RoSPA Advanced Drivers [Northants] Newsletter Publishing Date: 7 September 2019

Website- http://northants-rospa-advanced-drivers.org/ Please note this is our new web address.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/NorthantsDrivers/

The content of any articles submitted for publication and which represent the personal views and opinions of the author are intended to promote consideration and discussion, but may not reflect the teaching methods of

RoSPA Advanced Drivers and Riders, which are based on ‘Roadcraft’.

We love to hear when you pass your tests. Please note that RoSPA head office do not notify local groups of their member’s successes. Please ensure that you take refresher drives before your 3 year retests, (contact

your tutor), and let us know when you’ve passed. Your success is our success.

Higham Ferrers Show: Photograph: Brendan d’Arcy (left) and Michael Calvert attended the RoSPA stand at the Higham Ferrers Chichele Classic Car Show on the 4

th

August 2019. We were assisted by Nick Houghton in promoting our services. During the day, we had over 35 enquires and 12 people signed up - Brendan is presently processing the applications. We also made contact with two local car clubs, offering to speak at one of their up and coming club nights. We are giving a presentation to the Kettering Area Motor Club on the 18 March 2020 at Kettering Golf Club.

Our new website: After several years as our webmaster, Peter Turner has now stepped down from the role. Peter has maintained the website at his own expense and we recognise his generosity not only financially, but also for his time. Our thanks are due to Thiago Kathirasoo, our new treasurer, who has been working with a website hosting company to update our website. We are working on new website features to help associates and new members. These will come into being in the near future. Please note our new email addresses:

michaelcalvert@northants-rospa-advanced-drivers.org Chairman

jbr.darcy@northants-rospa-advanced-drivers.org Training Officer

debbiegaine@northants-rospa-advanced-drivers.org Secretary and Membership Secretary

RoSPA Advanced Drivers [Northants] Newsletter Publishing Date: 7 September 2019

robinwebb@northants-rospa-advanced-drivers.org Newsletter Editor

tkathirasoo@northants-rospa-advanced-drivers.org Treasurer.

Advanced drivers and Insurance – Are we really getting a due discount on insurance premiums for our skills.

A recent email from one of our members prompted me to ask if we are receiving a due discount from insurance companies. It’s difficult to know how much discount we should get for having an advanced driving qualification. Do these benefits end for those over 80 years of age? Here are a few comments and experiences from some members of our group. [Ed]

Peter Radcliffe writes after obtaining a quotation from RoSPA benefits insurance provider LV-Insurance: I have been insured by IAM Surety for many years, until last year when their quote was ridiculous. They said it was because IAM have not retested me, but they would take no account of my RoSPA retest result which was achieved just weeks before their quote. The examiners for the IAM and the RoSPA tests are often the same people and the test criteria almost identical. NFU Mutual come out well in surveys, but will not even consider anyone over 80! Saga’s quote was bad and Police Mutual’s was stratospheric! You may like to know that LV=’s quote was unrealistically high, such that I told RoSPA that this RoADAR benefit was not beneficial! They are going to discuss it with their ‘benefits provider’. I tried Saga (stratospheric) and LV= (much too high). Direct Line, my current insurer, added £175 to last year’s price, but could not explain why. They knocked off £67 after discussion. That was still higher than the quote from John Lewis, which was £29 more than I paid for this year. I have suggested to RoSPA that they could approach the relevant secretary of state to look into car insurance renewals, because they would be someone to whom the insurance companies would listen. Something needs to be done if they are trying this on qualified advanced drivers. Peter Radcliffe

Graham Ward writes: Regarding the over 80 question, I believe that some companies do 'adjust' premiums when someone gets to this age. I also believe that if someone takes out insurance at the age of, let’s say, 69 or younger and stays with the same company until they reach the age of 80 this is less likely to happen. That's my experience. I realise not everyone will agree with this but as an IAM member, Masters and National Observer I get excellent terms from IAM Surety. They are very happy to negotiate, sometimes without the applicant getting a lower quote elsewhere. Coincidentally I renewed my motor insurance last Thursday (22nd) on my 2.2 Mercedes for £327. This includes protected NCB and a couple of other things as well. I realise that not everyone qualifies as a Masters and National Observer, but it might be worth giving them a call (02890 332111) I was not asked to confirm my age, in fact age was not mentioned at all, but obviously they have my DOB.

Graham Ward.

