Welcome to the following who joined the Group recently

 

This evening we were treated to an excellent talk by Clive Jones. Clive is the former head of South Wales Police Driving School. He currently runs High Performance Courses and Skid Control / Risk group defensive driving courses.

Clive joined the Police force in 1986 and was immediately put onto traffic while still a cadet, one of the youngest Police Officers to be on traffic. As a consequence, when he applied for the Instructors Course he was already well known for his driving skills and was accepted. For the next twenty years, with an occasional short break, he was involved in the Driving School until his retirement in 2006.

The Police course is a three week course and it covers Police, Ambulance, Mountain Rescue, Fire Service and Coastguard with blue-lights included.

The evening was very much an interactive evening with very lively members’ participation. Clive talked about three lane road death-traps, the importance of observation over distance, positioning for the best view and hazards to look out for.

He explained the Justice Blair (a 1930s judge) equation how to work out our stopping distances and reaction times in feet per second rather than mph (multiply by 1.5 - e.g. 40mph = 60 feet per second). He also explained that the braking distances were first worked out in the 1950s using a Ford Anglia and that those distances are as relevant today as they were sixty years ago. He told us that it makes very little difference what size vehicle you are driving, the stopping distances only vary by about two meters. We went on to work out stopping distances in feet per second and also car lengths. If you are doing 30 mph, for example, that would be three car lengths, forty would be four and so on, estimating the “average” car length to be about 15ft.

The equation he used was:

Speed = 30 mph, take the 30, divide the first digit by 2 (1.5) multiply by the speed (45) then add the speed (another 30) for thinking time = total 75ft

This goes all the way down:- 40mph = 2 * 40 + 40 = 120 ft

It is easier to work it out than to try and memorise and feet per second is more easily visualised than mph.

He explained the benefits of cadence breaking and the most efficient way of applying the brakes. He asked quick-fire questions to keep us all thinking and re-iterated the methods of stopping effectively that we have in our Roadcraft books.

It was a very thought provoking evening and one which served as a refresher course – reminding us anew to keep alert and observing at all times – this is our life-saver.

Thank you Clive, and we look forward to your next visit.

I thought it very interesting to read about Monica’s topic about Older Drivers. I used to think that we should do all we can to help, but I have changed my opinion due to the fact that we can put ourselves at quite a risk! We are in the business of Tutoring for Advanced Driving and I feel that people need to be at a ‘Recognised Standard’ to come to us.

 

On that basis and due to many years of past experience, I feel that there is only one course left for ‘Older Drivers’ and that is to put or ask them to get in touch with a Driving School / Instructor, especially those at or about 80 years of age. As for the lady who was physically impaired and ‘A crash waiting to happen’, what should we have done?

 

 

The Pharmacist was on his own so could not leave the shop, but I think he did all he could to prevent her driving, especially when I arrived and offered help.

 

 

Q: I certainly would have felt guilty if she had caused an accident on her way home.

 

 

Peter Genet now has a regular fortnightly slot on the station talking about road safety, advanced riding and driving. Join him every other Tuesday at 10:00 with repeats on Wednesday at 18:00. 29th March and 12th April will be the next two dates.

Skillshare will be starting on the first Saturday in April at the Divine Cafe in Cherhill. This year we hope to extend it to car drivers as well as bike riders. Drivers or riders can turn up and get a free assessment of their skills, with the opportunity to sign up for full membership if they want to take it further. If members get an opportunity to publicise this please ask Mark Sealey (skillshare(at)wiltshireroadar.co.uk) for more information.