Driving Awareness for all employees
On March 1st we commenced a good practice
project to support the entire staffing team via in-house road
safety awareness sessions, and with the added bonus of a session
with local driving instructor Mr. Chris Cornish.
Today at the launch, we met with both Chris, from Patience School of
Motoring, Marc Musgrave & Alan Hinchliffe, Safer Road
Officers, from the Transport and
Infrastructure Department at Denbighshire County Council,
who we had previously approached for assistance in our attempts to
promote road safety awareness amongst all staff at Michael Phillips
Care Agency Ltd.
Our Managing Director, Ms. Karen Hughes was the first staff
member to take advantage of the driving assessment, and here's what
she had to say:
"I thought I knew it all, but that was so very far from the
truth. I am a good driver, or at least I liked to think I was
one of our roads better drivers, I passed my test 26 years ago and
so thought it would be a good idea to lead by example and take the
first assessment lesson.
I must confess, it was a little nerve racking as I wasn't in my own
car (only because someone had blocked me in tut tut), but Chris was
very laid back and explained that it wasn't in any way a test, it
was just an observation period, at the end of which he would point
out any driving procedures I'd carried out incorrectly or not at
all.
I drove around the area for about 40 minutes, and then we pulled up
back at the offices, we spent a lot of the time chatting as I would
during any normal journey and I thought I'd done quite well, until
Chris spoke.
Apparently (but I know it's the truth) I am prone to putting my
foot down all of the time. I indicate
when I don't need to and I never look at my blind spots on the left
or right when using a roundabout or overtaking.
Chris explained all this to me, and pointed out the disastrous
possibilities which could occur by using my indicators needlessly
and speeding in all 30mile areas. I have to admit that he also
noticed that I cut up other vehicles on roundabouts because I
didn't' keep to the same lane I'd joined the roundabout
on.
I also learnt how to tell when exactly my tyres need to be
changed, how to find out the pressures required and how swapping
the tyres across after around 9 months use, would prolong their
life and save me money. I still think I'm a good driver!, I'm
confident behind the wheel and am aware of other road users and the
common mistakes they make, but I now know that I
make common mistakes too, so it was well worth my going out first
so that even those of you like me, who think you are
grade 1 drivers, could actually learn something whilst having a bit
of fun at the same time.
I've had to undergo all the mickey taking I can just about stand
today, that's because everyone was privy to the outcome of my
assessment, because I've written this article for your pleasure,
but everyone else taking the driving assessment with Chris and
subsequent road safety training with Denbighshires road safety
team, will do so in confidence, and any errors, minors or serious
mistakes will remain confidential, though you will learn from the
experience, just as I did.
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