OCTOBER 2010 Newsletter

Road Expo Ingliston, Edinburgh, 3rd and 4th November

In addition to providing an opportunity for you to find out more about ScORSA at stand B3
This free event offers professionals in the roads and construction industries the opportunity to:Road Expo Scotland

  • see the latest products and services that the industry has to offer
  • network with peers and exchange ideas
  • keep up to date with the latest legislation changes in the free to attend seminars
  • see large plant equipment up close and live in the demonstration area
  • discover ways to boost profit and increase efficiency
  • and ultimately...................to do business.

http://www.road-expo.com/re2010s

Association of Chief Police Officers Road Policing Campaigns

Seatbelts only work if you wear them every time

During the ACPOS coordinated seatbelt day of action on 1st September police revealed a worrying number of vehicle occupants failing to comply with seatbelt legislation, which shows that motorists continue to disregard their safety and the safety of others. In Tayside, a child was being carried in between the front seats of a Transit van. The driver has been reported to the procurator fiscal for dangerous carriage of passengers. This and more information on that campaign http://www.acpos.police.uk/NewsListLatest.html

Campaign on speeding catches more than just speeders

In Strathclyde, a driver was stopped for a speeding offence on the M74 at Abington in adverse weather conditions, whilst accompanied by his wife and 2 young children who were seated in the rear. Further enquiries revealed that the driver had an expired driving licence and his vehicle was seized. http://www.acpos.police.uk/NewsListLatest.html

Winter Safety Campaign

On the same weekend as the clocks change Scottish Police forces will be out to ensure the safety of road users by checking that vehicles are roadworthy and comply with the law.

RoSPA information to help you Get Ready for Winter

Clocks change at the end of this month – darker morning, darker evenings and wintery weather mean you need to be prepared by ensuring vehicles are properly equipped. Check out the RoSPA guidance on winter driving.

October is Tyre Safety Month according to the Tyre Safety Council

More information on tyre safety

Freight Best Practice Rural Driving GuideFreight Best Practice Rural Driving Guide

RoSPA Scotland has endorsed the most recent Pocket Rural Driving Guide. Written especially for drivers, this pocket guide provides operational and safety information on driving Heavy Goods Vehicles in the Rural environment. The guide looks at various aspects of driving in a rural environment, including operating on rural roads, and your impact on the rural environment.
This is available alongside the suite of Pocket guides.

 

Loading and Unloading Vehicles

Health and Safety Executive (HSE) informs us that loading and unloading vehicles can be dangerous. Machinery can seriously hurt people. Heavy loads, moving or overturning vehicles and working at height can all lead to injuries or death.
Log onto this link which provides guidance to help avoid problems.

RoSPA Launches Driver Profiler 20:20

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents has launched a completely new and improved version of Driver Profiler, bringing its award-winning online driver risk assessment tool bang up to date.

Driver Profiler 20:20 is designed to assess whether someone is a low, medium or high-risk driver by measuring psychometric, demographic and behavioural factors that influence driver safety.

This enables managers to identify those drivers in need of further training and make informed decisions as to what is required. Rather than employing a “scatter gun” approach to driver training, Driver Profiler 20:20 makes it possible to target specific training at those who need it most.

Companies new to profiler are invited to have free one month trial to the Profiler.

Study on the regulatory situation in the member states regarding brought-in (i.e. nomadic) devices and their use in vehicles

The ETSC have published a new report which looks at the regulatory situation in the EU Member States on mounting and using nomadic devices in motor vehicles.

Nomadic devices comprise all portable electronic devices for information, entertainment, or communication that can be used outside of the vehicle and inside the vehicle by the driver whilst driving.

Deriving from this context, the objectives of the study are to:

  • provide an overview of the regulatory and legislative situation in each EU member state;
  • identify similarities and differences in regulatory frameworks applied in countries across Europe and group them into clusters (cluster analysis);
  • estimate the safety effects of the use of nomadic devices and related legislation on road safety for particular Member States.

In summary the study is able to demonstrate that Nomadic Devices are owned by particular subgroups of drivers, who differentially engage in high-risk behaviours, exposing themselves and others to risk. Of particular interest there is a core of drivers who appear to be not only engaging in the higher-risk behaviours, such as texting while driving, who are young, or high-mileage. These drivers also admit to lower scores on the dimension of self-reported safety, such that they are also report travelling at short headways, poor overtaking and exceeding the speed limit. These drivers also report high levels of skill, which could be interpreted as over-confidence, particularly in young drivers.

Legislation appears to have little influence on driver’s propensity to engage in high-risk behaviour. For example, drivers residing in countries with more stringent, specific legislation for PNDs and music players were more likely to engage in illegal interactions. The only exception was for texting while driving, and this may be due to the fact that mobile phone legislation is the most publicised and understood across the member states.

http://www.etsc.eu/documents/Report_Nomadic_Devices.pdf

Tips for safer parking and guidance on minimising hit while parked collisions provided by Interactive Driving Systems

Dr Will Murray from interactive Driving Systems states that: “based on our experience supporting hundreds of clients, slow speed manoeuvring and hit while parked collisions remain amongst the most common collision types reported by fleet drivers around the world. Although their individual costs are relatively low, because of the high volume of such incidents, the overall expense to individual organisations is highly significant in direct repair invoices, as well as a wide range of hidden costs such as vehicle down-time and reduced resale values.”

