INSTITUTE OF ADVANCED MOTORISTS |
 Christopher Bullock |
Speed cameras alone will not dissuade people who choose to drive badly. Unfortunately, it is all too easy to crash while travelling within the speed limit. Our challenge is to get those people to drive well – to keep them on the road if it is possible to do so, and driving to a standard that means all road users, especially the vulnerable road using groups such as pedestrians and cyclists, are entitled to expect.
That’s why I was pleased to see the latest Road Safety Statistics from the Department of Transport (DfT), which has offered a fresh analysis of the contributory factor behind crashes. The DfT is now measuring the “why” and “how” these crashes occurred. Two key factors were considered – “exceeding the speed limit” and “failed to look properly”.
The conclusion was that five of the six most frequently reported contributory factors were some kind of driver or rider error or reaction. The UK’s 30 million drivers may have many clocked up many years’ experience at the wheel between them, but that is no guarantee that they will get better at the actual driving task.
In some cases, they may actually get measurably worse over time, according to research we commissioned from Brunel University, which is now undergoing peer review. Brunel says that drivers coached beyond the L-test are more aware of what is going on around them. This greater awareness is not restricted to just other road users, road conditions, and infrastructure, but the “joining up” of these elements into an overall understanding of their meaning in terms of potential hazards and the appropriate driver response.
Brunel’s Ergonomics Research Group staged what has been described as the first scientifically controlled study into the effectiveness of advanced driver coaching by the IAM (Institute of Advanced Motorists). It told us that they were satisfied that coaching, plus practical on-road assessments and feedback, leads to much better drivers. “The IAM group was significantly better at driving by the end of the two-year study than either of the control groups, who remained the same or got worse,” says Professor Neville Stanton, who led the Brunel team.
| "Nearly 70% of drivers who received advanced coaching showed significantly safer skills in a number of key areas" |
Researchers divided up three groups, each with 25 drivers, matched by gender (seven women and 18 men), age (from 22 to 65, with an average age of 44), annual mileage (typically 13,000 miles per annum), driving experience (an average of 23 years) and points on licence. Together they were “observed” for more than 650 hours at the wheel. The group that was coached by “observers” (IAM volunteers) showed measurable improvements in all three areas of driver competence: knowledge of what was going on around them, skills applied to the driving tasks, and attitude towards driving.
The experiment saw us reappraising how the on-road learning experience actually works. Just because individual drivers have had a few more years on the road, it doesn’t mean that their attitude to driving is any healthier. We know that by working on the skills of drivers, they cannot help but start to re-evaluate their ability to spot hazards early and this leads to safer driving.
But how does that translate into our every day driving experience?
The Brunel team concluded that advanced drivers are less prone to the frustrations that lead to road rage, which is itself a valuable contribution to road safety. The team concluded that nearly 70% of drivers who received advanced coaching showed significantly safer skills in a number of key areas, including speed, safe distances, cornering, gear changing, seating position, and use of mirrors.
