Newslink January 2022

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Several car manufacturers have
announced that from 2025 they
intend to stop building petrol/diesel
cars. If that happens there will be a
reduced pool of vehicles suitable for
tuition to choose from. ADIs will be
left with little choice but to start
going electric well before 2030, the
proposed cut-off date at the moment.
Enterprising ADIs will weather the
storm, in fact they will probably
prosper as the switch to electric
could provide new opportunities to
create income streams.
Not everybody who buys an
automatic (which they all are) electric
car will just jump in it and drive away
if they haven’t driven one before.
I have mentioned in the past that
the latest of the three VW Tourans
which we have run seems to require
the driver to have a degree in
electronics, while the car we have
had on order for several months from
a different manufacturer gave the
impression on a test drive that a
degree in cybertronics would be a
minimum qualification.
Of course, the salesman said that
being electric all the various
functions are very straightforward...
well, we’ll discover whether this is
true, or not, if one day it is delivered.
I drive different types of vehicle
over the course of a year and this
gives me an advantage when new
trends come on stream, but for lots
of people, especially those of a
certain age who only drive their own
car with which they are familiar,
those first few drives in a new car
could be an unsettling experience.
Perhaps they would rather share
the experience with an ADI by their
side? You could leave some business
cards with your local franchised
dealers.
Just a thought. That’s free
advertising and could get you one up
on your competitors.
A final thought...
On New Year’s Eve, Marilyn stood
up in the local pub and said that
it was time to get ready. At the
stroke of midnight, she wanted
every husband to be standing next
to the one person who made his
life worth living.
Well, it was kind of embarrassing.
As the clock struck, the bartender
was almost crushed to death.
HPT offers way to cut van
and truck crashes
Janet Stewart
MSA GB Greater London
I attended the ADINJC’s National
Conference and Expo in Coventry in October
and had a number of interesting
conversations – not least with Dr Victoria
Kroll, chief executive officer of ESITU
Solutions.
Three comments made me think: First,
one-in-three fatal collisions occur while
driving for work. Second, vans, LGVs and
HGVs have the highest rate of road user
deaths per mile travelled. Finally, hazard
awareness assessment and training has
been shown to reduce risk.
Many of us will remember the level of
disgruntlement expressed by driving
instructors when they were required to take
the Hazard Perception Test when it was
introduced in 2002. ADIs claimed that it
was a computer game and/or that they
failed it because they were too good at
spotting hazards and clicked too soon. I
saw it as an opportunity to see for myself
what my learners would be facing (and I
liked the game element).
But here’s the point. ADIs had to take
this test despite being fully qualified
already. No such requirement was set for
commercial drivers who had passed their
test before 2002.
Estimates suggest that the HPT saves the
country about £90m per annum through
collision reduction. It is a difficult figure to
prove but I don’t think many would doubt
that the test has been beneficial.
Apparently, companies are more likely to
use question-based assessment of their
drivers’ risk awareness. I don’t teach fleet
and I am sure a lot of readers know more
about this than I do, but could companies
be persuaded to do something rather better
for their drivers and thus for themselves?
ESITU is a spin-out from research carried
out at Nottingham Trent University. They
use HD video and computer-generated
imagery to identify which drivers have a
greater crash risk. The drivers see 15
hazard clips and then 15 feedback training
clips with the safety-relevant areas
highlighted and a voice-over to explain
where the driver should have been looking
and why. There are additional benefits from
the training as well as the safety ones;
better forward planning and awareness also
reduce harsh braking and acceleration, thus
improving fuel consumption and reducing
vehicle wear and tear.
As ESITU says “The best way to assess
and train driver safety is in-situ. When this
is impractical, try Esitu instead”.
On an entirely unrelated matter – I have
not mentioned Christmas. 18 months ago
my sister rented a house for the whole
family to celebrate her husband’s 70th
birthday and their 40th wedding
anniversary. Because of Covid, this family
break was delayed repeatedly until we
finally got there in October. My sister
decided that since we had, in the
meantime, also missed Christmas we
should include that in the mix. Therefore,
two months before the official big day, we
had turkey with all the trimmings and
stuffing, Christmas pudding aflame with
brandy, Christmas quizzes, holly and party
hats.
It was a great success but the
consequence was that, once we got to
December, I didn’t feel quite ready to do it
all again. Anyway, to those who did
celebrate properly, I hope you had a lovely
time, and I also hope you have a good and
optimistic start to the New Year.
If you would like to comment on this
article please contact Janet Stewart at
janetstlittlecar@btinternet.com.
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