copyright 2009 advanced drivers of america, inc.. a balanced overview of driver training...

Copyright 2009 Advanced Drivers of America, Inc.

.

A BalancedOverview of

Driver Training

International Conference

February 16-18, 2009 – Washington DC

on Road Safety at Work


Your Speaker

Eddie Wren(in the white shirt, in the adjacent photo, which was taken in Nairobi, in the 1980’s, while driving across Africa, from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic).- 35 years in traffic safety- UK “Highway Patrol” police officer- Police Advanced Driver/Motorcyclist- Investigating Officer for fatal crashes- Safety specialist for young drivers- Civil Investigator – road crashes- Donor Organ Driver- International Speaker on Driver Safety- Delegate to the United Nations (Geneva and USA) for global road safety- Member of International Road Federation [IRF] Road Safety Working Party (Washington DC) - Author of: “State Drivers’ Manuals Can Kill Your Kids” (SAE tech. paper)- Media: The Today Show, MSNBC, New York Times, The Economist, Myth Busters!


Photo: World Health Organisation


Existing Standards

Dangerous Jobs

In 2005, the Bureau of Labor Statistics Report on Workplace Fatalities (n = 5,702) showed:

Most deaths – by occupation

1. Drivers & sales workers (993)

2. Farmers & ranchers (341)

3. Construction laborers (339)

4. Misc. agric. workers (176)

5. Pilots & flight engineers (81)

6. Logging workers (80)


Existing Standards

Dangerous Jobs









Death rate per 100,000 in occupation

1. Fishers & fishing workers 118.4

2. Logging workers 92.9

3. Pilots & flight engineers 66.9

4. Struc. Iron & steel workers 55.6

……

8. Drivers & sales workers 29.1


Existing Standards

Dangerous Jobs









Death rate per 100,000 in occupation

1. Fishers & fishing workers 118.4

2. Logging workers 92.9

3. Pilots & flight engineers 66.9

4. Struc. Iron & steel workers 55.6

……

8. Drivers & sales workers 29.1

Note: The “drivers and sales workers,” above, represented less than half of all work-related highway deaths!


Existing Standards

According to the National Safety Council [NSC], over 38% of all work-related deaths occur in road crashes, making it by far the biggest causative factor. (The second most dangerous cause – falls – represents only 14% of all work related deaths.)

Some of the biggest dangers are:• A lack of “driving” concentration due to work issues• Tiredness due to long hours or a long journey• Speeding due to being late• Eating &/or drinking, while driving• Checking a map• and, worst of all,….. cellphone use!

Major Danger: Business Driving


Existing Standards

The Myth of the “Experienced Driver!”

Over 90 percent of crashes are due, at least in part, to driver error;


Existing Standards



Typically, over 90 percent of drivers rate themselves as being either “above average,” “good,” or “excellent” drivers;


Existing Standards



Typically, over 90 percent of drivers rate themselves as being either “above average,” “good,” or “excellent” drivers;

Do the math! A supposedly “experienced” driver is commonly just a complacent driver.


Existing Standards

Basic Driver Training

Training and testing for new drivers goes back at least to the 1930’s

Unfortunately, a lot of the outdated, inaccurate, inadequate and inappropriate ideas from that time still persist, including:

• One car-length following distance for each 10 m.p.h.

• Change down through manual gears if you are stopping

• “Turn into a skid” (there are three types of skid!)

• Brake going into a curve and accelerate out of it


A World Bank Comment

Necessary Standards

“With road user error contributing to the vast majority of road crashes, the development of safe drivers, skilled in defensive driving techniques, should be the primary objective of any road safety program. Driving examiners in developing countries are rarely given special training and driving tests [are] an inadequate test of ability to drive safely in traffic on real roads.” (World Bank – http://go.worldbank.org/8F5O3LMLN0 – 31 May, 2007)

http://go.worldbank.org/8F5O3LMLN0



Necessary StandardsThe World Bank statement is clearly good, but even it raises a crucial question, namely:

What exactly are the “defensive driving techniques” to which it refers?



Necessary StandardsThe World Bank statement is clearly good, but even it raises a crucial question, namely:

What exactly are the “defensive driving techniques” to which it refers?

Note also the comment that “driving tests [are] an inadequate test of ability to drive safely in traffic on real roads.”


Driving for Safety is a Complex Task!

Compare Driving with Flying! Which is more technical?

Which requires more mandatory training?

In which are the instructors more highly qualified?






BUT

In which are there more opportunities for a collision with another “vehicle”?

In which are non-vehicle-occupants at more risk?






BUT

In which are there more opportunities for a collision with another “vehicle”?

In which are non-vehicle-occupants at more risk?

AND FINALLY

Do they use “fighter pilots” to train “airline pilots” or do they use instructors who have the most appropriate skill set?



Erroneous TechniquesAmong techniques that have evolved among ordinary drivers or are currently being taught are some that involve error and risk. These include:

• Setting exterior mirrors “wide” rather than the traditional way





• The “apexing” of curves (i.e. the “racing line”)






• Inadequate signaling







• Signaling before checking mirrors (it should always be after!)








• Hold the wheel at “8 & 4” – a modern idea but very wrong!








• Hold the wheel at “8 & 4” – a modern idea but very wrong!

