Army Driving Proficiency and How It is Attained
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A Staff Man's Visit to an R.A.S.C. Company in the Midlands Offers Convineing Proof of the Value Placed upon Good Driving by the Military Authorities
SOLDIERS will soon be seen with a steering-Wheel badge on -the cuff. This will indicate that the wearer has reached a satisfactorily high standard of vehicle maintenance and that he has not been involvedin any blameworthy 'accident. for at least 12 months. The badge can be lost by failure to maintain this standard.
This is one indication of the importance attached to. good driving by the Military authorities. Even more convincing was a visit which we were privileged to make recently o a.n R.A.S.C. company in the Midlands. This unit has as its main duty, the transport of all supplies to. the A.A. sites in its area. Over 12,000 tons of rations are carried in a year and on one day alone a total of 4,287 rounds of A.A. ammunition was delivered.
Naturally, this work must continue, whatever the weather, and, for obvious reasons, it is apt to be heaviest when air raids make it particularly hazardous. The accident rate of one per 40,000 miles of driving is, therefore, ereditable, particularly when it is realized that in the Army an accident is still an accident, even if the scratch be barely visible,
In addition to its normal duties, -this company runs a school in which soldiers and A.T.S. girls are trained as
efficient drivers. This, it may be emphasised, is not a special. establishment producing instructors or other specialists, but a normal operational unit, training ordinary personnel for itself and for neighbouring companies.
Instruction, is of two kinds, and both branches are conducted in a highly practical fashion. A notable feature of the training 'in, vehicle control is the importrose attached to road sense and the prtivisionS of the High, way Code. This starts before the recruit attempts to drive.. His earliest lessons take place in the Traffic Model Room, where a large table carries miniature buildings and roadways, with model vehicles, pedestrians, policemen, and so on. There the learners are instructed 'and 'tested in the correct way. to dear with a variety of circumstances and difficulties which may Occur in real life,
Later, each individual is taught by a qualified instructor to drive actual vehicles. The officer in charge of this work is a man of long motoring experience who has been engaged in tbe motor trade for many years. At the end of a five-week course there is a driving test, which appears to be very thorough. In addition to matters relating to the Highway Code, the giving and understanding of the conventional signals and other things of that kind, it includes numerous set tests, all of a useful nature and. some difficult enough.' .tobother a good many civilian drivers•,, it wijuld Seem..
Concurrently with that side of the
work, there is instruction in vehicle maintenance. As a sound basis, there is explanation of the various mechanisms to be found. in vehicles. For this, another Model Room is used.. It contains a variety of units and components which have been sectioned in the company's own workshop. They range from a small motorcycle engine to a complete car chassis, . which cost the unit the not exorbitant sum of Ws. Around the wails are hoards carrying such things
as a complete ignition system, which, separated from the rest of the vehicle, becomes comparatively simple. understand.
Maintenance of Army vehicles is undoubtedly made easier • by the
" daily task " system. For loadcarrying vehicles there are 16 tasks,. which are taken in turn, one each day, and they are marked off on a chart when completed. Much of this work is done at odd moments when waiting for a load, and so on. Periodically, too, the vehicle is examined by one of the .company's qualifiedmechanics and regularly, too, by experts from " higher up." Slackness. or carelessness, on the part of a driver is thus strongly discouraged.
Like many other units, this company has its own small cinema, which, apart from providing entertainment in the evenings, is used for the exhibition of instructional films concerned with the handling and the maintenance of vehicles. This is undoubtedly a useful part of the training,*
. Having seen all this, we were not surprised by the subsequent display of skill by the personnel of the unit, nor by their evident enthusiasm for their work. If this is a fair sample of this side of the Army.—and there is no reason why it should not be—there should be no further criticism .of the standard of skill of military drivers in general.