 generations of young drivers on their driving instructors. Not directly, anyway.

There’s a scheme in Scotland being sponsored by a former racing driver who is now a car dealer. Basically, he has agreed to pay for 100 young drivers to take an advanced driving test. He is now trying to get other dealers to provide the same offer to further young drivers throughout Scotland.

Police in Scotland appear to be beside themselves with gushing praise:

Acting road policing Inspector Brian Jones, of Lothian and Borders Police, said: “We cannot support this enough. This is an excellent opportunity for all young drivers to take advantage of a skill for life.

“It could almost be seen as a Holy Grail – it would take five to six years to get the same experience as you get from taking the test.”

On the surface, it sounds like a good idea. But is it really the Holy Grail that everyone is looking for as the Scots police are suggesting? Let’s think about it a little more deeply – which is something none of those in the article seem to have done.

The most telling observation comes from a young driver who completed the course:

Matthew Bushell is among ten young drivers in the Borders to have had the cost of their advanced driving course refunded after passing the test.

Mr Bushell, 27, who took the test two years ago, admitted to having had a completely different attitude behind the wheel in his earlier driving days.

Note the part in bold. What he is clearly saying is that when he was young he felt differently and had a different attitude to the one he has now. His decision to complete this course – apart from the fact that it was free, I would imagine – was based on his 27-year old level of maturity, and he wouldn’t have done it when he was younger. Can we really conclude from all this that a mid-twenties male completing this course is any sort of Holy Grail for the problem of all young driver death statistics?

You have to get older before you can get wiser. By definition, maturity is age- and experience-dependent. It’s a basic law of nature, and there is no suggestion that this course could have any meaningful effect on young and very unwise attitudes that, say, a properly delivered Pass Plus course or decent learner lessons couldn’t. The article continues:

Mr Bushell signed up for the advanced driving course after meeting Bill Allison of the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) at his local car club.

And there’s another problem: the piston-head mentality. Both the sponsor and the sponsored were piston-heads – members of a car club. It is hard to imagine that the sponsor (a former racing driver, now a car dealer) is financing this for purely philanthropic reasons, particularly when you bear in mind it is costing him around £13,000. The advertising he is getting from it must be offsetting that somewhat, no matter how much he might deny it. And certainly you get the impression that the sponsored Mr Bushell might not have bothered at all if he’d had to pay over a hundred quid, instead of getting it for free. But even if the meeting of these two from this particular club had what is essentially a positive outcome, there are many, many clubs where the overall attitude of the membership is far less mature. Let’s face facts here: if a group of people who own fast cars meet at the “fast car owners’ club”, the main discussion topic is inevitably going to be about driving those fast cars fast!

The sponsor is also pictured holding a copy of Roadcraft – the advanced driver’s bible. It’s worth reminding ourselves of the full title of that publication: Roadcraft – The Police Driver’s Handbook (and yes, that’s the same emphasis that is given on the front cover). But in spite of the book’s foreword suggesting that it is also for anyone wishing to take their skills “to a higher level” (cue: a bunch of anoraks falling over themselves to copy every aspect of it), you do not invite anyone who feels like it to drive as if they were police officers on emergency calls to do so when they’re just taking the Jack Russell to Tesco to pick up their milk and a copy of The Daily Mail.

It isn’t training which is the problem. It is attitude. Advanced driving is for drivers with experience, not beginners – and even then, it’s not suitable for all of them. The sooner IAM realises this and keeps its nose out of driver training at grass roots level, the better the chance something can actually get done in the areas where the problems really lie.

Category - Bad Drivers