Highways Agency Traffic Officer Service

Highways Agency’s Director of Traffic Management, Simon Sheldon-Wilson, picked up the prestigious international road safety award, for “outstanding contribution to improving road safety”, on behalf of the service. The Prince of Michael International Road Safety Awards recognises outstanding contributions to road safety and the award was presented by Adrian Walsh, Director at Roadsafe.

Representatives from the Traffic Officer Service will now join 400 people and other special guests at the annual awards ceremony in London, where the top award, 2012 Premier Award, will be presented by HRH Prince Michael of Kent. Adrian Walsh of Roadsafe, commented, “Traffic officers make a significant contribution to the safety of our major roads, their presence certainly deters drivers from breaking the law and they are often the first on the scene when a crash occurs”.

Simon Sheldon-Wilson, said,”The Traffic Officer Service handles around half a million incidents a year on England’s strategic road network. Our traffic officers are always out on the road network or working in our regional control centres, they attend to vulnerable motorists, make sure that vehicles are recovered, set warning signs and signals and help people involved in collisions and other incidents. I’m delighted to accept this prestigious award on behalf of everyone within the Traffic Officer Service”.

If you are looking for real-time information on England’s motorways and other strategic roads then visit the Highway site @ www.highways.gov.uk/traffic   

They also have an advice page on driving this winter which can also be located at the following website address @ www.highways.gov.uk/winter

Driving is the bi-monthly magazine for advanced drivers and will now be available online via the Yudu digital publishing library. The magazine is available free-of-charge to holders of DIAmond advanced driving qualifications or via subscription to non-members at £2.00 per copy.

The latest edition for June/July 2011, is packed with features on electric cars, mobile connectivity, car design and other in-car applications as well as car reviews and articles on advanced driving and road safety. Editor Craig Thomas, said,”We believe Driving is unique in the motoring media, because it’s primarily about driving, not just cars. We unashamedly bang the drum for the cause of advanced driving, spreading the word about DIAmond courses and doing our bit to improve driving standards among British drivers”.

For more details visit:

 https://www.yudu.com/item/details/338663/Driving—June-July-2011

The Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) has reported that men are more likely than women to be involved in crashes because of their bad driving habits i.e. driving too fast and drink-driving. The IAM’s research was conducted for their latest report, Licenced to skill: Contributory factors in road accidents.

Men are twice as likely as women to be involved in a collision and the main differences in the report were as follows;

• Driving carelessly, recklessly or in a hurry is recorded more frequently for men (ten per cent) than for women (six per cent).
• Travelling too fast for the road conditions is recorded more frequently for men (seven per cent) than for women (four per cent).
• Men reported poorer driving behaviour or inexperience more frequently (14 per cent) than women (ten per cent).
• Twice as many men as women claim to be “very confident drivers”.

Simon Best, chief executive of the IAM, said,”These results show that we need to look at the psychology of male drivers to reduce risky behaviour and over-confidence, but for both sexes accidents could be easily reduced by improving driver skills and lives could be saved”.

The IAM is the UK’s largest independent road safety charity dedicated to improving standards and safety in driving, motorcycle riding and cycling and they offer a wide range of road safety courses. If you want to see the copy of the report it can be downloaded @ www.iam.org.uk/reports

The Institute of Advanced Motorists which is dedicated to improving standards in driving, has commented on the latest news from the Road Safety Markings Association on the state of white lines on UK roads. The report, called “DRIVING WITHOUT A CLUE: BRITAIN’S WORN-OUT ROAD MARKINGS – A THIRD SUB STANDARD”, has found that on nearly a third of single carriageway roads (1,500 miles of network), the lines are so badly worn out, they do not make recognised standards.

Neil Greig, IAM director of policy and strategy at IAM, said,”White lines are such a cheap and effective way to assist drivers that it is unbelievable they are not being given much higher priority. The IAM has been highlighting the risk on rural roads for years and surveys such as these underline the need to invest in well proven road safety measures to try and reduce the toll of death and serious injury in the countryside”.

He went onto say,”Equally worrying is the state of white lines on motorways.If the Highways Agency has allowed its road markings to deteriorate to such an extent it is no surprise that local councils are struggling”.

The Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) has welcomed the report on road safety by the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (Pacts), with the UK reported as the number one in the world road safety league. The number of people killed or seriously injured on Britain’s roads is now below 2000.

However, Neil Greig, IAM director of policy and research, said,”Cutting budgets for road safety is a short-sighted economy. Meeting casualty reduction targets has halved road deaths over the past 20 years, saving the economy around £50 billion”. Mr Greig went onto say,”The Parliamentary Council is right to call for continued investment in road safety and demanding casualty reduction targets”.

