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Roads and Transportation

ADVICE FOR ROAD USERS

On The Road - A Motoring Miscellany

Scottish Children At Risk

It had always been a worry that the accident rate for child pedestrians was higher in Scotland than in England. Now, however, recent research has come up with the answer. It's mainly because there are fewer cars in Scotland and the roads are quieter. This relative quietness makes it easier to attempt crossing the road and so provides more opportunities for an accident to happen. Where there is a lot of traffic, children are unable to cross the road or find it so difficult that accidents can't happen in the first place! When this is taken into account it turns out that the rates for Scotland and for England are similar.

Barshare Safety Day

An enjoyable time was had by all at the recent safety day at Barshare Primary School. As one of the agencies we set up an accident between two cars, along with a child cyclist and a child who had not been wearing a seat belt. Pupils had to work out what had happened and decide who had been at fault. They were very good at picking up all the clues and coming up with the solution and hopefully learnt some valuable lessons.

In Russia They Shoot Drunk Drivers

Well they used to. I was reminded of this when reading about an accident in Russia when a man was killed when his car was run over by a tank. The tank commander, who was very drunk, was lucky it didn't happen under the old regime where if you killed anyone because of drunken driving you were executed. Penalties aren't that severe in Britain but they are high - ten years if you kill someone and up to 6 months for being drunk. A few years ago they were nothing like that which reflects a tremendous change in attitude. The message is getting home that driving over the limit is both dangerous and criminal. The facts about drinking and driving are worth repeating:

• 3600 drink related accidents each year (it used to be 10000)
  
• 600 fatalities
  
• one in 6 road deaths caused by drink.

What is frightening is that these fatalities are caused by so few drivers, the hard core to whom the message hasn't got through. This high number reflects the fact that if you do go over the limit it is more than likely that you will be in an accident. The limit of 80 mg per 100 ml of blood was set for the very good reason that beyond this point driving skills deteriorate markedly. Even drinking below the limit can catch you out as effects vary from person to person. An intensive publicity and enforcement campaign is underway just now and will continue until after the New Year. Chances of being caught are very high. The police know where to patrol and can spot a drunk driver a mile away.

The best strategy is to avoid drinking and driving altogether. Get a taxi, check if any pubs are running a minibus, or get someone to drive you. Happy Christmas!

Tanking Along

Whilst charging down a street during the fighting for Suez the anxious driver of a tank asked his commander which side of the road they drove on in Egypt. Minutes later he asked if he should stop at a red light.

Boy Racers

A recent TV survey found that 1 in 3 young people want the driving age lowered to fourteen. Before you start thinking that this would lead to the roads being filled with (literally) boy racers, ask yourself if it is all that unreasonable. It's a fact that children can drive. There are off-road schools where youngsters are driving as competently and safely as any adult. Some American States allow driving at fourteen and even in Britain there was no age limit before 1903.

Nor should we assume that youngsters would be any more reckless than older people. Judging from the cycle tests in schools they are better behaved than many drivers! So, maybe we should be taking another look at the idea. On second thoughts, I don't think parents would be too happy when it came round to Christmas time - could I have a Mini for Christmas, please!

Children's Traffic Club for Scotland

Many readers will have a received an invitation for their three year old child to join the Children's Traffic Club. It costs nothing to join and every six months until the age of five your child will receive a book and other materials which you can then use to teach them about roads and traffic. Its a good scheme and reflects the fact that the best teacher your child can have is yourself. Rather surprisingly take-up is still quite low. If you received an invitation recently why not look it out and send it off. It will cost nothing and will help keep your child safe on the roads.

Drugs and Driving

More attention is being paid nowadays to driving whilst under the influence of drugs. This appears to be a growing problem and a serious one too as accidents are caused just as easily by drugs as by alcohol. Strathclyde Police have been looking at this for some time and have linked up with Glasgow University in a major research programme. This will help to identify the scale of the problem and how best to tackle it. Young people are most likely to offend although it shouldn't be forgotten that medicines can have serious effects on anyone's driving.

Who's At Fault?