Chris Milner writes: Not nice for Peter Radcliffe, I agree. I had a similar problem with the IAM insurer at least 10 years ago and the IAM would not get involved with Adelaide Insurance for me. I will never go back to them again for a quote. Originally I was with a RoSPA broker based in Devon and premiums were extremely competitive. Unfortunately they sold out to a "National Insurer" and premiums went through the roof. For perhaps 20 years now I have been with Saga. This year they have knocked DOWN the cost of my car insurance and said it would NOT be increased for at least 3 years. Whilst I dread how much it might go up when I reach 80 - I will deal with that when it happens. Saga knows of my RoSPA qualifications - Diploma and Advanced Tutor, and that I carry out demonstration drives as and when necessary. The same thing applies with Saga's acceptance that I am also an IAM RoadSmart National Observer (NO) and Local Observer Assessor (LOA) and that I am checked out every three years, both by RoSPA and separately by the IAM.

RoSPA Advanced Drivers [Northants] Newsletter Publishing Date: 7 September 2019

Saga pride themselves in looking after the "older" driver ie over 50 and I have never found them wanting. IAM and RoSPA insurers have never been able to compete with Saga for me. I should add that I also have my house and contents insurance with Saga. I have emphasised that customer loyalty should come at the top of the list from the "punters" and this has been rewarded for this year and, in writing, for the next 3 years. This suits me fine as I hate computers, let alone searching for better deals every year. Adrian Flux advertises a great deal in specialist vehicles' insurance and my car is unique. I will wait until next year and then investigate if I feel it necessary.

Michael Calvert advises: Try Adrian Flux insurance, they give discounts to RoSPA members

--------------------------- It appears to be essential that quotations are obtained from several insurance companies. As one person said to me, “Your quotation could depend on whom you speak to at the insurance company.” One benefit I’d like to have is a competitive annual renewal quotation that takes account of my advanced driving qualification. This would remove the annual chore of obtaining multiple car insurance quotations in order to benefit from a “new customer” deal. I feel that if I’ve made the effort to obtain an advanced driving qualification and to be a lower risk to the insurance company, it should result in a lower car insurance premium. A marketing ploy used by insurance companies and others is to exploit the reluctance of their customers to change insurers or suppliers. It's an annual chore many choose to forego and it usually results in them paying more for insurance and other services. It particularly affects those who are unable or unwilling to use the internet to find a good deal. Price comparison websites are used by some, but this often results in unwanted communications based on the information they supply to insurance companies and others. It’s clear that obtaining car insurance quotations takes time - even if you just put the marketing letters through the shredder. Wouldn’t you rather those people earn their living by doing something more constructive and positive? Comparison websites generate enough income to afford television advertising all paid for, ultimately, by us, the customer! Doesn’t that make you angry? Just a thought - what is the nation’s aggregate time and money loss due to these practices? [Ed]

Can we trust what we’re told in the Highway Code? You'd have thought so wouldn’t you? With thanks to Brendan d’Arcy for writing this article.

CHANGES TO THE HIGHWAY CODE On the 28

th August 2019, I received an update from the DVSA informing me of an update to Annex 7:”First aid

on the Road”. I regret to say the Agency is still advising a dangerous, possibly injury exacerbation practice, which was highlighted about twenty years ago by the Resuscitation Council (UK). At the time, I worked with the chief First Aid Instructor for Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service. He was a leading fire fighter and regularly attended incidents where road users were injured. He pointed out the dangers of shaking, however gently, an injured person’s shoulder. Consider a casualty with a neck or spine injury. We all know one should not remove an injured motor cyclist’s helmet! As result, all the first aid courses we ran since then have emphasised the inappropriate and potentially dangerous practice of shaking an injured person’s shoulder while seeking a response. Best practice is to gently tap the injured person’s collar bone. Even if the casualty is only semi conscious, you will certainly get a response - indeed a bigger one than you might expect! Try it on a willing “casualty”, but stand well back or there may be two casualties! There are other less painful but equally successfully methods for getting a response, but these are not current best practice or the subject of this note. Brendan d’Arcy, RoSPA Advanced Driving (Northants), Training Officer

RoSPA Advanced Drivers [Northants] Newsletter Publishing Date: 7 September 2019

From the humble works van to a fleet of vehicles, are you responsible for the drivers in your organisation?

