South Meath Driving School

There was a time when fathers left the childrens’ affairs to mother and the child-carrier was fitted on the rear of her bicycle. It was a much safer place for a child than the modern front or rear seat of a motorcar. Daddy had to step into line in the last forty years with the onset of seat belts for his passengers and, under EU legislation, more stringent laws for child safety.

Mary O’Rourke has said that when Charlie Haughey offered her a first ministerial post she was delighted until he told her it was Children and Youth Affairs or whatever it was called then. She declined the offer saying she could do her knitting at home. Plucky Mary then got a more challenging post. She didn’t belittle the importance of children or their safety in her refusal. Frances Fitzgerald, the incumbent minister with that portfolio, is as busy as a queen bee promoting child protection legislation, prison issues to mental health.

Anyone who has reared or is rearing a child knows only too well the importance of the safety of such child from cradle to car seat, from bicycle to car steering wheel. With 2.5 million vehicles on Irish roads, think Safety First for the weaker ones.

• It is compulsory for all children to travel in the correct child seat, booster seat or booster cushion.
• Where safety belts have been fitted, they must be worn.
• Children under 3 years of age must not travel in a car or goods vehicle (other than a taxi) unless restrained in the correct child seat.
• Generally, children aged 3 and over and up to 11 or 12 years old (weight and height are relevant) must use the correct child seat/boosters in cars or goods vehicles.
• Children over 3 years must travel in a rear seat in vehicles not fitted with safety belts.
• Rearward-facing child car seats must NEVER be used in the front passenger seat of cars with an active airbag.
• Child car seats must be in accordance with EU standards.
• Drivers have a legal responsibility to ensure passengers aged under 17 use the correct seat, booster seat/cushion or seat belt.

Ensuring a child is properly restrained in a child car seat can reduce injuries by a factor of 90-95% for rear-facing seats and 60% for forward-facing seats, (source – AA Motoring Trust).

Illustrated baby seats –

• Use a rearward-facing baby seat for babies up to 13Kgs (29lbs), i.e. birth to 12 – 15 months
• Forward-facing child seat, weight 9-18 kgs (20-40lbs), age range 9 months – 4 years.
• Booster seat, weight 15 – 25 kgs (33-55lbs) Age range 4 -6 years.
• Booster cushion, weight 22-36kgs (48-79lbs), Age range 6 to 12 years.

Drivers who carry children in their cars only occasionally should be aware of their obligation to comply with the law for however short their journey. Remember, it should not be your fear of getting ‘caught’ by the Gardai, rather fear the mishap, crash or possible serious injury. Be in control of your own destiny.

The graphic pictures of a mangled car on the middle of the roadway, as shown on T.V. and in the newspapers over the weekend, brings  to mind how lucky we all are not to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. A straight stretch of road near Tullamore on a dry, sunny afternoon played host to the sight of four young men being removed to a hospital morgue. And, lucky that figure wasn’t doubled. The four had been travelling in the same car.

Without prejudice as to what brought about this calamity, it was reported that the driver of this car was overtaking and crashed head-on into an oncoming minibus.

There was a neighbour of mine in Cloone a good few moons ago whose name was Michael, with the colourful nickname of Ampletime. He was a bachelor who, as well as being a farmer, often found himself away on other business. There were four of us young Moran fellows close by who were always willing to lend a neighbourly hand. Michael was overly cautious and possessive and, while he appreciated help, he warned against too many being around at the same time. Therefore his monastic rule was one assistant around his house while he was away. Peadar, his trusted one was usually in charge.

On one such occasion three more of us young teens arrived. After a few hours we heard the drone of Ampletime’s Morris Minor approach. We all ran out of the house as if it were an air raid siren we heard, almost jamming each other in the doorway. Too late though, for he spotted us. Such was the confusion that when we were two and a half fields away, Peadar realised that he had been left in charge of the house. We didn’t envy him his lonely trek back!

Mr Ampletime found rope swings erected in the hayshed, his bicycle lying in the lane with a buckled wheel and worse was to come: his prized red rooster, a wicked and feisty bird, lay dead on the street.

It was a great  day for us having had the freedom to choose, unsupervised, when work and bedevilment had equal standing. Nothing much happened, one might say, but for Mr Ampletime a lot had gone wrong.

When a group of youngsters get together, more so the male species, they want to impress each other, the older ones taking the lead. They want a ‘buzz’ and there’s no lengths to which they won’t go to achieve their wayward goal.

Since the weekend past, there are up to twenty young people lying in hospital injured to varying degrees from road crashes.  And, of course, there are the four youths dead from a single collision. The RSA put it bluntly, ‘The faster the speed, the bigger the mess.’ Each road death is estimated to cost over 1 million euro. In 2010 the cost of all road collisions was estimated at 853 million euro, down 38% on ’07. We all pay for the waywardness of others either directly or indirectly. We pay through insurance and levys.