There was a time, not so long ago, when if a child was knocked down, it was often considered to be their fault - they had run into the road without looking or had lost control of their bike.

The focus has now switched to the driver - were they going too fast, shouldn't they have noticed there were children about and so on. This is a bit unfair, blaming one or the other. There are often faults on both sides. To illustrate this, I saw a group of children playing during the holidays. Three were on the road skateboarding down a hill (near a junction). Another two were on their bikes and were doing wheelies on the wrong side of the road and dashing out of side roads without looking. It was a quiet road which may be why they felt that it was safe to do this. However, accidents often happen because of the unexpected. One certainly wouldn't expect to come out of a side road and be rammed by a kid on a skateboard! To avoid a tragedy, parents should take a look every so often to see what their children are up to and explain the dangers involved.

Some Accident!

Readers will have heard of road rage incidents in America where people pull out a gun and shoot the other driver. In a bizarre twist involving a shooting, a truck driver was shot by a teenager 'by accident'. The boy had been aiming at the tyres, hoping that the truck would overturn and scatter the computer games it was carrying, so that he could help himself to free games.

Check Your Speed

The national speed campaign is running just now. It features a TV advert showing a video of a child who is later killed in a road accident, along with supporting leaflets and posters.

Speeding is a major cause of road accidents. It is directly linked to nearly half of all accidents. Some of these are straightforward, like doing 80 mph on the main road. But there are others where you could be keeping to the limit but still be going too fast. This is especially true in busy shopping streets and places where children are playing.

As the slogan says - at times we all drive a little too fast. And most of the time it's not deliberate - the needle just creeps up. The only answer if we are to avoid a tragedy is to keep an eye on the speedometer and to ignore anyone who is pushing you from behind. After all, if there is an accident they'll just drive past even though they're partly responsible and you'll be left to deal with it. ....and your tyres

A Winter Safety Campaign is due to start in October. There will be a focus on tyres and police will have check-points where the condition of tyres can be checked. To save yourself any trouble check your tyres now. They should have a tread depth of 1.6mm and be free of any major defects. If the edge of a tyre is worn your wheels may need to be realigned. Tyres that are too soft wear away on the outsides, and tyres that are too hard wear away in the centre. Unbalanced tyres will show worn patches on different parts of the tyre.

Country Roads

The Highway Code is quite poor on giving advice on how to drive on country roads. There's a bit about passing animals but not much else. Arguably it should contain a section on this as the hazards you encounter are often different from those you meet on main roads and in towns. Solitary animals which have got on to the road are one. Occasionally you come across open gates which have swung out across the road, and sometimes unlit vehicles. Driving too fast is another problem. Drivers unused to country roads are fooled into thinking the road is empty and drive round bends at 50 mph when of course there could be other vehicles, cyclists or pedestrians just round the corner. Unmarked crossroads and other junctions also have to be treated carefully.

At night it is tempting to drive fast on the assumption that you will be able to see the headlights of an approaching car. However, in their attempts to solve the problem of glare, car manufacturers have been so successful that you could be 100 yards away and see nothing unless the approaching car is directly in your line of sight.

Winter is especially tricky. It can be another world just half a mile from a trunk road where traffic is running freely. Stopping distances on ice have to be experienced to be believed - the problem being that if you brake normally you immediately go into a skid. And just an inch of snow can lead to problems.

Fortunately accidents on country roads are rare. But that doesn't mean they are safe. Accident rates for the number of vehicles involved are as high as anywhere. There was an island off the West Coast of Scotland where there were only two vehicles and they managed to crash into each other.

On the Use of the 'Commanding' Eye

Old books on driving are hilarious. One book enjoins drivers to use a "commanding" eye to deal with troublesome pedestrians then goes on to seriously suggest that English chickens are better behaved on the roads than French chickens. Lady drivers are of course less competent than men, and if one has trouble with one's chauffeur then one should "dismiss the man."

