Throughout March, listeners to the local radio station The Rev had the opportunity to cast their votes. Then, on the last week, the patrols receiving the most votes recorded their own sound byte, which was played on air for the rest of month.

The competition allowed parents and pupils to show their appreciation of school crossing patrols and gave a morale boost to the patrols.

The winners (left to right), who each received a voucher for overnight accommodation for two, were: Elaine Gledhill (20 years’ service) and Barbara Gould (16 years’ service) who both work for Rochdale MBC, and Ann Swann (20 years’ service) from Tameside MBC.

1. Check your speedometer regularly, especially when leaving high speed roads

2. Know the limits – look for signs, especially at junctions

3. Assume lamp posts mean 30 mph, until signs say otherwise, remember it could be 20 mph

4. Remember, speed limits are a maximum, not a target

5. 20’s plenty when kids are about – and may even be too fast

6. Try no higher than 3rd gear in a 30 mph limit

7. Recognise what makes you speed – keeping up with traffic, overtaking or being tailgated

8. Concentrate – distracted drivers speed

9. Slow down when entering villages

10. Give yourself time – there’s no need to speed and you won’t get there quicker

Even a small amount above the limit makes a big difference.

Drivers who travel at higher speeds have less time to identify and react to what is happening around them. It takes them longer to stop. And if there is a crash, it is more severe, causing greater injury to the occupants and any pedestrian or rider they hit.

Excessive speed contributes to 28% of collisions in which someone is killed, 18% of crashes resulting in a serious injury and 12% of all injury collisions. This means that around 1,000 people are killed each year on Britain’s roads because drivers and riders travel too fast, and over 6,000 are seriously injured.

Approximately two-thirds of all crashes in which people are killed or injured happen on roads with a speed limit of 30 mph or less. At 35 mph a driver is twice as likely to kill someone as they are at 30 mph.

At 30 mph, vehicles travel 44 feet (about 3 car lengths) every second.

Even in good conditions, the difference in stopping distance between 30 mph and 35 mph is an extra 21 feet, more than 2 car lengths.

• Hit by a car at 20 mph, 1 out of 40 pedestrian will be killed – 97% will survive

• Hit by a car at 30 mph, 2 out of 10 pedestrians will be killed – 80% will survive

• Hit by a car at 35 mph, 5 out of 10 pedestrians will be killed – 50% will survive

• Hit by a car at 40 mph, 9 out of 10 pedestrians will be killed – 10% will survive

Even a small amount above the limit makes a big difference.

1 “Road Casualties Great Britain, 2004: The Casualty Report”, DfT, 2004

Check your speedometer regularly, especially when coming off high speed roads

Modern cars are so powerful and comfortable they give drivers little sensation of their speed, so many drivers find themselves exceeding the speed limit without realising it.

This is particularly true when coming onto a lower speed road after driving on a high speed road for a long period. It can often feel like you are moving at a snail’s pace when you reduce your speed to 40 mph or 30 mph after coming off a motorway or dual carriageway. In reality, 30 mph and 40 mph are still very substantial speeds and a pedestrian hit at those speeds will be seriously injured, and quite likely killed.

It is misleading to rely on a ‘feeling’ of speed. The only way to be sure of your speed, and to check you have reduced to an appropriate speed (even if it ‘feels’ slow) is to check the car’s speedometer regularly. Although you should never rely on ‘feeling’ your speed, you may be able to improve your judgement of it by regularly comparing how fast you think you are driving with what the speedometer says.

Many cars now have speed management devices that allow the driver to set certain speeds and receive a warning when they are being exceeded. If your vehicle has a pre-set speed function, set this so it will warn you if you exceed certain speeds.

Know the limits – look for signs, especially at junctions

You need to know the speed limit of the roads you are using. Far too many drivers who have been caught speeding, complain that they thought the road had a higher speed limit (40 mph instead of 30 mph).

In many cases, the nature of the road does not indicate the speed limit. In urban areas, for example, dual carriageways can have limits of 30 mph, 40 mph, 50 mph, 60 mph or 70 mph.

