DRIVING 'SYSTEM'
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Defensive driving reduces road accidents and wear and tear to vehicles. Will it become better known in this European Road Safety Year?
Howard Whitiingham, senior supervising instructor, BRS Midland driver training centre, out on the road with Ralph Baker (Derby). Whittingham believes that aggressive driving has become more common in the past jive years.
WHEN somebody avoids what would have been an accident caused by another person's less-than-perfect driving, it can probably be put down either to luck or defensive driving. Luck is widely recognised — if not fully understood — but a great deal less is known about defensive driving.
For a start, what is defensive driving? It can be defined as driving as safely as possible through using a "system" in approaching potential hazards, retaining a good attitude of mind and keeping fatigue at bay. Such driving, whether taught or intuitive, is said to reduce accidents and mechanical wear and tear: but if it does, why isn't more heard about it?
"People are coming in droves, especially among the car fleet users in trouble with their insurance brokers," says Gordon Asbury, manager of driver training, Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents.
Asbury was recruited by RoSPA four years ago to promote defensive driving. "When no one wanted to know about defensive driving. Since then the position has been reversed," he says.
Far fewer commercial vehicle drivers than car drivers attend RoSPA's defensive driving courses, but Asbury points out that problems with heavy goods vehicle fleets are less pronounced and these drivers have reached a more advanced standard.
"Most HGV fleets do have an accident record," he says, "mainly composed of stupid things like reversing into obstacles on a customer's premises. In some cases shop staff are prohibited from helping drivers even where there is only four inches to spare on each side, and one does sympathise."
IT's difficult to gauge how many drivers of any type are taught defensive driving. Many firms take a minimum-cost approach with 20 drivers a time attending classroom-only instruction.
Heavy goods vehicle drivers attending RoSPA courses do not, unfortunately, qualify for training grant, because its instructors have not been to Road Transport Industry Training Board instruction at Motec. "So far this has had minimal effect," says Asbury.
However courses are proving very popular with express parcels fleets.
Nevertheless, many road transport managing directors probably think in terms of insurance covering inevitable loss of money, and ordinary road safety campaigns covering avoidable dangers. But a company with a most positive attitude is British Road Services.
BRS Midlands runs defensive driving courses — for itself and commercially (£100 for a two-day course and .4:90 for a follow-up visit at work) for outsiders.
Driver training centre manager Dave 'Farbuck has been concerned with road safety for years; on his wall is a commendation for his standard attained in the 1961 Lorry Driver of the Year finals.
"Defensive driving means to be on the defensive at all times: to create space in the front, at the sides and — a bit difficult, this — at the rear," says Tarbuck.
"Defensive driving calls for good observation and planning. A driver must assess other vehicles at all times. I believe the term is American in origin."
Does it work? CM went with a couple of "trainees" (experienced drivers) in their cabs and met all four on the course while their instructors were away; they agreed that professional drivers can pick up bad habits like anyone else and that they were benefiting from the course.
Road safety must be spread for its own sake, but anyone advocating defensive driving courses is likely to be asked primarily about the financial aspect — else why don't they go ahead?
It will cost money for bosses to make do without drivers for a couple of days (less than otherwise anticapted if the lorries have their MoT at the same time).
Tarbuck, who finds that most of the older drivers "conic down the box in the old-fashioned way they were first taught instead of making block changes — safer and cheaper," makes the same financial points to drivers on his courses. And in the case of BRS many of them have the added incentive that they own National Freight Consortium parent company shares.
VERY nearly the first words in the defensive driving course notes inform drivers: "The figure .4:2,131,579 is what it cost British Road Services to pay third-party claims." That was in 1981.
That figure takes no account of the cost to repair company vehicles, loss of revenue while off the road and hire charges for replacement vehicles. Or the fact that the company ilnage suffered.
There were around eight accidents a
day, and that works out at a cost of 15,840 per day. The titles under cause of accident and the numbers that occurred are interesting: Reversing 851 Junctions 111 Clearance 1,378 Distance 496 Roundabouts 96 TOTAL 2,932
"You will agree," Tarbuck tells his courses, "that .S:2,131,579 is a lot of money in anyone's eyes; let's have a look at a few of the accidents that made up this figure and decide in each case whether, with a little courtesy and care, it should have happened."
Accident number one on this list is a 000,000 case and is described as follows: Company driver in endeavouring to avoid a car stopping ahead of him, jackknifed across the road and was hit by an approaching car. The two lady occupants in the car received fatal injuries.
Another one detailed is much less serious: Company vehicle was being reversed and collided with a car. Car subsequently collided with a building, causing damage to building estimated at S:4,500.
The drivers on the course are asked whether these accidents could have been avoided if the drivers had conformed with Highway Code advice. Then they are asked on attached forms to fill the number of the paragraph in the Highway Code that the driver should have applied to avoid the accidents happening in the first place.
