Essential reading for advanced drivers...

In surveys on attitudes towards driving, two findings are consistently shown:

a) Most people are very proud of their driving

b) Most people are critical of everyone else's driving

I've always been fascinated by the interaction between these two findings. With each group holding more than 95% of those people surveyed and with it being so, so common to hear people openly expressing those opinions, I totally accept that they reflect the attitudes of the general driving population, yet they are in direct conflict with one another!

If we're ALL really good at driving, then how can we ALL be so bad at it at the same time?

Quite clearly, there is a significant number of people driving who genuinely THINK that they're really good at driving and therefore wouldn't approach a Driving Instructor to help them to improve, but attract a lot of criticism from other drivers around them.

Now I don't know who those people are, and neither does any observer - these people can only identify themselves in their own private thoughts.

The first step is to accept something very difficult and that is that whilst it's true that there are one or two really angry people in the world who are just angry at everything, you are probably doing something to attract any criticism you receive.

You have to remember that at that moment in time when another driver is blasting the horn and calling you an idiot, all they are basing that opinion on is what they've just seen you do. They don't know you. They don't know that you drive for a living. They don't know that you've been driving for years without a crash and they don't know that you've got a clean licence. All they know is that you perhaps changed lanes without apparently knowing they were there and almost caused a crash so in their opinion, for that moment alone, you showed them that you were a bad driver... and as hard as it is to accept, they're right - although it might be a rare occurrence, at that moment that was exactly what you were!

We all make mistakes (including me), but for the best of us it's a very rare situation that might only happen once every couple of years rather than every time they leave the house. As we're all surrounded by the same random selection of drivers and driving on the same random selection of roads, it's a fairly accurate way of judging how good you are at driving - the less often you find yourself in situations like that, the better at driving you are (and you could apply the same mentality to your application of the rules such as speed limits, traffic lights and parking etc).

One time efficient and flexible way of improving your skills is to read a book on the subject and this is my essential reading list for anyone who is interested:

1. The Highway Code - start with this one of course! Most of the problems arise where people who haven't read this book since their driving test took place years ago either come across others who know it well or have simply forgotten what it says - simply brushing up on the rules is THE single, most time effective way of reducing your road risk!
2. The DVSA Guide to Driving, The Essential Skills - if the Highway Code is the rule book, The Essential Skills is a manual of how to apply those rules to best affect and the two go hand in hand. These two books are the ones on which the Theory Test questions are based.
3. Roadcraft, The Police Driver's Handbook - often seen by those who haven't read it properly as being "totally different to how you drive for your driving test", this book goes into detail about road risk rather than focusing on the correct application of rules. Particular focus is placed on making sure the driver is mentally fit for the task of driving, reading the road ahead and controlling the car.
4. Mind Driving: New Skills For Staying Alive On The Road (Stephen Haley) - is an excellent examination of the reasons why drivers crash and what is going through their heads when they do so. It's a very different book to Roadcraft. From discussing the biological problems such as natural blind-spots in the human eye and the way in which the brain processes information from the eyes, this book aims to help you identify risk in your driving and put in place strategies for avoiding or reducing that risk.

With the exception of Mind Driving, all of these books are all freely available in your usual outlets. Mind Driving was published in 2006 and as such, it's becoming more difficult to find a brand new edition, but I did notice that there are new copies available on Amazon when I was writing this.

If, after reading these books, you feel that you would benefit from some time with a qualified trainer, then I can obviously help with that and it's worth bearing in mind that we do these training sessions without L plates and that the branding on the car is deliberately low key to avoid attracting undue levels of attention. We usually meet, start and finish at local car parks to keep things as discrete as we can be and with these sessions involving full licence holders, they are very much "training sessions" looking at the areas of weakness that the driver wants to look at, rather than "driving lessons" which are aimed at helping a driver to pass a driving test.

When lock-down is over, get in touch if you think we can help!

Nick Heath Driver Training is located in Rode Heath on the Staffordshire / Cheshire border and provides driving training services to those looking to either improve their driving or learn from scratch. In addition to media work, we conduct Taxi Driver Assessments for local authorities and offer Advanced Driver Training and Testing, Motorway Training and Fuel Efficient Driver Training alongside refresher courses and learner driving lessons. We are ORDIT registered to provide Driving Instructor Training and are listed on the DVSA's register of Fleet Trainers so we can help you with your business needs.

More details are available on our website www.nickheathdrivertraining.org.uk

Signalling to go around parked cars - yes or no?

How well do you use your signals when you're driving?

I notice that a lot of drivers do it "because they should" and by that, what I'm saying is that when I drive my car with L plates on, I notice people in front of me signalling to go around parked cars and all sorts of things whereas I don't see so much of that when I haven't got the L plates on.

I can only conclude that those drivers are aware that a Driving Instructor is behind them and as a result, they are paying more attention to their driving which I suppose is a good thing really, but the truth is that it doesn't really bother me whether you signal to go around a parked car or not and I'll attempt to explain why that is.