Speed limit signs tend to be placed at junctions because this is often the point at which the limit changes. However, junctions are also where you need to absorb a wide range of different information and it is easy to miss a speed limit sign when concentrating on one or more other things (e.g., which way am I going, is that driver going to pull out, etc). So you need to get into the habit of checking for speed limit signs at junctions, and looking for repeater signs after the junction, especially if the nature of the road has changed.

If you are not sure, assume the limit is lower until you see a sign.

Assume lamp posts mean 30 mph, until signs say otherwise – but remember it could be 20 mph

When driving on built-up roads, assume the limit is 30 mph until you see a sign saying otherwise. But, remember the limit could be lower – 20 mph.

The law does not allow highway authorities to put repeater speed limit signs on 30 mph roads that have street lights. This is because putting repeater signs on all such roads would require hundreds of thousands of extra signs.

Instead the Highway Code advises that street lights usually mean the limit is 30 mph unless there are signs showing otherwise.

Remember, speed limits are a maximum, not a target

Speed limits set the maximum speed for that road. However, there are many circumstances when it is not safe to drive at that speed. Examples of situations where drivers should drive at lower speeds than the limits are:

• Around schools at opening and closing times

• When children are about (especially residential areas, near playgrounds or parks)

• On busy, narrow roads

• Where parked vehicles reduce the width of the road

• On rural roads which are narrow, bendy and hilly and visibility is restricted

• In poor weather or reduced visibility

• On wet, icy or snowy roads

• At roadworks.

20’s plenty when kids are about – and may even be too fast

In 2004, 166 children were killed on the road. In other words, a child is killed on the road almost every other day.

Children’s awareness of the dangers of traffic is much lower than that of adults’. Many cannot judge how fast cars are moving nor how far away they are. As we all know, children are more easily distracted and they are likely to do things, such as dash into the road after a ball, that adults would not dream of doing.

As adults who have been trained and licensed to drive cars in an environment that children also use, it is our responsibility to drive in a way that enables us to cope with mistakes and misjudgements made by children.

One of the most effective ways we can ensure that a child who dashes into the road or who makes a mistake while cycling does not pay for that mistake with their life, is to drive slower when children are, or may be, about.

Try no higher than 3^rd gear in a 30 mph limit

It is easier to notice if you are creeping above 30 mph when travelling in 3rd gear, and this can act as a warning to reduce your speed.

Drivers should, of course, choose the appropriate gear for their speed and the road, weather and traffic circumstances, and change gear as those circumstances change. The most appropriate gear to use when driving at 30 mph will depend on your engine size, but in many modern cars it is possible to drive at 30 mph in 3rd gear without making the engine labour.

If you struggle to keep your car within 30 mph when driving in a 30 mph zone, try driving in 3rd gear (or lower when necessary). If you can comfortably travel at 30 mph in 3rd gear without feeling that the engine is laboured, adopt ’no higher than 3rd in 30 mph’ as a principle.

Automatic cars normally have several forward gears, so the driver should choose the gear which makes it easiest to keep the vehicle under 30 mph.

Recognise what makes you speed – keeping up with traffic, overtaking or being tailgated

We all have our ‘speed triggers’ – things that make us more likely to speed up and perhaps exceed the limit unintentionally. This could be feeling pressurised into keeping up with other drivers, or feeling stressed by a driver too close behind. Being tempted to overtake a vehicle in front may also mean exceeding the limit to complete the manoeuvre. Distractions, such as listening to loud music, often result in speeding. It could be something a simple as going down hill.

Learning to recognise your own ‘speed triggers’ will make it easier to avoid being ‘pushed’ into speeding. It will also make driving less stressful and more relaxing.

Keeping a safe distance from the vehicle in front will also help to reduce your stress levels when driving. Use the 2-Second Rule: leave at least a two second gap between you and the vehicle in front. Double this distance on wet roads and increase it even further on icy roads.