T,,E COURSE goes on to the theory of driving, starting with the physical factors: eyesight — "Candidates are permitted to wear spectacles when taking the driving test, but a surprising number discard them when driving subsequently" and this is discovered during accident investigations; posture; .fatigue; stamina; and reactions.
During the session on road observation and planning, it is explained that driving plans and decisions are made on a combination of what can be seen; what cannot he seen; and the possible circumstances that may reasonably be expected to develop.
"Driving to the system will prevent a driver from becoming involved in an accident for which he is responsible. By concentration, early recognition of potential danger and a defensive attitude of mind, he will also avoid accident
which could result from mistakes made by others."
No matter how good a driver's observation may be. it can only be of assistance to him if he forms a correct assessment, and it is not enough merely to react to what is seen. Those on the course are told: "A positive effort must be made to look for the clues from which an accurate prediction can be made — for example, shadows on the road, reflections in shops' windows, exhaust smoke from stationary vehicles and so On."
At night, variation of load can affect beans alignment.
At this point in the course comes what is entitled System of Vehicle Control. It's a drill, each feature of which is considered in sequence at the approach to any hazard, and leaving nothing to chance.
This goo, 1, Course — correct line of approach; 2. Mirrors, signal and speed; 3, Gear; 4, Mirrors again and signals; 5, Horn if necessary; and 6, Acceleration.
The course advocates acquiring a perfec:t mental picture of all six features. "Once you cave learned to apply the system of vehicle control on approach to hazards, you must persevere and practise continually: it will become instinctive and will be the foundations upon which the finer points of driving can be built."
Lastly, momentum, gravity and centrifugal force are considered.
'It has been said that accidents occur because vehicles are in (a) the wrong position on the road, (b) travelling too fast, or (c) are in the wrong gear. In many cases none of these apply if the drivers haC fully understood the etTects of centrifitgal force and changes in the centre of gravity. This knowledge applied to systematic vehicle control will produce the' careful, considerate driver so desirabk for modern traffic conditioni."
Probably the greatest potential savings in fleet -operation are to be found through attention to the improvement of driver performance, says RoSPA.
It argues the financial case by taking as an exainple a fleet of 30 units of 32.5tonne gross-vehicle-weight attics at 1983 prices. Ft assumes the firm settles on two one-day Defensive Driving Courses for each of three years at S:450 a year. Additional to this, for the first year only, are 15 one-day in-vehicle training sessions at a one-off cost of S:1,350. THE running costs of this fleet are estimated at 18.64p per kilometre or 29.83p per mile (including fuel/oil, S:8,830; tyres 0,940; and maintenance $24,143) in an annual
distance of 80,000km (50,(X/0 miles) and vehicle life of seven years.
Standing costs include: Overheads £6,084 Licence £1,820 Insurance £450 Depreciation £4,270 Interest £2,224 Drivers' wages, etc £10,380
Among the potential savings then estimated by RoSPA for each of three years are:
Fuel (4%) £353 Tyres (5%) £97 Maintenance (3%) £124 Accident damage £150
These potential savings over a threeyear period amount to S:88,080.
But since the three year-programme of defensive driving training amount to a total S:5,23,4 cost, this must be added to the three-war indirect costs — £14,407 — of running a 30-vehicle fleet. This comes to 09,641, and taking this away from the total potential saving — 1;88,080 — gives a final figure of a possible saving of 1:68,439.
Just suppose a fleet achieves just half of that 100 per cent possible achievement. The final figure then is not, unfortunately, half of the £68,( It) figure, but a still very nice S:24,399.
Things work out this way because the same 09,000 cost must be taken into account in any diminishing savings figure. Seventy-five per cent of total possible savings is 1266,060 which, minus costs, gives .S:46,419 return; 25 per cent of total possible savings is 1:22,020 giving £2,379 return, Defensive Driving courses are arranged by RoSPA either exclusively for a company's employees or on a regional basis in order to provide a facility for the smaller firm to participate.
They are one among a package of measures designed to improve efficiency and reduce running costs. "Using one of our assessors for one day will provide you and the drivers with a detailed assessment on four of your driving staff using their vehicles," says ROSPA.
In the case of the National Safe Driving Awards scheme, in which 300,000 professional drivers are entered each year by their employees, experience has shown that it is just as relevant to fleet car users as it is for distribution fleets. Each year around 6,000 people are killed and 300,000 injured on our roads at a cost to the community of £2,000 million. "In over 95 per cent of these accidents, human error has been shown to he the major factor.
"Given that the majority or road mileage is undertaken on business journeys, it is easy to see how helping the drivers of company vehicles to improve their performance can significantly improve die situation."
• by John Durant