Danger! Children at Play

As a parent, you can easily be misled into thinking that your young child understands what you are saying. It is more than likely that they don't. So don't assume that your child will be safe just because you've told them to watch the road - you might find them literally watching the road. As an example of how a child of this age thinks about road safety there was one who when shown a road sign of a pedestrian crossing said it meant stop and turn round, a man and a pixie beside it, whatever that means. Another told me he was safe when crossing as he had his 'fast' shoes on.

Children under five don't really have a clue about road safety. By all means talk to them about traffic and crossing the road - this lays a good foundation. But make sure you are with them - they should not be allowed to play in the street or to cross the road on their own.

Airbags

You may have seen the recent TV programme about airbags which dealt with the risks that they pose. It has now become clear from accidents in America that if you are too near when they inflate then they can cause serious injuries or even death. The problem is not so serious in Britain as our airbags are smaller and inflate more slowly but there is still some risk. This applies particularly to babies carried in a rear facing baby seat which is placed on the front passenger side - they should be carried in the back of the car. It could also apply to child passengers who are too near the dashboard and to drivers who have to sit near the wheel because of their height.

Accident Black Spots

An interesting alternative to the usual approach to accident reduction was one dreamt up by some 'earth energy' people in Germany. They installed 'interference transceivers' at accident blackspots. These emitted waves which neutralised the negative energy which was causing the accidents. Apparently it worked!

On Your Bike!

A feasibility study of a long distance cycle route passing through the Cumnock area is to be carried out this summer by Sustrans. The route would run from Dumfries up the Nith valley, pass near Cumnock and join up with the proposed Millennium west coast route south of Glasgow. The study is part funded by East Ayrshire Council. If the route should prove feasible and funding becomes available it would bring a number of benefits, not least in affording a healthier and safer alternative to getting about than the car.

Overtaking

If you read the Highway Code and various books on driving you'll find plenty of advice on where you shouldn't overtake: bends, junctions, hills and other places where you can't see ahead or could conflict with other road users. This is usually followed by the catch-all phrase - if in doubt, do not overtake. This is fine but not all that helpful. Where is it safe to overtake? How long does it take to get past another car? What distance will you travel? What about cars coming the other way - how far away should they be?

The answers are a bit worrying. In an ordinary car with average acceleration it takes 8 to 10 seconds to get past if you're doing 60 mph and the other car is doing 50 mph. That means you'll travel between 250 and 300 metres. If there's a car coming the other way doing 60 mph it too will cover about 250 metres. So, overall you need a gap of about 500 metres from another vehicle (or a bend or blind summit) before overtaking. What that boils down to is a long straight stretch of road with no bends or other obstructions and the nearest vehicle over a quarter of a mile away. That sounds obvious but it's not. There are a lot of overtaking accidents. And because of the high speeds involved, injuries are often serious or fatal. It really is a risky manoeuvre. Perhaps the Highway Code is right after all -if in doubt, do not overtake.

Manly Courage

Came across an astonishing quote in a report on the road safety of school children which was published in 1936. Certain people thought that road safety lessons would have a bad effect on children. There was "the possibility of "Safety First" lessons resulting in the fostering of a selfish prudence among children,and in a stifling of the spirit of adventure. Was there not the possibility, they asked, of rearing a timid generation,and of depreciating manly courage and the thrill of danger so attractive to the healthy schoolboy". This was the era when 1500 children a year were killed (three times the present number)with only a tenth of the vehicles on the roads. With attitudes like that it's no wonder.

Slippery Slopes

Of course, one "healthy" pastime that lingers on is the making of slides on pavements once it snows. Even better if they are on a hill. No doubt the "witnesses" above would approve. Seriously, one wonders how many injuries and deaths have resulted over the years from this seemingly innocent activity.

Mixed Messages

One gets the impression that motoring journalists would like nothing better than to get on with the serious business of driving fast expensive cars but every so often have to pay lip service to road safety.  The thing is, they do it so well but the message is lost amongst other more glamorous images. Thus, in a recent programme there was an excellent feature on drugs and driving but it came on after someone had been throwing a car round a test track at100 mph. Which takes us back to the"manly courage and thrill of danger so attractive to healthy schoolboys".