Official advice for drivers is that you don't usually need to give signals to go around parked cars. The reason for that is simple - the driver behind you can usually see the parked car that you're going to drive around, so he doesn't really "need" you to tell him you're going to drive around it - he's actually expecting you to do so being as jumping it, tunneling under it or stopping to turn around and go the other direction don't seem like very likely options for you to take!

Truck drivers, bus drivers and anyone else who might have fair reason to think that the traffic behind them can't see up the road ARE encouraged to signal to go around those kinds of obstructions because it's a fair assertion that the following driver might not be aware of the parked car. Even this wouldn't really be necessary if a decent driver was following you though, as they'd hang back a bit and position themselves in the road to make sure that they could see past the vehicle in front of them.

Anticipation is a key skill of driving and good drivers will constantly be looking to gather information about the road ahead, including (but limiting themselves to) signals given by others in order to plan their own actions. Where they can't see, they will simply position themselves so that they can see - it's essential to good decision making and if I can see another vehicle driving really close behind an HGV in a position where they can neither be seen by the HGV driver or see up the road beyond the trailer doors, I know that I'm following somebody who is a high risk to the rest of us and treat him with caution!

Signals we can use in the car include:

• Direction indicators
• Hazard warning lights
• Brake lights
• Reverse lights
• Flashed headlights
• Arm signals
• Speed
• Road position

The intention of a signal is to communicate to other drivers what you intend to do, and good signals will always convey this message in good time and without the possibility of misunderstanding.

So for going around a parked car, early positioning tells us that you've seen it and intend to go around it, reduced speeds / brake lights tell us that you're considering the safety of the manoeuvre (perhaps there's oncoming traffic) and eventually allow us to predict whether you are actually stopping or not - what value does a flashing amber light on your right hand side add?

Likewise where there are two junctions on the left and you intend to turn into the 2nd one, the reducing speed tells us that you're planning something, staying in the normal driving position of 1mtr from the kerb suggests that you're not planning pull up at the side of the road, as does the final approach speed of perhaps 10mph which would be consistent with a manoeuvre into one of those side roads. In this case, an early direction indicator would be a problem because it suggests that the 1st opening is your intended destination so this signal can only be given once we are committed to driving past it. In fact, the fact that a left hand direction indicator was absent in this case, would be a reason for me (if it was me following you) to expect very early on in the process that you were intending to take that 2nd opening.

Using signals doesn't give priority and if you're good at using them, you should never use them in such a manner that they require any other driver to slow down, or move into a different position on the road to accommodate you - if this is needed, then the manoeuvre isn't safe to carry out and you should consider safer options.

With this in mind, many advanced driving organisations spend a lot of time discussing why signals are not necessary in a lot of cases. When the thought process is taken to the extreme, and if you're driving well, a case can almost always be made in favour of not signalling because it's un-necessary! These discussions are almost always referring to left and right direction indicators though and ignore the information conveyed by the vehicle's speed and position which is of particular value to those we share the road with. My own view on this is that it seems un-necessary to constantly debate it! If the purpose of those conversations to make us all better at using signals or to is it to win some sort of competition between experts equally qualified experts? Ultimately, I can't see that there is ever any real harm in giving signals with the simple intention of communicating your intentions to those around you, even though it doesn't effect them at all.

And that, ultimately is why I'm not bothered if you want to signal to go around parked cars or not!

Nick Heath Driver Training is located in Rode Heath on the Staffordshire / Cheshire border and provides driving training services to those looking to either improve their driving or learn from scratch. In addition to media work, we conduct Taxi Driver Assessments for local authorities and offer Advanced Driver Training and Testing, Motorway Training and Fuel Efficient Driver Training alongside refresher courses and learner driving lessons. We are ORDIT registered to provide Driving Instructor Training and are listed on the DVSA's register of Fleet Trainers so we can help you with your business needs.

More details are available on our website www.nickheathdrivertraining.org.uk

Why do people use their phones whilst they're driving?

Back in 1994...

I was serving an Engineering Apprenticeship at a local company and one of the Project Managers I was working with said the words "I've got to leave now, I will call you when I'm in the car" daily. He saw the time taken to drive between one place of business and another to be wasted time, so he scheduled his phone calls to take place during that time in order to stay productive.

He wasn't alone in doing that. In fact, the practice was encouraged by personal time management experts and by Senior Managers at annual performance reviews (which were basically your chance to negotiate a pay rise - YOU entered the meeting rooms wanting more pay and THEY entered the meeting rooms wanting you to do more work in the same time and for the same money).

Growing up in this world and spending around 4hrs a day on the roads, I just fitted into the culture and scheduled not only work related calls but also general chats with friends to take place during the drive time. At the time, I saw no reason not to do it.

I then drove towards a roundabout in Sandbach and went when I shouldn't...

I have a good recollection of the incident and remember seeing the car coming from my right. My thoughts are the time were that I "could easily make it" (with a couple of meters to spare) and the level of risk involved and the question of whether I had acceptable safety margins never crossed my mind. All I really thought about was car control issues - which gear to use, how much acceleration and steering around the roundabout.