Dr Murray goes on to say that they, “have therefore reviewed good practice research on safe parking, and developed the following 20 common sense tips for drivers to avoid parking and slow speed manoeuvring incidents.”

  1. Minimise the need to travel, for example by video conferencing, or travel by train or other modes whenever possible, especially when visiting urban areas.
  2. Have an eye examination every two years, as an increase in slow speed manoeuvring incidents is often a sign of deteriorating vision.
  3. Try to book an allocated parking space in advance so that you can park in a designated location.
  4. Check your mirrors every time you get in your vehicle.
  5. Allow time in journey plans to find suitable/safe parking.
  6. Be familiar with the height, width, length and features of your vehicle.
  7. Obey traffic lanes, local road rules and instructions.
  8. Check your mirrors before stopping, and signal to alert other drivers.
  9. Always have an ‘exit strategy’ in mind when parking. Think about the spacing from buildings, other vehicles, street furniture and turn radius of the exit manoeuvre – and how you will get out.
  10. Manoeuvre slowly and in control.
  11. Don't race for a parking space when seeing someone approach their car with keys in hand.
  12. Watch out for and anticipate the actions of other drivers and pedestrians.
  13. Always park within the painted lines of the space allocation.
  14. Where legal and safe to do so, reverse/back into parking spaces – so that you can drive out at the start of your journey. This is good for both safety and fuel efficiency.
  15. Do not park in a commercial vehicle zone unless you are engaged in legitimate commercial business.
  16. During the day, park away from buildings to help avoid dings and dents from car doors, runaway shopping carts, or vandals. At night, avoid such secluded areas for security reasons.
  17. Avoid parking in the spaces/end of rows near turning areas.
  18. Avoid parking near the shopping trolley return areas in store car parks.
  19. Before leaving the vehicle, set the hand brake, put the vehicle in first gear, or ‘park’ position in automatics.
  20. Be extra careful when backing out of spaces. Be aware of vehicles and pedestrians moving behind you, cars waiting to get your spot, others who are backing out at the same time and reckless drivers who speed through lanes.

Note: A more detailed research-based guidance for managers on minimising hit while parked incidents, is freely available by emailing willmurray@roadrisk.net

When Do Drivers Have Their First Accident and Does It Have an Impact on Subsequent Driving?

This Department for Transport report describes further analyses of the accident data collected in the Cohort II study*. It employs different procedures to those used in the main study, and approaches the data from a different point of view by posing two questions. The first is to ask when new drivers have their first accidents and what factors influence this. The second is to ask what effect accidents have on the attitudes and self-reported behaviours of the drivers who are involved.

Main Findings

The question ‘How long does it take before a new driver has an accident?’ has been investigated by using a technique known as ‘survival analysis’, where ‘survival’ is the time (in months or miles) that elapses before the first accident. The results showed that:

  • The age of the driver is important, with older drivers ‘surviving’ accident-free longer than younger ones.
  • A self-reported driving style that is ‘attentive, careful, responsible and safe’ is also associated with a longer ‘survival’ time.
  • The experience of driving in busy town centres and of driving in the rain for at least two hours when learning were also associated with longer survival times before having the first accident.
  • Driver behaviours during the first six months of driving were also influential on survival time, with ‘better’ behaviours being associated with longer survival times.
  • The investigation of the effects of accidents on subsequent driving indicated that drivers who are accident-involved do modify some of their driving behaviours and attitudes.
  • Accident-involved female drivers were aware that they were less decisive, less confident, made more errors and slips and were less hazard-involved in the period following an accident than they had been in previously.
  • Male drivers who were accident-involved reported being less confident after the accident than they had been before it.
  • While females are more affected by accidents than are males, overall the effects as measured by self-reported measures of attitudes and behaviours are not particularly large.

Summary

* The Cohort II study of learner and novice drivers was a major 6-year study, funded by the DfT, to provide an up-to-date picture of how learner drivers in Great Britain undertake driver training and testing, and of their subsequent experiences as new drivers. A random sample of 8,000 practical test candidates was drawn every 3 months from November 2001 to August 2005. They were sent a questionnaire shortly after taking their practical test, and those who passed were followed up over the next three years. More than 40,000 new drivers participated.

European Commission’s Road Safety Plan 2011-2020

The European Commission has unveiled an ambitious plan to halve the number of deaths on Europe’s roads by 2020. This takes the form of a set of Road Safety Policy Orientations for the period 2011-2020 which are aimed at raising road safety levels throughout Europe. The main focus is on improving vehicle and infrastructure safety, as well as road users' behaviour.
EU Newsletter

European Week for Safety and Health at Work

The 2010 European Week for Safety and Health at Work starts on Monday 25 October 2010 and the theme of the two year 2010-11 healthy workplaces campaign is Safe Maintenance.

The campaign is based on employers, employees and their health and safety representatives working together.
In some European countries as much as 20% of all workplace accidents are connected with maintenance and in a number of sectors over half of all accidents are maintenance-related. Maintenance is essential to prevent workplace risks, but it is itself a high risk activity for the workers that carry it out. It is estimated that in Europe 10-15% of fatal accidents at work can be attributed to maintenance operations. It is vital, therefore, that maintenance is carried out properly, taking into consideration workers' safety and health. More info.