Licence To Kill

Driving Lessons in Bourne

I put up on my Facebook page notice of a programme being shown about road safety.  It was shown last night – ‘A Licence To Kill’ on BBC3 (will still be available on iPlayer).  A young lass who was paralysed after losing control of her car while with a bunch of mates, tells her story of how she would like things to change.

It struck a chord with me, as I was told of an incredibly similar event whilst on a driving lesson in Bourne very recently.  A lass suffered severe injuries when her friend lost control of the car at speed.  There was also a similar theme to the programme last night.  Often the collisions were on rural roads, often the driver was with others at the time (either in the car, or another car nearby), and without exception, they all involved excessive speed for the driving conditions.

Are the drivers allowing themselves to be distracted too easily, are the friends distracting the driver, are the drivers not being taught well enough, is the test standard high enough, should there be more testing, should driving safety education start in the schools, are the drivers trying to impress with the high speed, do they not apply safe driving techniques once the pass certificate has been obtained, are driving instructors not teaching to a high enough standard, is there a need for a more extensive driving syllabus when learning.  So many questions, it is a massive subject.

Part of the problem as I see it though, is the issue of awareness.  I’m passionate about road safety, so on my driving Facebook page I put up a link about a programme that could not be more relevant to people learning to drive right now.  How many saw my post about it on Facebook – the answer to that appears to be 11.  How many of those 11 were actual Learners – impossible to identify, I suspect probably less than 5.  Did it spark anyone to watch the programme – no idea, the post was not ‘liked’, there has been no comment made of it.  How many Learners will read this blog and go and watch the programme – time will tell, I rather suspect zero.  And this, in a nutshell, is the problem – engagement, or lack of engagement. 

Since I’ve been a Driving Instructor I have offered people who learn with me, free ‘refresher’ training on the anniversary of their test pass – not one has ever taken that up.  Very few take advantage of the free motorway session I provide after they have passed.  How many are watching the driving videos on my YouTube channel – I’ve had just 11,000 views in 3 years... pitifully low compared to videos on gaming, music and the like. 

People like the presenter last night will soon recognise (if she hasn’t already), that until the people who you are intending to engage with, actually hear/watch what you are saying, then exactly how much are you going to achieve?  So until we make it compulsory by adding it to our school syllabus, the testing frequency/standard will have to be raised.

www.BIGTOM.org.uk