When Noel Dempsey’s office and the RSA were drawing up plans for the launch of the new driving test programme and EDT, consideration was being given to the restricting of the number of young people who could be together in the same car without supervision. A night curfew was also considered. The idea was dropped. There have since been many multiple fatal crashes involving car loads of young people. Remember Donegal, Kerry and now Tullamore. What a pity, ‘cause when a good idea is mooted and cognisance taken of the effect in other countries, that’s the time to act. Rarely is the topic revisited at National level. It’s time, though, to call Leo Varadkar now and remind him of his responsibility. Do it today.

Overtaking another vehicle, even a cyclist, requires confidence and a fair measure of driving experience. The road ahead must be clear for a distance enough to enable you to get back in safely and not interfere with any other driver. If you are first vehicle behind the one to be overtaken, do not go too close behind it. Use wing mirror and leave space so you can edge out to view the road ahead. Have indicator on so that you go at the first opportunity, otherwise you will have to give way to faster moving traffic from behind.

Never follow through blindly behind another overtaking vehicle.

Once overtaking, stay in the same gear until manoeuvre is completed, thereby your two hands are on the wheel and you have power to progress.

Use mirrors to good effect before returning to your driving lane so as not to interfere with the driver being overtaken.

Take extra care when overtaking large/longer vehicles as you will need more road length to pass it.

Be aware, too, of the lack of visibility in rain or snow.

Do not break the speed limit to overtake.

Do not overtake near traffic lights or pedestrian crossings, approaching a junction, hilltop, bridge or dip in the road.

Note that you may overtake on a continuous white line as follows –

In the event of an obstruction, a slow-moving vehicle, or to gain access, provided there is adequate view ahead and that it’s safe to do so.

For the first year in the last five or six, the road fatalities are up on the previous year. Let each play his/her part to reverse that.

According to shocking new figures released by the Road Safety Authority (RSA), in the first six months of 2012, 23% of drivers killed and 29% of passengers killed were not wearing seatbelts at the time of the collision. The information is based on preliminary data supplied by An Garda Síochána. A worrying feature is the number of people who were not wearing a seatbelt and who were ejected from the vehicle.

The real tragedy behind these figures is that some of these deaths may well have been prevented if the driver or passenger had been wearing their seatbelt. Wearing a seatbelt significantly increases your chance of survival and can reduce the severity of your injuries if involved in a collision. According to the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) in the UK around 2 out of 3 people will survive or have less serious injuries if they are wearing a seat belt

Mr. Noel Brett, Chief Executive, RSA said, “Putting on a seatbelt only takes a few seconds and it’s something we do automatically. Despite this, and the fact that the overwhelming majority of people in this country wear a seatbelt, we have an overall wearing rate of 95%, there is a minority who are willing to put their lives at risk by not wearing one. Why? Is it because they believe it’s their personal choice, they just can’t be bothered or perhaps they think they look cool in front of their friends?”

Mr. Brett concluded, “While not wearing a seatbelt is not cool, it is a selfish act, neither is it a matter of personal choice. If you do not wear a seatbelt you become a potential killer in a crash. You will be thrown around the inside of a car, possibly seriously injuring or killing other occupants in the car. Quite simply, without a seatbelt you’re a killer.”

By not wearing a seatbelt you are not just risking your life and that of others, you are breaking the law. You must wear a seatbelt if one is fitted.

If you don’t wear a seatbelt you risk a fine of €80 and two penalty points, which remain on your licence for three years. Passengers over 17 can be fined €80 for not wearing a seatbelt.

The Gardaí are issuing an average of 1,300 Fixed Charged Notices each month in 2012 to drivers for seatbelt offences. They issued almost 16,000 notices for seatbelt offences in 2011.

Previous RSA research indicated that males account for 4 out of 5 road deaths where no seatbelt is being used and that young men are four and a half times more likely not to be wearing a seatbelt in a fatal collision (Collision Facts 1998 to 2003).

According to the 2010 Road Collision Facts, published by the RSA (the last year we have comprehensive data) 16% of drivers and 41% of passengers killed were not wearing seat belts.

Belt up. Be safe. You can always get into a good habit but you can never get out of a brown habit. (For the information of our younger generation, that’s the wearing apparel of the dead.)

Transport safety has improved vastly since pre-EU membership days and more recently since the mandatory NCT was introduced. Despite a healthy nation of vehicles, a breakdown can occur or indeed a crash can likewise halt one’s progress. The AA Ireland advise us to follow the simple rules, following, which can give peace of mind and confidence to women, especially, when driving alone.