RoSPA Workplace Safety: Simon Day

Members of RoSPA Advanced Drivers (Northants) members are not just private motorists - our group includes professional drivers, driving instructors and drivers of articulated vehicles. Almost a third of fatal road accidents in the UK involve somebody driving for work. When you look at the figures for serious injuries, you can see that around a quarter involve somebody driving for work. For many of us driving is the most dangerous workplace activity we undertake, but do you and your business prioritise fleet safety? Obviously, safety is the number one reason for fleet managers to prioritise fleet safety. But also consider the vast costs involved in dealing with the aftermath of accidents, not to mention the time involved. It certainly amounts to more than the cost of implementing a robust fleet safety strategy. But how can you implement such a strategy and ensure that it is maintained?

1. Know your drivers

Seems simple. But do you really know who is driving your fleet vehicles and what they are using them for? Do you know if they use their vehicle to commute? Do you know what type of licence they all have? Do you know their driving habits? It’s imperative to get a firm understanding of all of this information, so you can make informed decisions about issues such as safety, advanced driving training and driver risk assessments.

2. Train your drivers

Once you’ve got to know your drivers and their behaviour, you need to ensure they are all correctly trained and that training is maintained. The number one reason for this is that it will help prevent accidents and injuries by improving driver performance, as well as saving costs and increasing profits. Driver training enables you to standardise processes for communicating safety regulations, establishing effective defensive driving habits and teaching general rules of the road, specific to your fleet’s vehicle types. The best drivers are constantly learning and a core element of this is defensive driving. This teaches an efficient approach to hazards and defensive driving techniques, helping drivers to minimise risk whilst driving. This training can be applied to drivers of cars, vans and HGVs

3. Assess your drivers

It’s all very well getting your drivers trained, but it’s equally as important to consistently monitor them. Employers have a duty of care to carry out driver risk assessments. Driver risk assessments are a legal requirement and help you prioritise the individuals most in need of driver training. Poor driver behaviour can cost your company a lot of money. For instance, incorrect use of brakes— e.g. a vehicle deceleration greater than seven feet per second— is among the biggest contributors to fleet-related fuel waste. It wastes fuel as well as being bad for the environment. A software tool such as Driver Profiler enables you to gain excellent insights into the risk posed by drivers. It allows managers to compare individuals and make decisions on the provision of driver training. It also serves as an effective recruitment exercise ensuring drivers fit the required profile. Best of all, it takes less than 15 minutes for drivers to complete.

4. Improve your drivers

Once you’ve trained and assessed your drivers you should have a firm understanding of their relative capabilities. At the lower end of the ladder, you can identify training needs, but what can you do with your best drivers? How about taking them to the next level and turning them into advanced drivers or riders, or even turning them into trainers? RoSPA’s Instructor and Assessor courses help you to instruct others to the high standard demanded of RoSPA trainers. Investing in an effective safety programme is an investment in your fleet itself. While advanced driver training may seem like an unnecessary use of resources, in the long run it will save your fleet a lot of money in operational, fuel and personnel costs.

RoSPA Advanced Drivers [Northants] Newsletter Publishing Date: 7 September 2019

Parent and child parking bays are designed to help motorists with young families. Have you ever misused a bay? Confused.com

Supermarkets have designed parent and child parking bays to be more convenient for motorists with young families. These bays have extra space so it’s easier to manoeuvre children in and out of the vehicle. They’re also much closer to the store so children don’t have to walk through a busy car park. But the extra room and small distance from the store make these bays tempting for other motorists. According to research by Confused.com, nearly two in three parents have noticed someone misusing a parent and child parking space which led to them parking elsewhere. This is a source of irritation for parents, so why are people misusing parent and child parking bays?

The parent parking problem We visited supermarkets across 10 regions in Britain to see how bad the parent and child parking problem is. Arrivals and departures were monitored at one supermarket per region. Our researchers would take note of whether the driver left the car with or without a child. The results showed that one in four people misuse parent and child parking bays. Regionally, our observations revealed that the highest amount of incorrect parking occurred in the North East, with 64% of people misusing the bays. The lowest was in the South West, with only 5% of people parking incorrectly. When asked, 31% of people told us they parked in these bays because they couldn’t find a space. Another 31% said that there were plenty of parent and child parking bays available.

