RoSPA Advanced Drivers and Riders
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BEDFORD GROUP RoSPA Advanced Drivers and Riders |
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President of the Bedford Group
Dr. Lisa Dorn
BSc PhD CPsychol, AFBPS
Here is a selection of reports from our previous
meetings
All content is the opinion of the writer or contributer. It is not
the official view of the committee of the Bedford Group of RoSPA Advanced Drivers and
Riders, RoSAPA or any other official body connected to or mentioned by the writer.
16th October 2007 - Heart Start course 17th July 2007 - Addressed from the "bench" 19th June 2007 - Fire HQ Kempston 17th October2006 - Annual Quiz 19th September2006 - TrafficMaster 18th July2006 - Chris Gilbert 9th July2006 - Honda Formula 1 20th June 2006 - Impromptu meeting 21st February 2006 - Dr Lisa Dorn - Research
Director of DriverMetrics® and Head of the Driving Research Group at Cranfield University
19th October 2005 - Casualty Reduction
Partnership A very informative and believe it or not interesting evening. It is surprising
how a small reduction
in speed makes so much difference in the number of serious collisions. 20th July 2005 - A Practical Evening This meeting was kept as secret as possible, but I think all who attended
learnt something.
19th October 2004 - Another Fine Day Part 2
Bill Brady, the Road Safety Manager at Bedfordshire County Council, explained the
background to the national
"For my Girlfriend" campaign and why in Bedordshire a slightly different approach is
being taken to reduce the number
of young people killed or injured in the first few months after passing their driving
test. He first presented a video
that was produced last year that shows a young couple on the day before they were due to married collecting a new
car and crashing into a wall in St Pauls Square in Bedford. In this crash the boy's girlfriend, who was a passenger
in the car died. In part 2 of the video, which is currently being finalised and Bill showed us a incomplete version,
concentrates on the effects of the accident on the driver, who is distraught at killing his girlfriend, and her
family. It shows the mortatury at Bedford Hospital and the court case. This video has a very powerful message and
is to be shown to school children just before they reach the age of 17. 20th April 2004 - Quiz Night Our Treasurer, David Lee again produced an entertaining quiz with only 3 questions about driving. The other
questions were (supposed to be!) general knowledge which would imply that the knowledge was generally known.
However as some one who didn't know that the dog in the Wizard of Oz is called Toto and that Uranus is the only
planet in the Solar System that rotates on its side, I would have to disgree. However everyone who attended had an enjoyable time and
congratulations to the winning team.
Bill, who is a first aid trainer gave us a chance to learn CPR and how to help someone who is choking. Martin also showed how to use a defibrilator, another way to help save a life.
These were real cases - with the names changed - and the range of sentences available to us.
Our own Caroline Leonard JP and Duncan Gear JP were on hand to assist and tell us how the courts operate. It's not as easy as it sounds, and this explained why some cases you or I would class as serious get seemingly lenient sentences.
All in all a very enjoyable evening, and a steep learning curve.
We had a tour round the Road Accident Recovery Vehicle. This vehicle was designed in consultation with the firemen, and carries most everything they need at the scene of a road collision. There is only one in the county, and some say it is the best in the country.
After this we also had the chance to see round the fire control room and chat to the opperators on duty. Fortunately, it had quietened down after several lightning strikes earlier in the evening and a fire in the centre of Bedford.
The annual quiz is getting tougher - and none more so than the one prepared by Andrew.
100 questions on a wide range of topics (10 different rounds of 10) and only 12 questions
(that I counted) on driving!!. The top score was in the 60's - so a very vallient effort
from Northamptonshire’s Finest (but I think the acknowledgement should be
Northamptonshire’s Finest with a touch of Bedford’s Best). All in all, a very enjoyable
evening was had by all.
Back in April we had Mick Savage from TraficMaster come and talk to us. At the time he
suggested
a visit to their HQ in Cranfield. This was the meeting where this happened. It was very
interesting seeing "behind the scenes" and the data live on screen.
This meeting saw a visit from Chris Gilbert. Those of us who attended (and if you didn’t
then you missed a real treat) were entertained for nearly two hours by a mixture of fact,
humour and anecdotes from a man who literally has done it all with regard to Advanced Driving.
All in all, this was a meeting not to be missed, and we had a good turnout on such a hot
night.
The tour was predicted to last about an hour. Two hours or more later, the groups emerged
into the day light. This was more the fact that they had asked so much about what they were
being shown, than boredom!
They were shown the complete path from an idea, to a car on the track. How subtle parts of
the car have been formed to give the designers the aerodynamic shape, but still keep within
the criteria of the official bodies of F1. How strong the actual structure of the car is,
while still so light.
