Scary sight....a Police Traffic Officer brandishing a breathalyser. TCAD says 'Don't let him scare you, don't Drink and Drive'

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) is disappointed that thousands of drivers chose to put themselves and others at risk by drink or drug driving over the Christmas period.

Figures released on 20th Jan 2012 by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) show that 7,124 drivers were arrested during a month-long drink-drive crackdown that ran across England and Wales from December 1, 2011 until January 1, 2012.

Across all age groups, this represented 4.55 per cent of those who were breath-tested. For drivers under the age of 25, 5.73 per cent of those tested were arrested, demonstrating the need to press on with drink-drive education among this younger age group.

On drug driving, 540 field impairment tests were conducted (a rise from 396 during the previous year’s campaign), and 91 (16.85 per cent) of those tested were then arrested.

Kevin Clinton, RoSPA’s head of road safety, said: “It is extremely disappointing but sadly not surprising that, despite three decades of drink-drive education and enforcement, thousands of drivers were caught drinking and driving in just one month.
“Drink driving kills and maims. Provisional figures show that 250 people were killed in drink-drive accidents on Great Britain’s roads in 2010 – accounting for 14 per cent of all road fatalities. In addition, 1,230 people were seriously injured and 8,220 people were slightly injured in accidents involving someone who was over the legal alcohol limit. These casualty figures plus today’s Christmas campaign figures from ACPO illustrate the fact that we cannot ease up on the fight to keep drink drivers off our roads.
“On drug driving, we welcome the increase in the number of field impairment tests conducted. However, the number of people arrested on suspicion of drug driving compared to the number of people arrested on suspicion of drink driving shows the need for the expert panel recently announced by the Department for Transport to produce recommendations that will make it easier to detect drivers who are under the influence of illegal drugs.”

Look who looks foolish, but watch out - while he's on the phone it could be you he crashes into causing serious injury or worse

Recent research only confirms what Advanced Drivers already knew, but now it’s official as a substantial body of research shows that using a hand-held or hands-free mobile phone while driving is a significant distraction, and substantially increases the risk of the driver crashing.

Drivers who use a mobile phone, whether hand-held or hands-free:

are much less aware of what’s happening on the road around them

fail to see road signs

fail to maintain proper lane position and steady speed

are more likely to ‘tailgate’ the vehicle in front

react more slowly, take longer to brake and longer to stop

are more likely to enter unsafe gaps in traffic

feel more stressed and frustrated.

They are also four times more likely to crash, injuring or killing themselves and other people.

Using a hands-free phone while driving does not significantly reduce the risks because the problems are caused mainly by the mental distraction and divided attention of taking part in a phone conversation at the same time as driving.

Three Counties Advanced Drivers & Riders says ‘Never use a hand-held device when driving, and think seriously about whether that hands-free call is absolutely necessary’

Until the Three Counties Advanced Drivers (TCAD) Introduction to Advanced Driving Course

Sunday 20th November, Tilsworth Golf Club, Dunstable

Starting promptly at 10.30am the course will last 2 hours.
This course is the first stage towards becoming an Advanced Driver. We will discuss some driving theory, introduce you to the ‘System’ before taking you on a demonstration drive with one of our Advanced Drivers

IF after the course you are interested in joining TCAD, the cost is just £20 for 12 months.

This will be the last Introduction Course in 2011, and will deal with WINTER DRIVING amongst other topics.

Look forward to seeing you on Sunday, for TWO HOURS THAT COULD CHANGE YOUR LIFE

Three Counties Advanced Drivers & Riders are delighted to announce that we now how a Subscriber service. By joining, you will receive all the latest news and views from TCAD.

Don’t delay, subscribe today by putting your e-mail address in the box below:

At Three Counties Advanced Drivers & Riders (TCAD), we aim to bring you up to date with what’s happening in the world of motoring. More importantly, research and statistics like these show just how important improving driving standards is, and we can help.

Great Britain has one of the best road safety records in Europe, and the world. Despite massive increases in traffic over the last few decades, the number of people killed on our roads has fallen from around 5,500 per year in the mid 1980s to well under 2,000 in 2010. However, this still means that around five people die on Britain’s roads every day.

Sadly, driver error remains the most common cause of road accidents. Advanced Drivers are 25% less likely to be involved in a collision, so by becoming an advanced driver through Three Counties Advanced Drivers & Riders you will stand a better chance of not being involved in one of these….:

Loss of Control
One third of fatal crashes involved ‘loss of control’ of a vehicle. Failed to Judge Other Person’s Path/SpeedOne in five crashes involve a road user failing to judge another person’s path or speed.

Inexperience
More than 430 people are killed in crashes involving young car drivers aged 17 to 24 years, every year, including over 150 young drivers, 90 passengers and more than 180 other road users.

Speeding
Around 430 people a year are killed in crashes in which someone exceeds the speed limit or drives too fast for the conditions.

Drink Driving
Around 250 people die a year in crashes in which someone was over the legal drink drive limit.

