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How the road to safer driving means learning to say . . . sorry
By Ben Webster, Transport Correspondent

THE key to being a safe driver is to learn humility and accept a portion of the blame for near- misses and collisions, a study has found.

Motorists who try to blame others for crashes are more likely to be involved in one than those who accept that their own driving may not have been perfect.

The study by Brunel University found that drivers who had additional training were more likely to accept responsibility for dangerous incidents.

Three groups, each made up of 25 drivers, were observed at the wheel for 650 hours over 15 months. One had received training in advanced driving skills while the other two had had no extra tuition after gaining their licences. The advanced drivers were 60 per cent less likely to blame other motorists for causing danger.

Neville Stanton, professor of human factors at Brunel, who led the research, said: “The less likely drivers are to blame external factors for road danger, the less likely they are to be involved in accidents.

“The extra training makes drivers more aware of what they themselves can do to reduce the risk of being involved in a crash. They are less inclined to put it down to luck or to blame the road conditions or other drivers.”

A separate survey of 1,000 motorists commissioned by Brake, the road safety charity, found that 96 per cent claimed they were safe but 60 per cent believed the majority of other drivers were dangerous.

The Department for Transport believes that changing the attitude of drivers is the most effective way of reducing road deaths. There has been little change in the number in Britain in the past decade, with an average of 3,400 a year.

Since 2001 deaths have declined by only 6 per cent compared with an average of 14 per cent across the EU. Over the same period, France achieved a 32 per cent reduction and Portugal 23 per cent.

When comparing the number of deaths with the total distance travelled by car, Britain still has one of the best road safety records in Europe. There were 7.1 deaths per billion vehicle kilometres in Britain in 2003, compared with 10.9 in France and 9.7 in Germany.

The Institute of Advanced Motorists, which commissioned the Brunel research, said it was concerned that too much emphasis had been placed on making roads and cars safer and not enough on changing driver behaviour.

Peter Rodger, the institute’s chief examiner and a former inspector with the Metropolitan Police traffic wing, said: “With car safety systems becoming increasingly sophisticated, there is a danger that drivers will think they can rely on the technology to prevent crashes. We must ensure drivers do not adopt the attitude that it is the responsibility of their ABS (anti-lock brakes) to stop them hitting pedestrians.”

Mr Rodger said that too few drivers recognised that their own driving style could contribute to the severity of a crash.

“There is no point lying in a coffin saying, ‘It was the other driver’s fault because I had right of way’. Drivers who accept responsibility, even when someone else is doing something stupid, are more likely to walk away unharmed.

“It may sound selfish, but it is better to let someone have an accident on their own rather than involve you.”

The Department for Transport believes that changing the attitude of drivers is the most effective way of reducing road deaths. There has been little change in the number in Britain in the past decade, with an average of 3,400 a year.