Also how, even during the qualifying day, if the designers can shave a second off the lap
times a part can be re-jigged. Manufactured and shipped anywhere in the world ready for
race day the next day!
To then be able to have pictures taken alongside the car was a keepsake worth treasuring!
Bill wondered what presentations he had on his memory stick, but before looking, we found the
HGV theory driving test on the computer, and we were also lucky enough to have Malcolm Taylor
in the audience, who is an HGV driver for ANC.
Malcolm was coerced into talking us through the slides and answered general questions from the
floor. All in all, a very interesting insight from the point of view of HGV drivers on the road.
Considering that there was also a sporting event on TV this evening, the meeting was very well
attended.
Lisa has also created a web based DriverMetrics® tools to assess individuals against
the “norm” for their group. In discussion after the meeting, she is interested in getting
results from a group such as ours to create the “norm” for advanced non-police drivers.
The test is available online on
www.drivermetrics.co.uk.
Hopefully passwords will be available soon for the group to do the test for real!
It also amazed me how well the "Killed or Serious Injured" casualty numbers have
fallen at camera sites
and you can trust Bedfordshire to have the most improved stretch of road in Britain
(A505 Leighton to Linslade Southern Bypass) where the KSI
has fallen from 19 in three years to just 4 in three years (79% reduction). Lots of
numbers crunched during the evening,
but this was justified and really hit home!
To see the partnerships newsletter, click here
Those who attended were split into three groups and rotated between the practical tests
we had set for them.
How good are your reactions? Sitting in a car with two red lights in
front of you, this test found out how fast you can apply the brakes. The results displayed
how long in seconds and also how far you would have travelled at 30mph and 70mph.
How well do you know your cockpit? Blindfolded, each member was asked to
operate 10 items in their own car. No one was able to do all 10 immediately. Everyone
hesitated with some of the requests!!
How good is your eyesight? We had an eyesight testing machine which was
able to find most eyesight defects. Quite an eye opener for some!!
20th January 2004 - Police Control Room
For our meeting this month we were pleased to once again visit the control room of Bedfordshire Police. This is the third time Group has visited the Control Room. The first time was in 1999 just before a major refurbishment and extension. For the second visit in 2001 we saw the new control room and on this occassion we saw how the new conrol room had settled down. The control room is divided in to two parts. The first part receives all external calls to police stations throughout Bedfordshire all 999 calls directed to the Police. The second and larger part acts as the communication centre for all police officers on patrol in Bedfordshire. The place is crammed full of all the latest computer equipment including electronic mapping and call logging facilities. The control room receives all calls from the emergency telephones alongside the M1 in Bedfordshire as well as having access to CCTV cameras that monitor the traffic on the M1. This was a very entertaining and informative evening.
29th November 2003 - Skidpan
On a wet & windy day 11 members and a guest braved the elements to go to the skid pan at Desborough Airfield run by Precision Driving & Roadcraft. The friendly instructors first demonstrated skid control techniques in front and rear wheel drive cars. The members and guest were then coached in skid control followed by the opportunity to practice on their own. The skid pan was well lubricated with water (and the best quality corn oil!) and the tyres were inflated to a high pressure and had no tread which meant that skid control could be safely practiced at a little over 10mph. As the rain increased and the corn oil got washed away, the speeds increased along with the confidence of the attendees. A fun and enjoyable day despite the weather conditions. However with careful application of roadcraft techniques we hope never to get into a skid in the first place, but it is good to have this training as an insurance against this possibility.
18th November 2003 - The gritters are coming.....
The days of being showered with grit, on nights it does not freeze, or hearing they haven't gritted yet it is icy, may never happen again. Our speaker this evening was Colin Dowding from Carillion-URS who manage and maintain the motorway and trunk roads in the Bedford area.
Colin explained how his many years of experience help to keep the road network open when ice forms or snow falls. He explained the new technologies that are being used such as spreading pre-wetted 6mm salt instead of 10mm salt to minimise damage to vehicles and reduce the amount of salt blown to the side of the road and how GPS and computer equipment on the gritter now control the operations. He also explained the sophisticated equipment used to decide when the grit the roads such as automatic weather stations on the side of the road and equipment that are installed to measure road surface temperature.
However despite all this technology it can still rely on the gut feeling and instincts of an experienced engineer because, as we all know, the weather forecasts are often wrong. He brought a gritter to the meeting so that everyone could see the technology for themselves. But the star of the show was "Graham the Gritter" a character created by Carillion to explain to children the work done to keep our roads safe in the winter.
For information about safe driving in winter, visit the Think! Road Safety website
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| Colin Dowding | A gritter | A gritter | Our chairman Stan Jones takes a closer look |
Contact the Group for further information at info@roada-bedford.org.uk
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© the Bedford Group of RoSPA Advanced Drivers and Riders, 2006