Concentrate – distracted drivers speed

Although it is a familiar everyday task, driving is actually a very complex thing. Trying to do something else (use a mobile phone, light a cigarette, unwrap a sweet) at the same time, is distracting. Listening to music with the volume too high can encourage drivers to speed up. Distracted drivers find it much more difficult to maintain their awareness of what’s happening on the road around them, and are more likely to speed. Using a mobile phone while driving is a classic example of this.

The law requires drivers to be in proper control of their vehicle at all times, and drivers who, for example, smoke or eat while driving could be prosecuted under this law. There is also a specific law banning the use of hand-held mobile phones, or other communication devices, while driving.

Slow down when entering villages

Villages are in rural areas and normally surrounded by roads with 60 mph limits. But, of course, in the village itself there are pedestrians, cyclists, junctions, slow-moving vehicles.

The speed limit will normally be reduced as you approach a village. It may be reduced gradually from 60 mph to 50 mph or 40 mph as you approach the village and then go down to 30 as you enter the village, or it may go straight down from 60 mph to 30 mph through a village.

Begin to slow down as you see the speed limit sign ahead so that you have already reduced your speed to 30 mph by the time reach the speed limit sign.

It may feel like you are only crawling through the village, especially if you have been driving at 60 mph for while, but at 30 mph you are still covering 44 feet (about three car lengths) every second, and if you hit a pedestrian at that speed, he or she will be severely injured, and possibly killed.

Even if it ‘feels’ too slow, do not exceed the limit. Check your speedometer regularly.

Give yourself time – there’s no need to speed and you won’t get there quicker

Exceeding the speed limit makes little difference to your arrival time. The time it takes to complete a journey is determined much more by your average speed during the whole journey, rather than the maximum speed you achieve for part of it. This is especially true in urban areas, where you constantly have to slow down for junctions, traffic lights and other road users. The faster you drive, the sharper you have to brake. This also uses much more fuel and so makes driving more expensive.

Knowing that you have plenty of time to complete your journey will help you to relax and avoid the temptation to push your speed.

For longer journeys, use RoSPA’s Safer Journey Planner, to help make sure you plan the journey safely.

If you drive for work, or manage staff who drive, for work, use RoSPA’s “Driving for Work: Safer Journey Planner”.

Candidates in all main categories of test will be asked to spend around 10 minutes demonstrating their ability to drive safely without step-by-step directions from an examiner.

Road Safety Minister Mike Penning said:

“The independent driving assessment gives test candidates the chance to show they have the necessary skills to cope with the sort of traffic conditions they will face every day.

“Learning those skills from the very start of the driving process will help make new drivers safer.”

At the moment the examiner gives directions throughout the test. But during the independent drive, the candidate will have to follow traffic signs or a short series of verbal directions, or a combination of both. To help candidates understand where they are going when following verbal directions, the examiner will show a diagram. Candidates can also ask for a reminder as they drive.

DSA’s Chief Driving Examiner Trevor Wedge said:

“The aim of independent driving is to assess the candidate’s ability to drive safely whilst making decisions independently. It’s not a test of navigation and candidates won’t be failed for going off route.

”The test is being improved to help produce safer drivers, but that doesn’t mean it’s getting any harder. We know many instructors are already teaching independent driving.”

In addition, practical car test candidates will only have to complete one of the three reversing manoeuvres, instead of two at present. Other categories of test remain unchanged. The price and duration of tests also stay the same.

The centre, on Lingard Lane, will be used for car, taxi, bus, lorry and motorcycle module 1 and 2 tests.

A casual site on land owned by the Vehicle Operator Services Agency at Chadderton and the test centre at Reddish will close, and motorcycle testing will move from Hyde test centre when the new venue opens.

A DSA spokesman said: “We’re delighted to be able to offer more modern, improved facilities to customers and staff.”

The last day of testing at Reddish will be 24 September and at Chadderton on 26 September.

Motorists caught using a mobile phone while driving are being offered the option of taking a new road safety course rather than a fine and points on their licence.

According to Haverhill Weekly News, Suffolk Constabulary is one of the first forces in the country to launch the new course. Some forces already operate a course option instead of fines or prosecution for other offences, including careless driving and speeding.