One contributing factor to the higher number of accidents between 1900 and 0800 hours is reduced visibility and Roadsafe, the road safety charity, is advising drivers to light-up and make their cars (or vans) more visible. Only a quarter of car journeys occur at night, but 40% of driver deaths and serious injuries happen between these hours.

Xenon and bi-xenon headlamps significantly improve visibility for drivers when it is dark, with the maximum illumination around 100 metres (about twice the range of halogen bulbs).  Many new cars fitted with these advance technologies will also feature adaptive lamp-levelling technology, which will also optimise visibility by adjusting the beam.

In addition, daytime running lights, standard on many new cars today and compulsory for all new models of cars introduced from the 7th February (under EU legislation) will also keep you more visible. However, evidence from various reports from the Department of Transport and European Transport Safety Council, shows that DRLs do not dazzle other road users during the day, but they are too bright for use at night, when drivers should switch to their headlamps.

Adrian Walsh, Roadsafe director, said,”We welcome the safety improvements that xenon and daytime running lights bring. Legislation takes into account evidence from extensive research, which shows xenon and bi-xenon headlamps and DRL improve safety. However, some of the valid concerns for other road users cannot be ignored. Government needs to respond by addressing these. Changes to the MOT are almost certainly necessary to ensure all types of lights are properly assessed”.

The Government has announced its plans to ensure that local authorities and the police will have to publish full information about speed cameras in your area. The proposals have been announced by Road Safety Minister, Mike Penning, and the data requirements could include information on accident rates at camera sites,vehicle speeds and the number of offences recorded by the cameras.

Mike Penning said,”Public bodies should be accountable and if taxpayers’ money is being spent on speed cameras then it is right that information about their effectiveness is available to the public”.

The Department for Communities and Local Government is consulting on a new single government data list and this can be found at http://www.communities.gov.uk/localgovernment

/decentralisation/tacklingburdens/databurdens/. This also includes the proposal for speed camera inventories to be made public by local authorities to support public accountability.

Winter Driving

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) has offered some tips for any drivers setting off on a long road journey this Christmas. They have also placed a winter driving factsheet on their website covering a range of issues affecting drivers including snow, ice, fog and winter sun.

Kevin Clinton, head of road safety at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, said,”As well as smooth driving techniques, safer winter driving is about good preparation-making sure you’re in a fit state to drive, that your vehicle is in good condition and that you’ve planned your journey”.

RoSPA advice;

• Check that all your lights are clean and working properly.
• Make sure your windscreen and windows are clear and the washer bottle is filled up with the correct concentration of water and screenwash. You may need more screenwash concentrate when the weather is colder.
• Carry a de-icing kit, a first aid kit and a working torch.
• In case you get stuck in the snow, make sure you have a blanket, a pair of boots, a shovel, a high-visibility jacket and a fully-charged mobile phone.

You can also check your journey via a number of websites as follows;

• Trafficmaster – provides live updates on any hold-ups on the UK’s major roads.
• Highways Agency
• RAC website
• BBC website

A final tip is if you are using a satnav system, select routes via the motorways, rather than letting the satnav take you the quickest route as you may find yourself travelling down some “A” or even “B” roads where road conditions may be dangerous.

Dashboard Quiz

GEM Motoring Assist, the Breakdown Cover and Road Safety organisation, is once again offering a free Christmas Quiz to test even the most accomplished motorists. This year the test is centred around your knowledge of dashboard warning lights and shows 15 different symbols.

So do you know your front fog lights from your back ones or your brake fluid from your engine oil? The quiz is available to download from the GEM website and on the symbol above what does this warning light tell you?

A) Faulty Fairy Lights

B) Power Steering Failure

C) Lost Wheel Spoke

This is the easy one but what about the rest? You can also telephone GEM if you want a hard copy of the Christmas Dashboard Quiz on 01342 825676. All the answers to the 15 dashboard symbol test are available as well and if you enter your score, you can also be entered in the prize for one year’s free joint breakdown cover.

Winter driving

RoadSafe, the leading forum for promoting and devising solutions for road safety problems, has reminded UK motorists that winter tyres improve grip in wet, cold, icy and snowy conditions. They also confirmed that winter tyres can be used all-year round but it is in cooler, wetter conditions that they show the real benefit.

Test conducted by the British Tyre Manufacturers Association showed that a car braking at 60mph on a wet road, at five degrees Celsius, stopped five metres shorter when fitted with winter tyres. Winter tyres are different to studded tyres and snow chains and do not damage the road surface. The difference between winter tyres and standard ones is down to their composition as winter tyres contain more natural rubber and advanced silica compounds. When the temperature drops below seven degrees Celsius they harden less than standard tyres and provide more grip.