Driving Safety

Why is it that when you are driving and looking for an address, you turn down the volume on the radio?

Is it because the noise from the radio is distracting and you really need to focus on looking for that address?

That being the case then perhaps it is time you considered what the radio is doing to your head while you are driving.

For many years I rode motorcycles. In those days there were no entertainment systems designed that you could put in your safety helmet.

We rode with only the sound of the motorcycle and the wind for company. Even chatting with a pillion passenger was not easy and so the back seat enjoyed the view going past to the tune of the engine and the wind.

The main reason, for me, that this was entirely acceptable was that you need to have one hundred per cent concentration and one hundred per cent observation at all times when riding a motorcycle. Should that level begin to drop then you must stop and get off.

There are no alternatives.

The concentration is not just for cornering but also to consider what other road users may do or not do. The observation is in watching those other road users and also looking out for white lines, rain covers, wet leaves, sand and, in France, rainurage!

This ‘rainurage’ is an uneven road surface that in this instance is a set of grooves in the road, at an angle, to take away excessive water. In a car it can be amusing – on a motorcycle…

You will, very likely, now tell me that being on two wheels demands greater application to the task of driving than it does on four wheels.

Because there are a host of other drivers out there who are using their mobile phones to speak, text or play games, or they are busy tuning their radios, adjusting their GPS gadgets or just simply looking for a sweet in the glove box, who are not focussed on driving it behoves you to be extra vigilant.

There is an unfortunate tendency to believe that being wrapped in the cocoon of a metal shell will protect you from all else outside. It will not. Millions of people have tested this hypothesis and found out to their cost and their relatives grief, that the shell is not as protective as you might imagine.

Turning on the radio and boosting the heater or the air conditioner only makes this cocoon feeling worse.

You feel that nothing can harm you or the other people in the car with you.

This is a false premise.

I understand that many people die through ‘micro-naps’. Taking very brief naps when driving while tired. The huge lorry that was some way ahead of you is now, quite suddenly, right in front of you. Some people do not wake up in time…

Music, comfortable temperatures and hypnotic road and wind noises can lull you into this situation quickly even if you feel that you are not tired when you climbed into your vehicle.

We are all aware, even if we do not act on it (shame on us!) that the mobile phone is a great danger. It is not just dialling but speaking on the ‘phone is also dangerous. Why? Because your mind is in the ‘phone with the person on the other end and not on the road where it belongs!Texting is a terrible thing to do while driving and yet you see people o it all the time. Why? Because they are protected, immortal perhaps.

Anything that you can do to make you driving better and safer for yourself and for others is recommended.

Turning the radio off is a good start.