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Category: IAM RoadSmart
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IAM director of policy and research Neil Greig: "Car and road designers have helped to deliver fewer deaths on our roads but the human factor is still the biggest issue in road safety. In isolation eating, phoning, talking, chastising, map reading or glovebox rummaging all sound innocuous enough but when combined with driving on today's busy roads they can have devastating consequences. Safe driving demands complete concentration and anything that takes your mind or your eyes off the road puts you and others at risk."
Drivers are being urged to take a break and enjoy their food away from their vehicles, as road safety charity Brake and Direct Line reveal more than six in ten (62%) have eaten at the wheel in the past year. Three in ten (29%) unwrapped food themselves at the wheel - a telling symptom of busy lifestyles putting lives at risk. Studies have suggested eating a meal at the wheel increases your risk of a devastating crash as much as talking on a phone. Brake and Direct Line's survey of 1,000 drivers reveals that in the past year: tree in ten (29%) have opened and eaten food at the wheel.
third (33%) have eaten food that was unwrapped and passed to them by a passenger. One in 50 (2%) has narrowly avoided a crash in the past year, having had to brake or swerve to avoid a hazard because they were distracted by food or drink. The numbers of UK drivers eating at the wheel reflects a wider trend towards eating on the move, as lifestyles become ever more fast-paced. Britons have been found to spend more on food eaten on the move than any other country in Europe, with our continental neighbours more likely to take time out to enjoy meals.
Brake and Direct Line's survey shows it's not just meal times being squeezed by our busy lifestyles, as one in five drivers (20%) admit to doing their hair, applying make-up or otherwise tidying up their appearance while at the wheel.
One in 20 (5%) admit doing so in free-flowing traffic, risking appalling crashes. Eating at the wheel is part of the wider problem of distracted drivers, believed to contribute to around one in five crashes (22%). Drivers who attempt to multi-task at the wheel are two to three times more likely to crash, and complex tasks like unwrapping and eating a burger increase the risk even more. The consequences can be deadly, as in May 2012 when cyclist Joe Wilkins was killed by a driver who was eating a sandwich. Brake urges all drivers to give the road their full attention and save any other activities for regular breaks, which should be at least every two hours on long journeys. Brake also calls on government to make traffic policing a national priority to stop multi-tasking drivers putting lives at risk.
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Road safety charity the IAM is offering tips from Britain’s top advanced driver, Peter Rodger. Following severe weather warnings of storms and floods over the coming days, the IAM is advising on how to keep safe in the storms.
IAM chief examiner Peter Rodger said: “A suddenly very wet road surface increases the chances of slipping when braking or steering, which is a problem not just for motorists, but cyclists and motorcyclists too.”
“When driving in wet conditions remember that stopping distances will increase, and visibility will be reduced. Drop your speed and give yourself more time to slow down.”
In cases of severe flooding, you should reconsider making the journey at all. If it is unavoidable, and you have to drive through deep water, the IAM recommends drivers take the following precautions:
•Drive on the highest section of the road and don't set off if a vehicle is approaching you
•Leave time and space to avoid swamping other cars and pedestrians
•Drive slowly and keep going once you have started – make sure you have a clear run. In a manual car, keep the revs high by "slipping the clutch" (which means the clutch is not fully engaged) all the time you are in the water
•If you can’t see where you are going to come out of the water, such as when approaching flooding on a bend, think twice about starting to drive into it
•In deep water never take your foot off the accelerator, as this could allow water to travel up the exhaust pipe
•Once you're out of the water, dry the brakes before you need them. The best way is to lightly apply the brake as you drive along for a few seconds, after checking nothing is following you too closely.
In the wind
•Strong winds can also unsettle your car and even change your direction of travel. Grip your steering wheel firmly and also be ready for the effects of the wind on other road users, particularly motorcyclists and flat-sided vehicles like lorries.
•Plan your journey – is there a route with less exposure to the weather and less risk of fallen trees? Choose a sheltered route if you have the option.
•Strong winds are not constant, they are usually gusty so ensure you hold the steering wheel firmly.
•Overtaking high sided vehicles or driving past buildings can result in a sudden gust from the side as you clear.
•Give cyclists, motorcyclists, lorries and buses more room than usual. They get blown around by side winds easily. Even pedestrians can be blown about.
•Watch trees and bushes on the roadside - their branches can show you how strong the wind is. Look well ahead, that way you don’t need to take your eye off the road and you can see any windy patches before you get to them.
•Go slow enough to cope with the gusts. Wind can get under a car and reduce its handling and braking significantly.
•Keep an eye on what is happening to other vehicles – where they are affected will give you a pre warning.
•Go slowly enough to cope with the tree that has fallen right across the road, just round the bend where you can’t see it.
•Be careful of debris, try and have space beside you in case you need to dodge it.
In the rain
•Before you set off, set your heater controls – rain can makes the windows mist up in seconds. You don’t want to be fiddling with controls when you should be concentrating on the road.
•See and be seen. Put your lights on – as a rule of thumb, whenever you need to use your wipers you should also turn your dipped headlights on, and before overtaking put your wipers on their fastest setting.
•Keep your eyes on the road ahead and plan your driving so that you can brake, accelerate and steer smoothly – harsh manoeuvres will unbalance the car.
•Slow down. In the rain stopping distance is at least doubled. Giving yourself more space also helps to avoid spray, especially when following a large vehicle.