Avoiding a breakdown

• Have the car serviced regularly by a reputable garage.
• Don’t run out of fuel. Get into the habit of filling when the tank’s half empty rather than waiting for the warning light.
• Check oil, water, and other fluids regularly. Your car’s manual will show you how, and specify the products to use if topping-up is required.
• Check tyre condition and pressure regularly. The manual will tell you the correct pressure. Damaged or excessively worn tyres should be renewed. Don’t forget to check the spare.
• Attend to any faults promptly by a reputable garage, rather than waiting for them to get worse or hoping they’ll go away.
• If a warning light stays on, check the manual for advice.  In some circumstances you can drive on safely.

Don’t get lost

• Plan unfamiliar journeys and try to stick to main roads.
• In-car navigation systems help if you worry about getting lost. Keep an atlas handy in case traffic forces a change of plans

In case of breakdown

• Carry a mobile phone, ensure that it’s charged and has sufficient call credit.
• Keep a coat, sensible shoes, blanket, torch, and money in the car.
• If possible drive on to a well lit, busy area such as a filling station rather than stopping in a dark, remote spot.
• Keep doors locked while waiting. A patrol/mechanic will carry proof of identity.  Ask to see this before opening a window or unlocking your car.
• On motorways it’s much safer to retreat up the bank, or behind a barrier rather than wait in the car. If you do feel at risk from another person, return to your vehicle by a left-hand door and lock all doors. Leave your vehicle again as soon as you feel this danger has passed.

On your journey

• Keep valuables, briefcase, laptop, handbag and mobile phone out of sight.
• Keep the doors locked during your journey and, if required, open windows only partially – particularly in town.
• You MUST stop for the police but it’s quite reasonable to ask for identification through a closed window and keep the engine running until you are satisfied.
• NEVER give lifts to strangers.
• Beware of anyone who tries to signal that there’s something wrong with your car, unless you know they’re right and it’s dangerous to drive on.

Parking

• Wait until you’re close to the car before unlocking it.
• If you park on the street choose a busy, well-lit place, and have your car keys ready as you return to the car.

The penalty points system was introduced ten years ago in Ireland and it frightened the day lights out of us drivers at its inception. For weeks we crawled around wondering if life would ever be the same again behind the wheel. There were very few crashes in that new era – then complacency crept back in and there was a partial return to the older, lesser values. The intervening years, though, show that there has been around the 50% reduction in road deaths which is remarkable. They all said the Irish wouldn’t succumb to all those restrictions that the Dempseys and Varadkars might throw at us, let alone higher up moguls out in Brussels and Munich.

Around one third of motorists here have received penalty points, ranging from two upwards. Half a million stuck on the two, obviously realising that a repeat transgression might mean higher insurance costs or getting on the ladder to disqualification altogether, on reaching twelve points. That feat was achieved by a mere 138 motorists. They will remember the cost in the loss of their wheels and a further rebuke from their insurance company in the times ahead.

Changing driver behaviour was never going to be achieved overnight. The current generation of young drivers were probably the greater critics of their parents’ ill-gotten habits of the ‘60s and ‘70s. As much as we may criticise the young drivers of today, it is my opinion that they are ‘miles’ ahead when it comes to road competency. Then, why shouldn’t they be so? There wasn’t much about driving on the curriculum in St. Michael’s or the ‘Tech’ 40 years past. Education is power, they always said, and so it has proven. Yet, youngsters can never escape the awful fact that in the category of 16 to 25 year olds, they accounted for 38% of road deaths last year. Stark.

The GoSafe vans that mount speed traps at various locations throughout the land have proven a great deterrent for speeding motorists. There’s one regularly perched along the road between Bective and Navan. This week such was the case. Though using my driving school car, with all the signs displayed, I got many friendly reminders from motorists that there could be trouble ahead. It came in the form of a headlight flash. Sure enough, GoSafe was in place. The question is, did those who ‘flashed’ realise that it could amount to a criminal offence and face prosecution in Court? It is to do with interfering with the course of Justice! And you can’t do that, even Pat Shortt knows. You might argue that it would be awfully mean of one not to flash his mother-in-law and tell her that the speed trap was up ahead. Be sensible, don’t defeat a noble purpose.

There’s good news for the Learner Driver involved in the ‘graduated driving licence’  (GDL) scene. The proposed GDL was launched with plenteous publicity and caused many a Leaving Cert student some sleepless hours. It has now been watered down vastly from that initial stance. Out of all the claptrap of zero alcohol levels, night curfew, restricted driving after passing the first of two tests etc., what remains is the greater substance, at least. That is the Essential Driver Training programme and the reduced alcohol level of 20mg. There is due to be a review of the EDT programme, probably later this year, which may merely change the format of the 12 lessons, or there may be more compulsory lessons.

With the death rate on our roads now reduced to less than 190 last year, it is a great challenge to keep the downward trend in train. The momentum is there and, as Willie stated,

‘There is a tide in the affairs of men

Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;

Omitted, all the voyage of their life

Is bound in shallows and in miseries.’