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MOTORWAY U-TURN KILLED DRIVER
February 20th, 2008. A driver who did
a U-turn on the M4 and drove five miles in the wrong direction killed a
Swansea man in a head-on collision. The man had never driven on a motorway
before the tragic crash.
The driver of the car had held a full driving licence since the mid-1990s,
but says he had not driven on a dual carriageway or a motorway before the
date of this tragic collision. He had just visited his brother in
hospital. It was said that he intended to drive back in the direction of
Carmarthen, but took a wrong turn at a motorway junction and ended up on
the eastbound carriageway.
Realising his mistake he performed a U-turn near junction 37 at Pyle - and
drove back along the eastbound carriageway, killing the other driver five
miles later in a head-on collision.
The judge imposed an interim driving ban after hearing he had voluntarily
surrendered his licence to the DVLA last November. The judge said that he
had pleaded guilty to a very serious matter, and it seems to me that it
will carry an inevitable sentence of imprisonment.
GOVERNMENT PROPOSE EXTENDing HARD SHOULDER RUNNING
October 22nd, 2007. The Government is proposing, after trials on the M42, to extend hard shoulder running to other motorways across the country. This move has already been condemned by safety campaigners as unnecessary and dangerous. Let us know what you think.
DSA LISTEN?
August 4th, 2007. Over the last
16years or so I have had a great deal of dialogue with the Driving
Standards Agency re the aims of this campaign. Every time they write back
to me it seems that they are under the impression that I believe that
learner drivers be allowed on motorways, but nothing is further from the
truth. However, now it seems I have finally got through to them. They have
told me... "The Driving Standards Agency (DSA) totally agrees with you
that training on motorways should not be undertaken by learner drivers,
only by newly qualified drivers once they have demonstrated their ability
to drive on high speed roads in order to pass their test. The benefit of
allowing learner drivers to use the motorway has not been demonstrated
sufficiently to lift the current restriction”. It’s taken me all this
time to get my message across. The question is, how much longer is it
going to take to make this training mandatory?
COMMON SENSE
July 22nd, 2007. In a rare victory for
common sense, a Transport Committee report has recommended a radical
overhaul of training for learner drivers.
Read
more
OUR PETITION
June 18th, 2007. I felt it only right
to inform those of you who signed our petition about what happens next. I
asked for your comments, and you duly obliged. A selection can be found
here,
but more are always welcome.
WASTED LIVES
April 21st, 2007. A story I read
recently in our evening paper is a far too familiar one. Young lad, not
long been driving, speeding, crashes and dies. I have a great sympathy for
his family but now this paper has taken up the cause of what they term
"wasted lives". As many of you are well aware, safer driving is at the
heart of Learn-2-Live Motorway Safety Campaign© and compulsory motorway
tuition for newly qualified drivers is what I have been fighting for for
over 16 years. Please
click here to
read my comments about the suggestions they make, then let me have your
views.
GOVERNMENT PROPOSE HARD SHOULDER RUNNING LANE
September 2nd, 2006. The Highways Agency are trialling hard shoulder running
as part of
Active Traffic Management on a section of the M42. They seem to
believe it will cut congestion, without the need for carriageway widening.
But will this cost cutting measure actually cost lives?
Let us have your views.
TRAINING STILL UNNECESSARY
May 27th, 2006. Over the last 14 years
or so I have become more and more convinced of the need for new drivers to
undergo motorway tuition, and many of you who visit this site are telling
me that you feel the same. Up to date my Early Day Motion raised by Kitty
Ussher M.P. has 113 signatures. Ms.Ussher told me that she had also
written to the Minister of Transport putting my case to him. However over
the last few weeks we have had a change at the Department so I’ve written
to the new Secretary of State outlining my case as follows…
Dear Sir,
My MP, Kitty Ussher, has written to your Department about this issue, with
which my campaign is involved but as far as I know has received no reply.
With your permission I would like to put my case directly to you.
Over the last 13+ years I have asked this and the previous administration
to make it compulsory for all NEWLY QUALIFIED drivers to have to undertake
some form of motorway tuition and all that has been achieved can be found
on our web site at the bottom of this letter.
At the end of November last year Ms Ussher raised and Early Day Motion on
this issue and so far this EDM has 111 signatures. Many other MPs who
cannot sign because they have some form of Ministerial responsibly, have
written telling me they would if they were able. Outside organisations
such as RAC/BSM & RBS Insurance, amongst others have offered support for
this action.
At present you have a Road Safety bill on its way to becoming law. I would
urge you to consider putting a small amendment to this piece of
legislation to include this most important training for Newly Qualified
drivers.
If it is possible I would be delighted to meet with you to discuss this
issue.
However, rather than replying to me himself, my letter was passed to their
Road User Safety Department, and this is the letter I received from them.
Dear Mrs Ravenhill,
Thank you for your letter of 6th May 2006 to the Secretary of State about
compulsory motorway training for learner drivers. I have been asked to
reply on this occasion. The Department has no record of a letter from
Kitty Ussher M.P.