Why do parents need allocated parking bays? Regular spaces simply don’t have enough room for manoeuvring children in and out of a car. In fact, more than half of parents struggled to get their child out of the car because they didn’t have enough room in a regular parking space. Parent and child spaces are also located near to the supermarket entrance. When asked, one in four parents told us that after parking in a regular space they witnessed a car speeding past, putting their child at risk. Placing the parent and child parking bays closer to the store means young children don’t have to walk across a busy car park.

What are the rules around parent and child parking bays? Generally, you can use a parent and child parking bay if you have a child with you that’s under 12 or in a car seat or booster seat. This is unless any signage says otherwise. It’s unclear whether pregnant women can use these spaces as signs specifically refer to parents with children. When we asked supermarkets to tell us their rules on parent and child parking bays, Tesco was the only store to mention pregnant women. It said: "It's up to the store whether they penalise a pregnant woman for using the

RoSPA Advanced Drivers [Northants] Newsletter Publishing Date: 7 September 2019

parent and child parking bay." If you’re pregnant and feel you need the extra room, it’s worth asking the store whether you can park in these bays. It’s not illegal to park in a parent and child space without a child, but you could land a fine if you’re caught. The way supermarkets monitor parking varies between stores, but here’s a basic run down: Sainsbury's Parent and child parking bay misuse is handled by the store itself and fines would be issued by the car park operators. Asda An external agency monitors Asda’s car parks. Regular checks are conducted to enforce parking regulations. If someone has parked incorrectly they will be issued with a parking charge. Morrisons If someone is discovered parking incorrectly they are politely asked to move, or a sign is placed on their windscreen. Tesco An external agency will issue a parking charge notice (PCN) to anyone wrongly parked. Aldi If a customer has noticed someone misusing a parent and child bay they are encouraged to report it to the store manager. However, they are unable to enforce this as there is limited staff in store. Lidl Lidl do not have the facilities to monitor the use of parent and child parking bays. They strongly rely on the honesty of customers to park correctly.

Chris’s Contributions The use of hand-held mobile phones on the move, for whatever reason, is illegal. Many years ago (I forget when), RoSPA said that ALL phones etc should banned from any use whilst driving. This was never pushed by the law, but could be construed as "not being in full control of the vehicle". The end result is that we have always had crashes due to hands-free technology - including sat navs. RoSPA even suggested that, with the vehicle on the move, the sat nav screen should be switched off allowing only a voice to give directions to the driver. Any system that "assists" the driver is just that and should NEVER be used as the definitive object. All too often I have been with an Associate who is not aware of this and has had near misses - sometimes with me in the front passenger seat. One I recall was two very near misses on the A14 when the driver didn't look in the rear view mirrors before trying to change lanes for an overtake. Both times - on the same trip! The (blind spot detection (BSD), system), buzzer failed to sound as the car overtaking us was in an undetectable position on our right rear quarter. It was my warning that stopped the potential collision. BEWARE!!!!! Regards and safe driving to you all Chris Milner

------------------------------- As an advanced driver in an overtaking lane, I still have to rely upon my fellow drivers not pulling into the lane I am occupying and colliding with my vehicle. Yes, we have our anticipatory skills that give warnings of a driver that might be about to change lanes, but what if that driver, as described in Chris’s article above, has become complacent enough to rely on a sensor to warn of a vehicle in the blind spot rather than do a shoulder check. As we get more and more vehicles fitted with driving assist systems, will we stop using our own tried and tested methods and rely on auto sensors? What might happen if a system fails or fails work as intended? Will we become habitually reliant upon them and no longer use the gold standard, such as a shoulder check before changing lanes? After all, the driver will still be blamed if a system failures to warn the driver resulting in a collision. Please give your views on these systems and how we can use them to supplement our driving safety rather than rely upon them. If driving correctly and to advanced standards, do we need them? [Ed].

RoSPA Advanced Drivers [Northants] Newsletter Publishing Date: 7 September 2019

The Funny Bit

Passenger: I hear you had quite an altercation in the High Street the other day?

Driver: Yes, someone had painted lines on the road showing where to park. I was going in the millinery store to buy a new bowler and I parked outside as usual. When I returned with my purchase I found that Sid’s young trainee mechanic had given me a ten guinea fine – for parking my car.

Passenger: That’s a bit of a cheek. What did you do?

Driver: I collared him and demanded to know what he was about. He said it was Sid’s idea and that I had parked in a larger bay and shouldn’t have.

Passenger: A larger bay? – What’s that all about?

Driver: He said I’d parked in a bay reserved for a horse and cart.