Just letting you all  know of a road safety event Brake are doing.

This one day acclaimed, biennial congress on tackling speed by Brake’s Road Safety Forum is a must-attend event for road safety professionals, academics researching in the field, and campaigners. The conference, being held at the prestigious Royal College of Surgeons, aims to share international best practice, including forward-thinking Government policy, effective engineering measures, and innovative education projects. Go to the congress’s web pages here. £136 + VAT for Brake subscribers, £176 + VAT for others

Hello Everyone,

Just one day to go before the prisoners at Altcourse burst their guts out doing the Triathlon in support of RoadPeace, the national charity for road crash victims. We’ve had lots of generous donations, so many thanks to all those who’ve contributed. Some of you promised to donate but haven’t coughed up yet, so please try to find the time and will to do so. We need your help.

I’ll be going in to the prison during the day to see how the athletes are coping and encourage them to really go for it.

You can make your pledge by going to

www.justgiving.com/RoadPeace-Altcourse-Triathlon

Please remember, if you are a UK tax payer use gift aid. This turns every £10 you give into nearly £12 for RoadPeace.

If you prefer to pay by cheque please make it payable to RoadPeace, write  Altcourse on the back or within an accompanying letter and send it to

RoadPeace, Shakespeare Business Centre, 245a Cold Harbour Lane, Brixton, London, SW9 8RR, United Kingdom

Or telephone 020 7733 1603 for other payment options.

To find out more about RoadPeace go to our website

www.roadpeace.org.uk

Thanking you in advance for your generosity (no amount is too small and no amount is too large).

Best wishes,

David Midmer

Teaching car control is the easy bit, real driving is done when we have to mix with other road users who have different skills and abilities.  Teaching car control or technical ability is okay at 16 when the youngsters have not got long to wait before they are able to drive on the roads.  I agree with Kevin Clinton from RoSPA, far too much emphasis is placed on passing a test quickly and not enough on learning to drive well and stay accident free.  It is all about attitude not technical ability.  It is far more expensive to deal with a road traffic collision than pay for quality driving lessons and have enough lessons for independent driving, not just learning test routes and passing a test.  I just cannot see how anyone can say you will be a safer driver because you have been off road driving around cones.

Learners beware if you are only going on test routes, you may well pass your test, but 1 in 5 people are involved in a crash.

more on the article here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8525796.stm

Red driving school including The Red Instructor Training College have gone into liquidation and are looking for a buyer for the business.  This apparently happened on Tue 16^th Feb.

Red currently employs around 400 people across 3 offices.  Also up for grabs is the Red Instructor Training and Red Fleet.  The Red Instructor training has 22 instructor colleges nationwide and 2 offices one in Liverpool and one Billingham, near Middlesbrough.

I was speaking to a Red instructor and one of their current trainees and found out they did not even know!  What a way to find out you are out of a job or that all the money you have invested in training may be lost.  This is why Insight 2 Drive only asks you to pay as you go, so you don’t have to invest in all your training at once.

I also feel sorry for the learner drivers with Red as it must be very upsetting to wonder if your instructor is going to turn up or not.

More information on this Red Driving School click her for the BBC News article

Hello everyone,

I am going into Altcourse Prison in Liverpool on Thursday 25^th February.

Don’t worry – I haven’t done anything wrong! I’m going to talk to a number of the prisoners, mainly incarcerated for driving offences including causing death by dangerous driving, about my involvement with RoadPeace, the national charity for road crash victims and the work we do.

Following this, I shall be interviewed on the prison radio station, very likely on BBC Radio Merseyside, possibly Radio City, hopefully, some other stations and, with a bit of luck, some press and TV coverage. We are hoping we could get some national publicity.

All this is leading up to these inmates undertaking a Triathlon, on 12th March, to raise funds for RoadPeace. There will be two teams competing against each other. One will be led by their fitness instructor, Robbi Biddulph; the other by the chaplain, Martin Earl, who lost his brother in a road crash. In so doing, they are exhibiting remorse for their actions, attempting to redeem themselves by helping victims of similar crimes and, most importantly, sending a clear message not to drive as they did. I have, for many years, sought an opportunity for serious driving offenders to do something like this and finally it is here.

