Friday 30th January
7:30pm
Christmas/New Year Meal at The Village Inn, Liddington

Monday 9th February
7:15pm for 7:45
Meeting: Bill Reed will be speaking on the subject of 'When to hang up the keys - dealing with elderly drivers'.

Monthly Ride-Outs
Remember that monthly Bike Ride-Outs take place on the 3rd Saturday of every month. 

Monthly meetings are all held at Liddington Village Hall opposite the church.

Congratulations to Peter Jackson who has recently passed his bike test with a Silver grade. Well done too to his Tutor, Tony Lamsdale.

We are always looking for more articles, ideas and news for the newsletter. Have you been somewhere interesting recently that would make a good story? If you attend any group events then take a camera and send us your pictures!

Please forward all contributions to newsletter@wiltshireroadar.co.uk

 

We still have a few spaces available for our traditional Christmas/New Year meal. It will be taking place on Friday 30th January 2015 at The Village Inn, Liddington, near Swindon. Tables have been booked at 7:30pm for 8:00pm. All members and their partners are welcome! The cost for a three course meal is £19.95 per person. To book your places please contact Monica as soon as possible, informing her of your menu choices from the following menu. Payment in full must be made by 1st January.

Starters

Soup of the day
Melon & prawn cocktail
Pate

Main courses

Roast Beef
With Horseradish sauce
Served with roast potatoes & vegetables

Homemade Steak & Ale Pie
Chunks of beef cooked with our local 3Bs
Served with roast potatoes & vegetables

Roast Chicken
Served with roast potatoes & vegetables.

Fresh Haddock
Served with new potatoes & vegetables

Angus Beef Lasagne
Served with a crisp salad garnish & garlic bread.

Vegetable & nut roast
With a cranberry sauce.
Served with roast potatoes & vegetables

Puddings

Fresh Fruit Salad
Homemade Apple Pie
Luscious Lemon Cheese Cake
Mile High Chocolate Fudge Cake
Ice Cream Sundae

Tea or Coffee

You may have recently received an email from RoADAR Head Office to inform you that they will soon be introducing a new online booking system for all RoADAR tests.  Can we please request that all tests where there is a fee involved continue to be booked through us, Wiltshire RoADAR, as we receive a small payment for each test booked. Feel free to use the new system to book your three year re-test, as there is no fee involved in the booking of this test (the cost of this test is covered by your national RoADAR subscription).

December Meeting Report: Stuart Bullock, Regional RoADAR Examiner

Stuart began by providing a short introduction to himself and what his role as Regional Examiner involves and then answered questions posed from the floor.

The following are some of the subjects that were discussed:

Stuart explained the exam booking and the grading approval process; this is now done using an Electronic Booking System to automate the process. This allows the examiner to either accept or reject a request to carry out a test and then, following completion of the test, submit the Test Report for approval by the Regional Examiner and printing/despatching by Head Office. Stuart mentioned that, as the Regional Examiner, he sometimes makes alterations to Test Reports to correct minor errors and, very occassionally, he has to return a Test Report to the Examiner to correct more serious problems. (Two out of twenty-four examiners have had reports returned to them in the last year!) There are around 20-30 tests every month within our region.

The typical exam duration is around 1.5 hours; but Stuart suggests candidates should allow a whole morning/afternoon to allow time to travel to and from the test location.

Stuart Macmillan, RoADAR's Chief Examiner, recently resigned his position. Stuart believes this is because RoSPA wish to reduce the number of hours a week that the Chief Examiner works in order to save money. Head Office are in the process of recruiting a replacement Chief Examiner. (This role is being advertised as a part-time role of 17.5 hours/week.)The bike test has now had the figure of eight manoeuvre removed.

Use of car parks in tests and for training is now discouraged as there could be an issue with insurance cover.

About a third of people taking the test don’t come from a RoADAR group.

RoADAR provides specialist driver training for St. John Ambulance. The test that a St John Ambulance driver takes is in two parts, the first part covers normal driving and the second part covers emergency simulation. Blood Bikes come to RoADAR for testing too.

Stuart spoke about giving commentary during a drive and suggested that it may sometimes be better to learn to commentate from the passenger seat rather than whilst driving. Commentary should include 'what can I see', 'what does it mean' (i.e. 'what can I expect') and 'what can I do about it'. Remember that 'nothing never happens' when driving, i.e. there is always something happening, so talk about it! Stuart suggested that, during the car test, examiners should ask questions throughout the drive and try to take a relaxed approach.

Test results are only an indication of performance on the test itself, i.e. after the test standards could drop (and often do!). Similarly, someone may achieve a higher grade than their training drives may have suggested.

The most important consideration whilst driving/riding is to be safe. There is regular debate about whether it is acceptable to cross the centre line markings to straighten bends during the test (Stuart mentioned that this topic comes up approximately every three months). Stuart's opinion is that, to do it, it needs to be justified. So emergency services drivers may do it as they are in an emergency situation and therefore need to reach their destination as quickly as possible. However, for a civilian, Stuart feels that there is rarely any justification. Our responsibility, as RoSPA, is the safety of all road users.

Stuart brought up the topic of how to get young people interested in Advanced Driving/Riding? He mentioned the Enhanced Riders Scheme for motorcyclists, which is spreading round the country and doing particularly well in the Manchester area. As this is a government backed scheme, insurance companies are taking notice of it and offering discounts to people who have completed the scheme. There is no test involved; it just involves undertaking assessment rides. He hoped that this type of scheme might be something that RoSPA could become involved with.

Overall, this was a very interesting and enjoyable evening. Thanks to Stuart for joining us.

Peter Genet and Kevin Hugo

National RoADAR fees

We have been informed by RoADAR Head Office that the cost of the national RoADAR subscriptions, together with the test fees, will be increasing on 1st January 2015. The new prices are as follows:

RoADAR Yearly subscription:
Car £25.00
Bike £25.00
Dual car/bike membership £25.00

Initial Test Fees:
Car, aged 26 years and over £55.00
Car, aged 25 years and under £45.00
Bike, aged 26 years and over £61.00
Bike, aged 25 years and under £51.00