Roadcraft - The Police Driver's Handbook PDF

Roadcraft - The Police Driver's Handbopk d r'.. ^our vulnerability as a driver \/lost drivers think they’re both safer and more skilful than the average driver - but we can’t all be right. Driving safety is no...

Roadcraft - The Police Driver's Handbopk d r'.. ^our vulnerability as a driver \/lost drivers think they’re both safer and more skilful than the average driver - but we can’t all be right. Driving safety is not an add-on extra - t must be built into the way you drive. What are the commonest causes of collisions? The commonest recorded causes of collisions in the UK are: Driver error or reaction - this is a factor in nearly 3 out of 4 of all collisions. The commonest errors are: > failure to look properly > failure to judge the other person’s path or speed > loss of control. Nearly half of the Action based on poor judgement- drivers involved in a this contributes to around 1 in 6 daylight collision with a collisions, The main factors are: motorcyclist fail to look properly and don’t see > travelling too fast for the conditions the rider before the crash. > exceeding the speed limit (This is often referred to as SMIDSY, which means > following too close 'Sorry, mate. I didn't see > sudden braking. you'.) 9 Being careless, reckless or in a hurry contributes to over 1 in 6 collisions. I 1 I I  ; Chapter 1 - Becoming a better driver Even a small mistake at the wrong speed can result In loss 20 of control. An inappropriate speed could be 20 mph In a narrow street crowded with pedestrians moving in and out of the road...... or 60 mph on a straight 60 open road if you are tired and your attention is split between several tasks. Who is most likely to be involved in a collision? Young drivers, especially young male drivers, are at higher risk of crashing than older drivers: Fewer than 1 in 10 full licence holders are aged 16-24, but they account for around 1 in 7 of all reported collisions on Britain’s roads and over 1 in 6 collisions in which someone is killed or seriously injured. Young drivers are more likely than average to be involved in a collision as a result of failure to look properly, careless or reckless driving, loss of control of the vehicle or travelling too fast for the conditions. People who drive at work are more likely to be involved in a collision than those who don’t: Over a quarter of all road traffic incidents involve someone who’s driving as part of their work. If you fail into both of these categories - driving at work and being a young driver - this increases your vulnerability. As a police driver, your work may put you on the road when drivers may take higher risks, for example on weekend evenings.  I I i I I 1 i.. f ? 10 Roadcraft - The Police Driver's Handbook -t Develop awareness of your personal vulnerability t Jto develop your awareness of risks and your ability to honestly assess your own driving, it can be helpful to think about the driving task in terms of four different levels. It’s useful to think about these separately at the start of the ! learning process but the goal of learning and practice is to integrate them. Four levels of the driving task The four levels set out in the European Goals for Driver Education (GDE) are: human factors that affect your driving the purpose and context of your journey traffic situations vehicle and vehicle control. See Appendix 4, Goals for Driver Education, page 280. When you first learned to drive, you started with the basic skills of vehicle control. With practice, you gradually combined smaller skill elements until they became automatic. Once you had mastered the basic controls and manoeuvring skills, you were able to concentrate on traffic situations, learning to anticipate and respond to hazards. Eventually you built up and integrated these complex skills and competences until you were able to drive safely in traffic and plan and make journeys independently. But the most important point about the learning process is that we’re not a blank canvas when we learn to drive. We bring to the task our personality, our life experiences, our beliefs about the world and our own attitudes to driving based on what we've seen as pedestrians or passengers. These factors all have a strong influence on how we learn to drive, how we make decisions on the road and our chances of being involved in a collision. Let's consider the four levels in more depth: Human factors - your personal characteristics can increase or reduce your risk of a collision compared to other drivers. Your attitude to your own vulnerability and to other road users, and your emotions, mood I. (  Chapter 1 - Becoming a better driver 11 and levels of tiredness or stress all affect your driving behaviour. Learn to recognise personal tendencies that increase your risk and find ways to manage them. The journey - each journey you r make has a purpose and involves decisions and judgements: what preparation is needed, which route is best, what distractions there are and how to minimise ; them. The ability to deal with operational distractions is vital /. / for police and other emergency services drivers. Assess the If there is heavy fog, ice or snow, ask yourself: 'Is my journey really risks of the journey and your own necessary?' fitness to drive. Take account of these in the way you manage each journey. See Appendix 7, / AM SAFE checklist, page 274, to make sure you are fit to drive. The traffic - training will increase your hazard perception skills and your ability to negotiate your way safely through traffic. It will develop your competence at scanning the road and anticipating hazards, and increase your awareness of the risks that drivers face in traffic. Situational awareness is essential for all drivers. Allow ail your senses {sight, hearing and even smell) to provide you with information and build up an accurate picture of your environment. The vehicle - a vital part of knowing your own limitations as a driver is knowing exactly what the vehicle you're driving can and cannot do. Take time to familiarise yourself with a vehicle before you drive it. Check the vehicle is fit to drive. Check its condition (e.g. lights, tyre tread depth, brakes), its capabilities, its safety features, and how to use the controls correctly. See Appendix 2, POWDER checklist, page 276, to make sure your vehicle is fit to drive. 12 Roadcraft-The Police Driver's Handbook ' The table below shows how you can use these four levels of the GDE matrix to consider your personal risks and assess your driving in a structured way. Potential irsks Possible self- assessment questions Human Personal tendencies, How easy is it to detach factors motives or attitudes that yourself from wider problems might affect your driving. or stresses when you get into Risks might include a a vehicle? risk-taking or impulsive Do you tend to react to or personality, operational disengage from other road stress, competitiveness, users’ aggressive behaviour? overconfidence in driving Do you knowhow ability, justifying risk operational stress affects taking for a noble cause, or your driving? distraction caused by deeper stresses such as family or financial problems. Journey Risks could inciude an Are you fit to drive? unfamiliar route, time What can you do to pressure, peer pressure, reduce the risk of general distraction due to multi distractions? Of distractions tasking, ‘red mist’ or fatigue. from operational tasks? Traffic Maintain a high level of What are the traffic, road alertness in traffic, scanning and weather conditions? the road so you can How should you adjust your anticipate what’s likely to driving for the conditions? happen next. Risks could include loss of concentration failure to look properly or weather conditions. Vehicle Always drive within your is the vehicie fit to drive? Are vehicle’s capabilities. An the seat and steering wheel unfamiliar vehicle increases adjusted for best position your risk. and comfort? Do you know how its safety features behave?  r Chapter 1 - Becoming a better driver 13 Human factor risks for emergency services drivers Police and other emergency services drivers have to deal with demanding and difficult situations in the course of their work. Certain human factors linked to the nature of the job can put you at risk: distraction due to multi-tasking and in-vehicle technology driving stress operational stressors time pressure and the purpose of the journey 'noble cause' risk-taking ‘red mist’. Distraction due to multi-tasking Operational driving requires emergency services drivers to deal with multiple tasks. The demands on your attention from the radio, in-vehicle technology such as satnavs, the operational tasks and even passengers can be intrusive. Be aware that your vulnerability increases if you fail to focus on the primary task of driving safely. Even minor distractions can severely impair your ability to anticipate hazards. Where possible, ask a passenger to operate in-vehicle technology. In some circumstances, you may need to override technologies such as lane-assist systems to avoid distraction. Driving stress All drivers are vulnerable to driving stress, especially emergency services drivers who regularly deal with difficult and hazardous situations. During a demanding or difficult drive where brain processing is already stretched to the limit, operational stressors can overload the system and impair your decisions and judgement. Training aims to increase your 14 Roadcraft - The Police Driver’s Handbook information-processing and problem-solving capacity. This gives you more time to think and complete the driving task efficiently, which helps reduce the effects of driving stress. Deeper stresses can also affect your driving. For example, a driver may be dealing with heavy demands in their personal life. Family problems, financial difficulties or even a new baby can increase chronic stress and fatigue, and impair concentration and driving performance. We each respond differently, so what you find stressful may not be stressful for a colleague, and vice versa. Learn to recognise your personal stressors - the things that you believe could impair your driving. Operational stressors Emergency services drivers are also exposed to several types of operational stress: the anticipatory stress of facing a difficult or demanding task (e.g. anxiety about what you’ll find on arrival at an incident) the ‘adrenaline rush’ arising from a sudden event such as an emergency call-out: a degree of arousal enhances performance but, beyond this optimum level, alertness and concentration tend to fall away stress related to aspects of the task - difficult traffic or weather conditions, navigation problems, lack of advance detail about an incident, time pressure and the length of time you spend exposed to risk the stress of being in a situation in which you or others may be exposed to extreme hazards stress arising from repeated exposure to distressing incidents in the past; aspects of a current situation may ‘prompt’ recall of distressing memories and the effect may impair current decision-making and judgement preoccupation with a previous error of judgement stress from other work factors: working long shifts or night shifts, peer pressure or difficult working relationships can affect driving performance.  Chapter 1 - Becoming a better driver 15 Under pressure, in difficult and demanding conditions, stress and tiredness can cause the release of powerful negative feelings: impatience - through a desire to get to the incident quickly intolerance - a belief that the importance of the task automatically gives the police driver priority over other road users impulsiveness - rushing decisions because time is short anger or frustration - for example, at other road users getting in your way personalisation - getting into personal conflict with another road user. Learn to recognise when these reactions are affecting your judgement. You can then make a conscious decision to disengage from them. There’s more about dealing with tiredness in Chapter 3, Information, observation and anticipation. Practical steps to combat stress Be aware that stress is cumulative. Research shows that repeated exposure to stress can increase the chances of a collision and, in more severe cases, susceptibility to stress-related illness. Look after your health - getting regular exercise and learning to relax can help reduce chronic stress. Adjust the seat and steering wheel so that you are not physically tense or uncomfortable. Use the techniques you learn in training and practise them continually - well-learned techniques are less likely to break down under stressful conditions. This is an advantage of using the system of car control (Chapter 2). Maintain a calm professional approach to your driving - especially in an emergency situation. Learn techniques to help you focus on your driving and switch off other problems when you get into your vehicle. Don’t dwell on previous stressful experiences or earlier errors of judgement. 16 Roadcraft - The Police Driver's Handbook a: K> Time pressure and the purpose of your journey Police and other emergency services drivers are trained to respond to urgent calls without taking undue risks. But it’s a fact that drivers who feel their journey is urgent, because of organisational time pressure or the purpose of the journey, tend to respond less safely to hazards and take more risks. A sense of urgency doesn’t give the right to take risks. No emergency is so great that it justifies the possibility of injuring or killing someone, it is better to arrive later than not at ail, ‘Noble cause’ irsk-taking Never justify risk-taking by telling yourself that the risk is for a noble cause - to help someone else, or to catch a person suspected of a crime. If you’re tempted to take risks in an emergency, STOP. Think about the consequences for yourself and other people if you crash and fail to arrive. You will be of no help to the people in need. If you injure yourself or someone else on the way, you will have turned an emergency into two emergencies and a possible tragedy. And you will have to live with the consequences of what you've done, Red mist ‘Red mist’ means your attention is not on your driving but on some specific goal; you’ve become emotionally and physiologically caught up in the incident. ‘Red mist’ is a colloquial term used to describe the state of mind of drivers who become determined to achieve some objective on the journey - catching the vehicle in front, or getting to an incident in the shortest  Chapter 1 - Becoming a better driver 17 r,i possible time. Fixed attention on a particular goal can lead to blindness to other potential hazards, such as pedestrians or other vehicles at intersections. This means a driver is at best less able and at worst no longer capable of realistically assessing driving risks. The key to preventing 'red mist' is to concentrate on the driving task in hand rather than on the incident. You’ll need to develop your own strategy for achieving this, but there are some steps you can take: Don't get into a personality conflict with another road user. Be dispassionate and concentrate on your driving - use neutral, non- aggressive language to describe other road users {to yourself and others), ® Don’t try and imagine what you'll find at the incident - assess the situation when you get there. Concentrate on driving - talking yourself through the hazards you identify can help you to focus on the driving task and keep negative emotions under control. How you learn You’ll find it easier to improve your driving ability and safety if you understand how you learn and apply new competences. The basic requirements are training, practice, feedback and experience. Training, practice and feedback Roadcraft training mirrors the process by which you learned the basic driving skills to pass your test. At first, manoeuvres such as changing gear or turning round in the road demand all your attention. But when you’ve mastered the basic controls and skills, you can give more of your attention to the road and traffic conditions. You’ll improve your ability to anticipate and respond to hazards, and learn to use the