This Valentine’s Day, make sure you get to your date safely and stress-free. IAM RoadSmart’s head of driving and riding standards, Richard Gladman, has put together five top tips to help keep yourself and your loved one safe on the road.

As a bit of a naturalised southerner I often find myself coming out with phrases such as, ‘there are some cracking bits of road in Hertfordshire’ or ‘you don’t have to get far away from London to get to some proper driver’s roads’ and of course both of those phrases are true (honestly), but if pushed on the subject of my favourite road I need to go much further north.

What was your bedtime reading as a child? Depending on your era, was it the Famous Five, Winnie the Pooh, Ben 10, Spongebob, or something off an iPad? For me as a motoring obsessed youngster in the 80s, it was the latest issue of What Car?

We have all come across road rage at some point in our driving lives. When it happens, it can leave you feeling intimidated and scared. But with a bit of planning you can prevent the situation altogether as no one sets off on a journey intending to have an argument with another driver, often the road rage is the culmination of a bad day.

As a road safety organisation we’re often heard talking about ‘high-risk drivers’ and ‘vulnerable road users’. Depending on who you speak to, these categories tend to be assumed to include such groups as young drivers, elderly drivers, pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders.