Safe Speed Forums

My 18 year old son passed his test early this year, and after a couple of months I urged him to put in for his Pass Plus - mostly to get a (small) discount on his insurance.
Safer Roads for Cumbria give a £100 voucher towards the cost - and attending RAT at the Fire Brigade office is a condition of the subsidy.

His course was on Thursday night, so I took him through to Kendal and asked if I could sit in on the course.
I was told that this was fine as they encouraged parents to see the course too. Unfortunately this was not made clear in the paperwork, so I was the only parent there!
The paperwork said to be there promptly for 6.00pm, or else you would miss out, but only three out of five candidates appeared. One of the candidates was a youth from my son's class, whose father used to be a police road safety officer, but the third youth set the tone of his attendance by asking how long it was going to take as he had somewhere else he had to be later!

They were all asked the cost of their insurance - and it was made clear that this was because the insurance industry found young drivers were costly due to their accident record.
1 in 4 young drivers have an accident within 1 year of passing their test, so a glance around the room would seem to indicate that (statistically at least) one of the candidates would suffer an accident soon.
I felt the course failed to build on this issue once raised - that young drivers will think that it won't happen to them.

We then watched a series of various safety videos and pictures of accident scenes, which contrasted the clinical aspect of the public information film accidents with fake blood and make up, with the dirty reality of a real accident.
Some of the pictures might not be for the squeamish - but I have seen far worse in films and video games, and perhaps there is something to be learned there - showing pictures of real incidents may not be the deterrent they think.

Overall, I think the session was not slick enough to grab the attention of many youths - stopping and starting question and answer sessions between film and slides was not a good mix, but at least all the relevant information was there for those who WANTED to know how to improve - especially the issue of DISTRACTION - either in the car or outside.
There was also a warning NOT to rely on in car safety features to save your life or prevent injury - the onus is on the DRIVER to avoid an accident, not survive it!

I have suggested that the police road traffic unit should get involved - but I suspect that funding might be an issue.

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Time to take responsibility for our actions.. and don't be afraid of speaking out!

I couldnt agree more with you on the subject of getting the police involved,but my force in the 20+yrs that I have been in has never as long as i can remember got involved directly with young drivers/riders on road safety issues unless they had to.

Now with all these cuts coming into place I think that there will be even less chance of them getting involved,as I know that my force has got to loose 10% of the overall fleet with vehicles having to last them longer.
Stephen

One of the videos featured a youth driving dangerously, while his female passenger was clearly distressed. The climax involved a dangerous overtake, where he meets a furniture lorry coming the other way, tries to regain the correct side of the road but clips the car he was passing - the video cuts to the immediate aftermath and a view of the dead passenger, with the driver distraught at having caused a death.
Nobody at the course mentioned at that point the driver's responsibilities to his passengers wishes, and the other road users - a opportunity lost.
I would have pointed out that the driver is like a chauffeur - and that his passenger should be respected.
Also, passengers who are worried about their drivers actions should be encouraged to protest more, and not become cowed by the disdain sometimes heaped upon those who show fear.
Peer pressure was mentioned but not in a manner which would lead drivers to learn to ignore it.

I am just glad my son is such a sensible and steady type. Inexperienced, and aware of his inexperience, and eager to learn more.

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Time to take responsibility for our actions.. and don't be afraid of speaking out!

First of all -Ern - congrats to junior - but in the tradition of living in the country - perhaps it might just fall to you to get him on the advanced road - I've only got one driver in the family- my youngest - who is also a biker .But she still comes to me for car advice( most of it care of this site) ----so perhaps you might now take son out , and teach him those things that only come with experience . And Good luck- our kids seem to think that us old fogies need re training .

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

I wonder why they think that shock and horror will work over - how to be really good ! ?
Why is not the inspiration to be excellent is so condemned, when it is harder to be better than it is to be 'bad' ?

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