Each of us has a 1 in 75 chance of losing a family member in a road collision. My son, Nathan, was run over and killed at Christmas 2000. I hope none of you experience the same pain. Unfortunately, in the UK, seven families do every day. That is when they need the emotional and practical support RoadPeace provides. When you suffer a sudden, unexpected and violent bereavement you need someone who can be a listening ear, a guide through the paperwork and legalities, a companion to an inquest or trial, and much more. The volunteer befrienders of RoadPeace can provide this service because we've all been through something similar and can truly empathise with what is required. RoadPeace's campaigning for greater road safety is partly responsible for the fact that we've now got road fatalities and injuries down to the current level. Not that we're satisfied with those figures.

RoadPeace receives no government support, even though we often assist with their decision making processes. Most of the money that helps to run our office, website and helpline comes from the families who've suffered road trauma, with a little sponsorship from a few firms around the country.

So, now comes the bit where I ask for money.

The prisoners, fellow inmates, their families and guards will be sponsoring the competitors. The prison director has promised £250 to start us off.

If any of you would be so generous as to sponsor the prisoners in their efforts to raise funds for RoadPeace we would all be most grateful for your kindness. Even better, if you could tell as many people as you can, to help generate even more in the coffers, that would be brilliant.

Thanking you in advance for your generosity (no amount is too small and no amount is too large). Please help make this unique event even more memorable by helping us to raise an astonishing amount of cash.

You can make your pledge by going to

www.justgiving.com/RoadPeace-Altcourse-Triathlon

Please remember, if you are a UK tax payer use gift aid. This turns every £10 you give into nearly £12 for RoadPeace.

Best wishes and many thanks,

David Midmer

Coaching techniques are an essential part of all aspects of ADI work, from working with novice drivers to fleet work, driver improvement and ADI development.  So whatever area you are involved in, we guarantee you will take away lots of useful tools and techniques to put into practice straight away.

I have enclosed a leaflet giving full details of the workshops.  If you wish to attend, please contact Claire Wilmot by email (claire@aditrainer.com) or by telephone (07956 104160) as soon as possible with confirmation of which date you would like to attend.  There are a limited number of places available on each workshop.  We will then email you a booking form which you will need to return to us by post along with your payment in order to guarantee your place.

Pick up our latest newsletter at Costco, Liverpool, we are Business of the Month!

Come and visit us at the Liverpool Business Fair at Liverpool Town Hall, Castle Street. On March 23rd from 10am until 3pm, it would be great to see you and answer any questions you may have on driving.  It will be packed full of activities and useful features with something on offer for every business.  You can benefit from lots of practical information, advice and opportunities to meet local businesses. 

How do you know you are in a 30 mph zone?  what does it look like?  As I am currently involved with speed awareness courses in Greater Manchester, Liverpool and North Wales. The amount of people ending up on these courses, who really did not know they were in a 30 zone, seems to be on the increase.

 

However it is very simple to work out. Rule 124 of the highway code states you must not exceed the maximum speed limits for the road and for your vehicle the presence of street lights generally means there is a 30 mph speed limit unless otherwise specified.

 

So when you are on the road and have ‘lost the plot’ on the speed limit which we all do from time to time just look for the lights,  if there is regular street lights i.e. more than one street lamp, do 30 miles an hour unless you see a sign that tells you can do something else.

 

30 mph signs do not have to be repeated, so therefore once you enter a 30 zone you will not see another 30 sign until the speed limit changes,  this is why it is easy to ‘lose the plot’.

 

Many people believe that dual carriageways are higher speed limits, this is simply not true Aigburth Road example is a 30 miles an hour speed limit, the Bootle end (which includes the flyover at County road) and Allerton Road end of Queens Drive is also a 30 zone.

 

If anybody has any questions on speed limits please feel free to e-mail me