The first course for motorists caught using phones while at the wheel – or supervising a learner driver – starts on 20 May.

Drivers have to pay the course fee of £74, plus VAT, to take part. But by successfully completing the course they avoid getting points on their licence and a £60 fixed penalty fine.

Fines of up to £1,000 can be imposed by courts on car drivers using phones. Bus, coach and lorry drivers can be fined up to £2,500.

Motorists in Suffolk have been offered the option of going on the course since 1 April.

The two-and-a-half-hour Call Divert course covers the law on mobile phone use, statistics about accidents and role-play to demonstrate the importance of maintaining attention while driving.

Jim Kirkwood, managing director of AA DriveTech, the company running the courses, said: “By offering ‘mobile phone education’ as part of their broader road safety strategy, Suffolk Constabulary is clearly committed to changing drivers’ attitudes towards using a mobile phone behind the wheel.”

At the same time Suffolk police are introducing a revised Vehicle Defect Rectification Scheme (VDRS) as an alternative to prosecution for minor faults such as lights which are not working.

Roads policing officers in the county are also trying to avoid issuing the traditional HO/RT1 form – known as a producer – which requires drivers to show insurance, MoT and licence details at a police station.

Instead, the police are carrying out more instant checks via national databases.

www.cambridge-news.co.uk

Six smarter driving tips.

There are a few easy things you can do when you drive and look after your car to help reduce the amount of fuel you burn and so cut down on CO₂ emissions. The secret is to help reduce the amount of work your engine has to do, because the greater the workload, the more fuel is burned – so the higher the CO₂ emissions. By following our smarter driving tips you could cut your CO₂ emissions by around 8 per cent – equivalent to an annual fuel saving of up to one month per year. All you need to get started are the smarter driving tips below that you can put into practice straight away.

1. Pump up to cut down

Under inflated tyres create more resistance when your car is moving. That means your engine has to work harder, so more fuel is used and more CO₂ emissions are produced. Simply check and adjust your tyre pressures regularly and also before long journeys. This will also help to increase the life of your tyres. Under inflated tyres increase CO₂ but over inflated tyres can be unsafe, so check your car manual for the correct tyre pressure. Remember, a car with a heavier load may need different air pressure in the tyres

2. Less clutter in your car means less CO2

Clutter in your boot is extra weight your engine has to carry around. By removing it, you could reduce your engine’s workload. This will burn less fuel and cut your CO₂ emissions, so unload any items you won’t need for your journey before you set out.

3. Driving at an appropriate speed reduces CO2

Speed limits are the maximum lawful speeds which may be driven in ideal circumstances. Drivers should never exceed the speed limit. Staying at or within the speed limit increases driver safety. It also reduces CO₂ emissions and saves money on your petrol costs. At 70mph you could be using 9 per cent more fuel than at 60mph and up to 15 per cent more fuel than at 50mph

4. Less stopping and starting means less CO2

Every time you stop then start again in a traffic queue, the engine uses more fuel and therefore produces more CO₂. Keep an eye on the traffic ahead and slow down early by gently lifting your foot off the accelerator while keeping the car in gear. The traffic may have started moving again by the time you reach the vehicle in front so you can change up a gear and be on your way.

5. Over revving accelerates emissions

Modern car engines are designed to be efficient from the moment they are switched on, so revving up like a Formula 1 car in pole position only wastes fuel and increases engine wear. Using your gears wisely by changing up a gear a little earlier can also reduce revs. If you drive a diesel car, try changing up a gear when the rev counter reaches 2000rpm. For a petrol car, change up at 2500rpm.

6. Idling is wasting fuel

When the engine is idling you’re wasting fuel and adding to CO₂ emissions. If you’re likely to be at a standstill for more than three minutes, simply switch off the engine.

Article taken from actonco2.direct.gov.uk

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Tameside’s No’1 Driving School SUZY Q School of Motoring has teamed up with Manchester based BMW race team ‘Team ASWR’ who next season will be fielding an impressive 4 cars in the National Production BMW Championship 2010 (PBMWC).