• Skid recovery and “evasive swerve” techniques (more later)



Erroneous TechniquesBasic driver training standards are far too low:

• World Bank

• “State Drivers’ Manuals Can Kill Your Kids!” [SAE 2007]



Erroneous TechniquesBasic driver training standards are far too low:

• World Bank

• “State Drivers’ Manuals Can Kill Your Kids!” [SAE 2007]

Higher-level driver training is in disrepute because of:

• “Instructors” can be self-taught and/or entirely unqualified

• No regulation or even a central “good example” of standards

• Inappropriate skills can be included (such as racetrack skills)

• Well-intended but counterproductive techniques

• A consequent lack of legitimately good results!



Erroneous TechniquesSkid Pad training has repeatedly been discredited because trainees afterwards have more crashes than do people who did not do the training. Inter alia:

• Senserrick & Swinburne (Monash University, Australia); 2001;

• Katila, Keskinen and Hatakka (Dept. of Psychol., Univ. of Turku, Finland)



Erroneous TechniquesSkid Pad training has repeatedly been discredited because trainees afterwards have more crashes than do people who did not do the training. Inter alia:

• Senserrick & Swinburne (Monash University, Australia); 2001;

• Katila, Keskinen and Hatakka (Dept. of Psychol., Univ. of Turku, Finland)

Does last-minute, evasive swerving to avoid a collision come into the same category? I suggest it does because:

• Avoidance of danger is infinitely preferable to an attempt to get out of a crisis that has already started;

• Swerving, in a real-life crisis, could easily lead to a second crisis. What if you hit a bicyclist, or a child on a sidewalk?



So, what exactly are

Defensive Driving and

Advanced Driving


What is Defensive Driving?

There is an overlap between Defensive Driving and Advanced Driving.

When done properly, in line with global best practice, they may be thought of simply as different levels of the same discipline, but Advanced Driving – when done properly – is much more comprehensive.


What is Defensive Driving?

There is an overlap between Defensive Driving and Advanced Driving.

When done properly, in line with global best practice, they may be thought of simply as different levels of the same discipline, but Advanced Driving – when done properly – is much more comprehensive.

Defensive Driving could perhaps be defined as the study and application of basic but proven best-practice techniques in safe driving on public roads.


So What is true Advanced Driving?

What may properly be thought of as true advanced driving has been developed over an astonishing period of 74 years, by the British equivalent of “highway patrol” police, and is thoroughly unique.




• It focuses on reliable, in-depth anticipation and avoiding danger rather than trying to use dramatic evasion tactics in an attempt to get out of a crisis that has already started;





• No race driving techniques… No crisis recovery tactics… and (for civilians) no skid training – All of these things have been shown, by research, to increase danger and not reduce it!





• No race driving techniques… No crisis recovery tactics… and (for civilians) no skid training – All of these things have been shown, by research, to increase danger and not reduce it!• The result is that the traffic police in Britain have the enviable reputation of being the best and the safest road drivers in the world and their crashes have been cut to one sixth of the level which could reasonably be expected. [UK Govt & IAM]



The UK police approach relies upon:

• Depth of knowledge (both theory and practical)

• Duration (typically around ten weeks/400 hours total)

• Location of training (i.e. even the high-speed elements are done on public roads among ordinary traffic)

• A lack of artificial warnings!

• An absolute focus on other people’s safety



The UK police approach relies upon:

• Depth of knowledge (both theory and practical)

• Duration (typically around ten weeks/400 hours total)

• Location of training (i.e. even the high-speed elements are done on public roads among ordinary traffic)

• A lack of artificial warnings!

• An absolute focus on other people’s safety

The same methodology, however, may be used, without the high-speed element, to maximize safety for any driver in any country, not just law enforcement officers.



Research, plus decades of collective experience, have shown that truly good driving unquestionably depends on the following factors (in this exact sequence):

1. ?

2. ?

3. ?

4. ?

The Keys to Excellent Driving!




1. ATTITUDE

2. ?

3. ?

4. ?





1. ATTITUDE

2. CONCENTRATION

3. ?

4 ?





1. ATTITUDE

2. CONCENTRATION

3. EFFECTIVE OBSERVATIONS

4 ?





1. ATTITUDE

2. CONCENTRATION

3. EFFECTIVE OBSERVATIONS4 DRIVING SKILLS i.e. IN LAST PLACE!

And the use of Global Best Practice is clearly important




Two Closing Points

1. Proven and truly excellent driver training does exist, but so do mediocre and even dangerous “training.” For those who are planning to purchase driver training for their corporation, the guideline is caveat emptor! (“Let the buyer beware!”)



Two Closing Points

1. Proven and truly excellent driver training does exist, but so do mediocre and even dangerous “training.” For those who are planning to purchase driver training for their corporation, the guideline is caveat emptor! (“Let the buyer beware!”)

2. Future research – instead of concentrating so much on “driver training or not driver training” – needs to focus more on what truly works as opposed to what is unsafe or ineffective.



Questions are welcome at any time. Contact us via: [email protected]

(44/20)

mailto:[email protected]

copyright 2009 advanced drivers of america, inc.. a balanced overview of driver training...

Documents

drivers sales workers

logging workers

advanced drivers of

fishers fishing workers

iron steel workers

state drivers manuals

pilots flight engineers

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