system of car control and other routines so that you can respond rapidly, safely and flexibly to the demands of police driving. » 246 Roadcraft - The Police Driver's Handbook. Bright sun Bright sun low in the sky can cause serious dazzle, especially on east/ iiwest sections of road: use your visors to reduce dazzle. If the sun is shining in your mirrors, adjust them to give you the best visibility with 'minimum glare. If you’re dazzled by bright sun. other drivers may be too^ so allow for this when overtaking. Other hazards (Debris ; Regularly scan the road surface for debris that may have fallen from vehicles. This can damage tyres and cause other vehicles suddenly to alter position. Lane closures Roadworks are a regular feature of motorway journeys. Contraflow systems aren’t dangerous in themselves but become dangerous when :i drivers ignore advance warnings. All roadworks are signed on approach I and you should know the sequence of signs. Keep to the mandatory speed limits through roadworks, even when conditions seem to be suitable ' for a higher speed. Merging with other traffic requires judgement and courtesy. It’s sensible for vehicles from each lane to merge alternately. But these situations often create conflict and result in collisions. Allow a reasonable following gap and never close up to prevent other vehicles merging. Matrix signs and signals warn of lane closures or other changes in driving conditions ahead. On a smart motorway, look out for a red X or reduced speed limit on the overhead gantries. You may not immediately be able to see the need to slow down or change lanes but don’t assume the sign is a mistake. The incident may be some distance further along the motorway.  r Chapter 12 - Driving on motorways and muiti-lane carriageways 247 i Additional hazards on fast-moving multi-lane carriageways On multi-lane carriageways, you need to watch out for a range of additional hazards that aren’t present on motorways: slow-moving traffic traffic lights roundabouts right-hand junctions crossroads traffic moving into the right-hand lane to turn right traffic entering the carriageway from the central reservation * traffic crossing the carriageway pedestrians crossing the carriageway entrances and exits other than road junctions (e.g. to services, petrol stations, restaurants, pubs) left-hand junctions with only a short {or no) slip road public footpath crossing the carriageway - indicated by an overlap in the central reservation safety barrier. Human factors in motorway driving The nature of motorway driving increases a number of human factor risks: tiredness or boredom on long journeys, resulting in poor concentration frustration arising out of stop-start progress in dense traffic complacency in low-density traffic making drivers less alert to possible hazards the behaviour of drivers leaving or joining the motorway from service stations or slip roads. !48 Roadcraft - The Police Driver’s Handbook otop at the earliest opportunity if you find yourself unable to maintain the ligh level of concentration needed to drive safely at high speed. Ask yourself whether your physical state and degree of © alertness is optimal for motorway driving before you set off. Have you ever found your concentration flagging on a motorway journey? What do you do to increase your alertness? Is your approach always effective? How could you manage your fatigue better? How do feelings of stress affect your motorway driving? Think about whether your brain can deal with the distraction from stress as well as drive safely. How might dealing with difficult or demanding motorway situations increase your mental workload? What can you do to reduce the risk of errors and increase your safety in these situations? See Chapter 1, Becoming a better driver, and Chapter 3, Information, observation and anticipation. / r Chapter 12 - Driving on motorways and multi-lane carriageways 249 A O Check your understanding You should now be able to apply learning from this chapter in your driver training so that you can: □ show that you can join and leave a motorway or multi-lane carriageway correctly □ show that you can use the appropriate lane for traffic conditions □ show that you can safely adapt your position and speed for overtaking, motorway junctions and other hazards, including weather conditions □ demonstrate correct use of the hard shoulder □ explain the human factor risks in motorway driving and show how you manage these. 274 Roadcraft - The Police Driver's Handbook i Appendix 1 Are you fit to drive? Even before you get in a vehicle, you should always assess whether you’re fit to drive. I AM SAFE checklist Do a self-check using the I AM SAFE* checklist. Ask yourself these questions: □ Illness - Do I have an illness or symptoms that might affect my ability to drive? □ Attitude - How do I feel about this journey? Am I fully focused on the driving task? What human factors do i need to take account of? □ Medication - Am I taking any medication that might affect my performance? □ Sleep - Am I suffering from lack of sleep/fatigue? □ Alcohol - Have I had a drink? Am I still affected by alcohol? □ Food - Am I hungry or thirsty? Could low blood sugar or dehydration affect my judgement? □ Emotion - Am I angry, depressed, or stressed? Could this lead me to take risks? *There are many versions of this checklist. Foilow the one you find most usefui.  I 1 I I f I 1 ' I 5