As has been explained, most recently in Dr. Ladyman’s letter to Sir
Michael Jack M.P. of 1st March 2006, the Government has no plans to
introduce compulsory motorway training as part of the driving test and
there are no plans to include an amendment to the Road Safety Bill as you
suggest. You will be aware that a number of changes to the driving test
have been made in recent years to improve the standards of newly qualified
drivers. Candidates now have to demonstrate their skills over a longer
practical test in a broader range of conditions, including driving on
high-speed roads wherever possible. These roads have many of the
characteristics of motorways and candidates training should include
driving on such roads so that they are ready to meet the challenges of
driving today. It should also be born in mind that large parts of the
country do not have easy access to the motorway network.
Allow me to comment on his letter...
1. Nowhere in my letter, or anywhere else, have I ever said that I would
accept the idea of Learner drivers on the motorway or even that motorway
driving should be part of the driving test. I would suggest that the
gentleman from the Dept. of Transport reads my letter properly!!
2. I am well aware of the changes that have taken place to the driving
test over the years but if these changes are supposed to make a difference
to learning to drive how come the pass rate is still so incredibly low?
3. Why are so many people telling me of their very real fears, almost
phobias, of driving on these roads? Fears and phobias that could turn
manic and ultimately cause accidents. You only have to watch TV programmes
such as “Police, Camera, Action” to see how bad the standard of driving on
these roads is. A short time ago I spent a day with Lancashire Motorway
Police and saw for myself the way people drive on these roads.
4. Long ago we got over the question of what happens in the areas that
have no easy access to motorways, namely as would happen if a new driver
wanted to undergo Pass Plus, it would be left to the ADI to decide what
they would consider ‘suitable alternative training’. Come on Mr, we got
over that hurdle long since.
5. Aren’t they prepared to even discuss this issue with me? That wasn’t
even mentioned in their letter.
I’d be most interested to hear visitors’ opinions on this, so please
contact me with your views.
EARLY DAY MOTION 1138
March 31st, 2006. To date 114 M.P.'s of all parties have signed Early Day Motion 1138. Many more M.P.'s have written to me saying that they unable to sign but have offered support to the aims of this campaign. I spoke to Kitty Ussher's researcher recently and told him that with so much support I now want an amendment to this effect to be included in the Road Safety Bill, currently going through Parliament. He is looking into what can be done. It seems, from my inquiries, that no one organisation is actively doing anything about this so I am having to do this myself. With the support I have from members who have signed, or who have offered their support without signing, I believe that it has to be the time for something positive to take place. You can also help by bringing this new EDM Nº 1138 to the attention of your M.P. and urging them (where possible) to sign.
Motorway Tuition - Option or Necessity?
Happy 70th Birthday Driving Test
June 1st, 2005. The British Driving
Test celebrates its 70th Birthday. Since that first test was conducted
Britain’s road have changed significantly, yet although there have been
some changes in the way tests are conducted the test is still seen as an
obstacle to be got over as quickly, easily and cheaply as possible.
Some of the changes over the last 14 years since I passed my test are
listed below.
1. Introduction of Parallel Park as part of the test.
2. Bay Park as part of the driving test.
3. Theory test.
4. Hazard Perception test.
5. Tell me, show me.
Yet despite all these changes the powers that be fail to see the need for
new drivers to have to undergo any form of training to drive on the
motorways, even though 4 out of 5 new drivers told us of their very real
fear of driving on these roads without any proper training. This fear
itself could cause a hazard on these roads. When will they see there is a
real need for this training to be included in the new road safety bill?
NEW M.P. MEETS L2L
May 27th, 2005. Since this campaign
started over 13 years ago, my M.P., Peter Pike, has been firmly behind all
I have tried to do. In fact without his help & advice my campaign would
not have got as far as it has. However at the recent general election he
decided to stand down and Burnley now has a new M.P., Mrs Kitty Ussher. As
Peter had cleared out a lot of his files it was time to start again from
scratch. I have put my case to Mrs Ussher and, like Peter, she is 100%
behind my action and will do all she can to help, including the raising of
an Early Day Motion in the near future.
New Drivers No More Dangerous
February 13th, 2005. After my meeting with
Mrs Gwyneth Dunwoody in October of last year, I wrote to nearly every M.P.
lobbying for their support.
To date I have received over 50 replies, some just an acknowledgment, but some
of those who did reply forwarded my letter on to David Jamieson, the Minister
for Transport, and this was his reply to all of them.
The Minister stated that :-
-
He has no plans to introduce any form of compulsory training.
-
He believes that the skills needed to drive unaccompanied should be demonstrated at the time of the practical test, and this is why the length of the test was increased in 1999 to ensure that more test routes have access to higher speed roads, which replicate many of the conditions of motorways.
-
"While there is no evidence to suggest that newly qualified drivers are generally more dangerous than other drivers on motorways, they (DfT) do encourage novice drivers to take a Pass Plus course of training, which includes motorway driving with an Approved Driving Instructor", and concludes by telling us that at the time of his letter this scheme is taken up by some 20% of pupils.
We would like the Minister to provide data to support his
view (item 3) and the grounds on which the Government encourages Pass Plus,
especially as such grounds appear to be insufficient to make motorway tuition
compulsory. Send us your comments
Fact
9 out of every 10 motorway accidents
are caused by Driver Error.
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