•If you have cruise control, avoid using it on wet roads – you need to pay more attention to the road surface conditions and alter your speed gently.
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Survey finds four out of ten drivers not concentrating.
Only sixty per cent of drivers concentrate when they are behind the wheel, according to a poll by IAM/Vision Critical of nearly 1500 drivers. However, there is good and bad news in these findings.
The good news is that older drivers are much less likely to lose concentration while driving. Seventy-three per cent of over 65 year-olds say they concentrate on the road all of the time that they are driving. Twenty-six per cent said that they concentrate most of the time. The bad news is that 50 per cent of younger drivers aged 18-24 admit to not concentrating on driving 100 per cent of the time. Not far behind, 47 per cent of 24-34 year olds admit to not concentrating.
Nearly a quarter of drivers (24 per cent) say that simply daydreaming was the most common reason for not concentrating. Among 18-24 year-olds the figure is 30 per cent. Other reasons given for not concentrating include stress (22 per cent), thinking about what you will be doing when you arrive (21 per cent) and thinking about family, friends and personal relationships (21 per cent).
In the North East and in Wales, 64 per cent of drivers, said they concentrate all the time.
Londoners are most likely to be distracted while driving, with forty-seven per cent admitting to not concentrating one hundred per cent on the road. Yorkshire and Humberside, the South West and Scotland were not far behind with 46%.
IAM chief executive Simon Best said: “Signs of not concentrating such as missed turnings or uncancelled indicator lights are commonplace. Simply not concentrating is a key cause of crashes yet it is not borne out in statistics because drivers rarely admit to it in police reports or on insurance forms.”
“These results reconfirm stereotypes surrounding younger drivers and the ease with which they can be distracted away from staying safe. The key is to build up as wide a range of experiences as possible as you learn and to look upon your driving as a skill that needs continuous improvement.”
www.iam.org.uk
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The latest Department for Transport road casualty statistics released today show a welcome decrease in the overall number of deaths and serious injuries in the year ending September 2013
However, despite the decrease, the IAM are concerned that two-wheeled road users are still a growing risk and must be given even greater priority for investment and education.
•For reported road accidents in the year ending September 2013:1,730 people were killed, a 2 per cent drop from 1,761 in the year ending September 2012. The number of killed or seriously injured casualties fell to 23,380, a 6 per cent decrease compared with the previous year.
•For the year ending September 2013, there were 184,010 reported road casualties of all severities, 7 per cent fewer than the 197,700 for the year ending September 2012.
•In the year ending September 2013 there were 1,730 reported road fatalities, a 2 per cent drop from 1,761 in the year ending September 2012. The number of killed or seriously injured (KSI) casualties fell by 6 per cent, to 23,380, and the total number of casualties fell by 7 per cent to 184,010. In comparison, motor vehicle traffic rose by 1.1 per cent over the same period.
•A total of 8,490 car user KSI casualties occurred in the year ending September 2013, a fall of 6 per cent from the previous 12-month period.
•KSI casualties for the vulnerable road user groups – pedestrians, pedal cyclists and motorcyclists – showed overall decreases of 10, 2 and 6 per cent respectively.
IAM director of policy and research Neil Greig said: “It is reassuring to see an overall drop in the number of road casualties. But the fact remains that nearly a quarter of road deaths are a result for criminal driving acts such as dangerous driving, drink driving, careless driving and aggravated theft. Targeted action by the police to drive down the numbers of these criminal driving acts could potentially have huge societal benefits.”
www.iam.org.uk
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Following warnings of icy weather, road safety charity the IAM is offering driving tips for the frost and ice from Britain’s top advanced driver, Peter Rodger.
IAM chief examiner Peter Rodger said: “Some bits of the country have already had a first taste of this year’s winter. That means it’s time for the rest of us to start thinking about how to deal with it too.”
Rodger offers six tips to drive confidently in icy conditions:
1) Keep to the main roads as they’re more likely to be salted. Also bear in mind that after the frost has gone, ice can remain in areas which are shaded by trees and buildings – and it forms there first, so be careful in the evening as the temperature drops.
2) It may seem obvious to say – but every year people do forget, so ensure you have de-icer and a scraper. And don’t be one of those people, still out there, who only scrape a small area and drive looking through a slit – clear the whole screen to be able to see properly.
3) If the road is slippery when you start off, do it in second gear, releasing the clutch and accelerating gently, avoiding high revs – this will help prevent wheel spin. As you drive, stay in higher gears to help avoid wheelspin. In an automatic be gentle with your feet, and use whatever gearbox features that the car handbook says will help in slippery conditions.
4) It seems obvious, but cars go in ditches every winter because drivers haven’t taken icy roads seriously enough. If it’s cold outside treat wet looking patches with great care – they could be ice, not water.
5) Stopping distances are increased by up to 10 times in icy conditions, so leave plenty of distance between your car and the car in front - plan so that you’re not relying on your brakes to stop - on ice they may not do that for you. If it is really slippery slow down early and use the gears to do it.
6) If your car loses grip and starts to slide sideways, take your foot off the accelerator, and point the front wheels where you want to go.
Rodger said: “These are just a few pointers to start you thinking. Being mentally prepared as well as having the right equipment is vital, so think about any problems you encountered last winter, and what you need to do to avoid them or overcome them if they recur this year. Be prepared for the worst – icy conditions will affect accelerating, steering and braking.”
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