There was no collision. The driver of the car I pulled out on braked firmly to avoid hitting me, blasted the horn, shouted some abuse and gave a few hand guestures before dropping back to a normal following distance with an angry look on his face. He stayed well back because in his mind, he was following an idiot who didn't know how to drive.

It suddenly occurred to me that that kind of thing was happening more and more to me at the time and as I reflected on similar incidents (also noting that "road rage" was becoming a buzzword in the press too), the phone appeared to be a consistent feature - either I was using mine, or the other driver was using theirs.

I realised that I was a crash waiting to happen and started to avoid using the phone whilst driving and to give others using the phone more space.

The change wasn't easy to make...

My Project Manager would simply re-dial if the call wasn't answered immediately and he started to make pointed comments about how hard it was to get in touch with "some" people.

My performance review meetings stopped going well - I was deemed to have lost interest in the work and subsequently demoted with a pay reduction forced on me which lead me to leave the company and relocate to another part of the country. If I'd had a mortgage and a settled family at that time, things would have been very, very difficult.

It's important to recognise the pressures facing employees to break these rules.

Fast forward to January 2020...

That working culture clearly still exists among some employers and you can see it in action by simply taking a look at drivers passing you in the street.

Do you notice that businessman in the BMW now? He's talking hands-free but seems to be doing a presentation of some sort - why's he waving his hands around like that? Presenting his monthly sales figures to his boss perhaps?

What about the delivery driver? He's been given 100 parcels and told to deliver them - something he does every day and he's experienced in doing, so who is he on the phone to? Who would ring him when he's at work? According to one such driver with an international courier I spoke to once, it's almost certainly his employer (in spite of their health and safety policy saying that employees shouldn't answer the phone when driving). They're either asking why he seems to be running late or asking him to turn around and go to collect a parcel that needs taking back to the depot.

And can you see the Engineer who is checking in with his boss to tell him what he found when he visited that last customer? Why can't he do that at the side of the road whilst stationary? Maybe he's running late for his next appointment - his employer wants him to report back after each visit but doesn't allow time for such calls in his diary.

Who is the bin truck driver talking to as he drives past your house every week doing the bins? I can't think of any realistic explanation for that one, but we all see it and we see it a lot which probably rules out the possibility of it being a one off call made necessary by emergency circumstances.

The bottom line is that time is money for your employer, and not making best use of your time can cost you your career because it costs them money and it is of course our careers that fund our lifestyles and memorable moments in life - so we all face incredible pressure to work at 110% all of the time.

This obviously isn't the way to go though guys - we all know that!

Use of a mobile phone whilst driving carries a fixed penalty of £200 fine and 6 points. Your boss doesn't pay it for you, YOU pay it and the points go onto YOUR licence to be declared to YOUR insurance company in the future! New drivers with less than 2yrs experience will lose their licence under the terms of the New Driver's Act and so will anyone else who has already got 6 or more points on their licence - so there's every chance that you'll be disadvantaged at work anyway if you get caught using your phone at a the wheel.

And then of course, there's that well publicised issue of people's driving standards slipping and the impact on safety. Some research shows that you are more likely to be involved in a crash whilst using a mobile phone than you are if you are above the drink drive limit and although it might be legal, the risks don't really drop that much if you're hands-free either. The reason for that is the culture of making important calls during the driving - IF that businessman IS giving his year end sales figures to his boss on the other end of the phone whilst driving his BMW past you, and IF his pay review depends on those figures, then you can bet he'll be wanting to impress his boss and applying his mind to the call rather than the road around him. In contrast, if he's calling his wife to tell her that he's due home at 7pm tonight, then he doesn't mind stuttering a bit with her because she isn't in charge of his pay rise!!

Either way, in the worst case situation of a crash taking place whilst he is on the phone like that, and somebody losing their life in that crash, the driver would certainly be banned from driving for a minimum of 2yrs and could face up to 14yrs in prison, unlimited fines and be asked to re-take their test before driving again (maybe even an extended re-test dependent on the circumstances).

In a piece of writing I did for a magazine recently I described the current lock-down as being a once in a lifetime chance to reset the system. Wouldn't it be nice if we could reset it in ways that make life better and safer for us all and step back from this culture of making every moment productive, calling people whilst they are driving, sleeping or generally trying to spend some time with their families and immediately trying again or holding back their career progression if they don't answer?

Please don't use the phone whilst you're driving, whatever the reason and regardless of whether you are hands-free or not

Nobody ever thinks it will happen to them, but of course the people who it DOES happen to are just normal people like you and me trying to get by in the world

Nick Heath Driver Training is located in Rode Heath on the Staffordshire / Cheshire border and provides driving training services to those looking to either improve their driving or learn from scratch. In addition to media work, we conduct Taxi Driver Assessments for local authorities and offer Advanced Driver Training and Testing, Motorway Training and Fuel Efficient Driver Training alongside refresher courses and learner driving lessons. We are ORDIT registered to provide Driving Instructor Training and are listed on the DVSA's register of Fleet Trainers so we can help you with your business needs.

More details are available on our website www.nickheathdrivertraining.org.uk