Seat Belt Wearing
Around 300 lives each year could be saved if everyone always wore their seat belt.

Careless Driving
More than 300 deaths a year involve someone being “careless, reckless or in a hurry”, and a further 125 involve “aggressive driving”.

At-work
Around one third of fatal and serious road crashes involve someone who was at work.

Failed to Look Properly
40% of road crashes involve someone who ‘failed to look properly’.

Source: RoSPA website (Click here to view the full story)

The date of the next Better Driving Course has been confirmed for 10:00am on Sunday 20th November 2011 at Tilsworth Golf Centre.

With the winter in full bloom, take the first step towards becoming a better, and more importantly, safer driver and come along for an insightful and relaxed 2 hour introduction to the advantages of advanced driver training. Please note, that you will not leave the Better Driving Course as an advanced driver; there is further training required before you achieve that status. But it will give you useable basics to becoming a better driver, and will be your first step towards Advanced Driving Standards.

For more information, to ask a question or to register your interest in attending, e-mail clive.todd@t-cad.org or complete the Contact form below.

Recent Group Meeting

A big thanks to everyone who attended our last TCAD Group Meeting. It was a full house, in large thanks to our guest speaker, Mr Paul Mostyn of the Metropolitan Police CO15 Traffic Unit who provided a humorous and insightful speech on his career, day to day job, his instrumental involvement in setting up the ‘BikeSafe’ scheme, and as, an Examiner for RoSPA, what he is looking for in a Gold Standard Examination Drive.
A huge thanks to Paul for his time; we hope to welcome him back again in the future.

Our Guest speaker:
We are delighted to welcome Mr Paul Mostyn, a serving Sergeant in the Metropolitan Police CO15 Traffic Unit. As importantly as Paul’s work for the Police Service, saving lives, preventing crime and catching the bad guys, is the work he does for RoSPA as a Senior Advanced Driving Examiner.
We look forward to welcoming Paul to the Group meeting

As always we are interested in new faces to join the Group and also the Committee, to help organise events and meetings, and to support the Groups efforts towards improving driving standards.

The T CAD Annual General Meeting will be held at Tilsworth Golf Centre, Dunstable Road, TILSWORTH, on 15th June 2011 at 20.00hrs.

We are particularly interested in new faces to join the Committee, to help organise events and meetings, and to support the Groups efforts towards improving driving standards.

Please e-mail clive.todd@t-cad.org if you are/are not able to make it.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents is disappointed that more than 200 drivers, on average, were arrested each day during the Christmas drink-drive crack-down.

Police forces across England and Wales arrested 6,613 drivers who gave positive breath tests, or who refused or failed to give a test, during the campaign, which ran from December 1, 2010 – January 1, 2011. Of these drivers, 2,117 (32 per cent) were recorded as being under the age of 25.

An analysis of the situation across the country, conducted for RoSPA’s Care on the Road journal, found that there was particular concern among police forces about a disproportionately high number of young drivers being caught and an increase in morning-after drivers still over the limit.

Duncan Vernon, RoSPA’s road safety manager for England, said: “We have had many years of high-profile drink-drive publicity and education, and it is disappointing that so many people are still not getting the message that drink driving is dangerous and can be avoided. Road conditions across much of the country were extremely tough during December and it is particularly worrying to think that so many drivers were making an already difficult situation worse by getting behind the wheel while over the limit.

“On average, more than 200 people were arrested each day during the Christmas campaign. This shows that we cannot let up on drink-drive education; there are always new drivers to reach with the important messages and others who need reminding.”

Also during the campaign, 79 drivers were arrested following a field impairment test, which is used in drug-drive enforcement. This accounted for around 20 per cent of those who were tested, a rise on the proportion of drivers arrested for suspected drug-drive offences during the previous year’s campaign.

Duncan Vernon said: “On drug driving, the Christmas figures show once again that this is an issue that needs addressing, and RoSPA supports the trialling of new drug testing equipment to make the process of catching offenders easier.”

RoSPA campaigns for the drink-drive limit to be lowered from 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood to 50mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood. The safety charity would also like the police to have wider powers to breath-test drivers.

The latest provisional drink-drive casualty figures show that, across Britain in 2009, 380 people were killed in crashes in which a driver was over the legal alcohol limit, accounting for 17 per cent of all road fatalities. A further 11,610 people were injured in drink-drive accidents.

During the Christmas campaign, a total of 169,838 breath tests were administered, including 39,723 to under-25s. The figures have been released today by the Association of Chief Police Officers.

Source: RoSPA

The date of the next Better Driving Course has been changed from Sunday 23rd January 2011 to Sunday 6th March 2011 at Tilsworth Golf Centre.

With the winter in full blossom, start 2011 on the right foot and come along for an insightful and relaxed introduction to the advantages of advanced driver training. Please note, that you will not leave the Better Driving Course as an advanced driver; there is further training required before you achieve that status. But it will give you useable basics to becoming a better driver.

For more information, to ask a question or to register your interest in attending, either complete the Contact form below, or add a Post to start a discussion.