Tips and Blogs

The school run isn’t always the calmest of experiences but having your kids properly secured in the back will take at least one stress off your mind. This week’s tips give advice on driving with children, from IAM RoadSmart’s head of driving and riding standards Richard Gladman.

Mobile communications and GPS systems used as sat-navs are becoming very common in cars. Whether you are connecting your Bluetooth to blast tunes or looking for the nearest Waitrose, these have become a fundamental part of the daily drive for many of us.

We are all made up of different shapes and sizes, from old to young and within our unique make-up we each have a different set of problems and vulnerabilities. This week’s tips give advice on sharing the road with vulnerable road users, from IAM RoadSmart’s head of driving and riding standards Richard Gladman.

Emergency vehicles are everywhere, going at unexpected speeds responding to the needs of the public. They do not expect you to put yourself or others in danger to facilitate this. This week’s tips give advice on how to handle approaching emergency vehicles whilst travelling on the roads, from IAM RoadSmart’s head of driving and riding standards Richard Gladman.

With the constant change of weather it’s amazing that many of us are able to get from A to B. We would have hoped with a new year and all that Mother Nature might be kind to us but this isn’t the case. This week’s tips give advice on how to deal with driving and riding in the wind, from IAM RoadSmart’s head of driving and riding standards Richard Gladman.

“Careless” and “reckless,” are words we often hear associated with young drivers. Adding to this stigmatisation are the statistics in 2013 the Department of Transport found that 17% of young car drivers that were involved in crashes were careless, reckless or in a hurry, for 16% of accidents loss of control was determined to be a contributory factor and 22% were either travelling too fast for conditions or performed a poor turn or manoeuvre we need to support younger drivers, understand and moreover inspire them to be better drivers.

There are 2.3 billion active social media users across the globe. In the past year there was a 176 million increase and 81% of small to medium sized organisations are using it for their business needs. It would be foolish of us not to embrace the advantages that come from this growing digital experience.

‘Stop, Look and Listen’ is a phrase that is constantly drummed into children at school but the momentum is often lost and does not always transcend into adulthood. So when young drivers extend an olive branch and want to get involved with driving and road safety activities we would be would be foolish not to answer. In my last blog I talked about how we’ve been around for sixty years previous blog. In that time there have been significant changes in the way people learn and develop. Nowhere is this more true than for younger drivers and riders.

‘Always make sure you spend less than you have in the bank,’ to sum up Charles Dickens’ character Wilkins Micawber's thoughts on budgeting. This can be extended to always make sure what you spend delivers what you are trying to achieve: a good look, a full tummy or a great service.

IAM RoadSmart has now launched its new Advanced Driver course training material and steering featured in the roll out to observers and examiners. What I still find amusing is that rotational steering, first featured in the 2007 edition of Roadcraft and yet, here we are nine years on with some still denying its very existence.