The official newsletter of the Dumfries Group of Advanced Motorists -supporting drivers and riders throughout Dumfries & Galloway

STEERING A COURSE FOR SAFERDRIVING AND RIDING

Autumn 2005

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What’s on? (check latest news at: www.iam.org.uk/groups/dumfries)

Sunday 11 September*: Manoeuvrability Event to be held at HeathhallIndustrial Estate (opposite the Aviation Museum) Commences at 2 pm.Monday 12 September: Prize Giving following the manoeuvrability event.Monday 10 October: The Dumfries Group’s own AA man. - Ian CameronWednesday 22 October*: 10 pin bowling v Carlisle Group at CarlisleMonday 14 November: The Safety Camera Partnership - Russell WearsThursday 17 November: Observer Training (cars & bikes). All observers andpotential observers welcome.Monday 12 December: Table Top Rally - courtesy of Jim Hunter.October/Novemeber*: Date to be set. 3 way quiz v Carlisle & Westmoreland

Meetings start 7:30 pm at Dalston House Hotel, Dumfries - unless marked *

Group Committee Members for 2005/06

To e-mail any member of the committee, pleasein the first instance, use the group contact e-mail

address: dumfries@goups.org.uk

Chair &Chief Obs cars

Alan Jones

Vice chair, M/c coordn’torChief obs m/c

Graeme McColm

Secretary Helen CameronTreasurer Allan GrahamPublicity &Events

Scott Anderson

MinuteSecretary

Anne Lind

CarAssociatecoordinator

Peter Dodds

NewsletterDistribution

Andrew Bird

Committee Charlie AllmanRyan FinglandAndrew HastingsRussell Wears

This newsletter was pub-lished by the Dumfries &

Galloway Group ofAdvanced Motorists &

Motorcyclists.

More details of our activitiescan be found on our web

site at:

www.iam.org.uk/groups/dumfries

Contact theGroup Secretary:

dumfries@groups.iam.org.uk

Newsletter comments andcontributions to:

Disclaimer:

The views expressed in thisnewsletter are those of thecontributors and not neces-sarily those of the Editor,Group or the Institute of Ad-vanced Motorists, to whichthe Group is affiliated........Registered CharityNo. SC 023511

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The Chairman’s comments - Alan Jones

I hope the first thing you will notice about this edition of the Newsletter is there-designed front cover and the full colour printing. Our Newsletter Editor,wanted to begin upgrading the Newsletter and Ryan Fingland has obliged byusing his imagination to come up with a really good name for the Newsletter.By securing financial support through advertising from the Dumfries & Gallo-way Safety Camera Partnership and Deans it has meant that we can nowafford the higher printing costs to publish the Newsletter in colour. We hopethis new look Newsletter will be more appealing and to this end we plan tomake it available more widely so that members of the public will have accessto the Road Safety messages it contains.

I am pleased to inform you that the result of the recent ballot was an over-whelming majority for a name change for the Group. You may recall that weheld this ballot because we wanted the name of the Group to reflect the widergeographic area we are now drawing our Associates from and to recognise thegrowing number of motorcyclists who are Members and Associates. As themost popular name the ballot returned was the “Dumfries & Galloway Groupof Advanced Motorists and Motorcyclists” your committee went along with thisdecision. We now hope that the IAM Council will support our request so thatthe next edition of the Newsletter can sport our new Group name.

Your Group committee is active on a number of fronts. We have put togetheran expenditure proposal to cover all the purchases we wish to make in orderto improve the effectiveness of Associate training. Our next action is to seekfurther sources of funding so that we can move ahead with our initiatives. Tothis end, and to begin this process, Scott Anderson and myself recently metwith Stuart Hamilton, the Project Manager of the Dumfries & Galloway SafetyCamera Partnership. It is early days yet but as this edition of the newslettershows, we are beginning to see some positive signs of a mutually beneficialrelationship.

The IAM is planning a new Vision whereby the organisation will attract agreater number of road users to enrol as Associates and become moreinfluential in influencing road safety matters. Your committee is currentlyworking on plans whereby this Vision can be implemented at a local level. Youshould begin to read more about the IAM’s new strategy soon in forthcomingeditions of the Advanced Driving magazine.

Another initiative you will hear about shortly is the plan to celebrate the 50th

Anniversary of the IAM, in 2006. This is another item on the agenda for theGroup committee, with much thought being given as to how we here cancelebrate this important event. I hope to share more of the details of these

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activities with you in the next edition of our Newsletter. In the meanwhile, ifyou have ideas for the 50th Anniversary then please pass on your ideas to amember of the committee.

We are trying hard to provide an interesting set of activities and events for ourMembers and Associates, and we are also keen to try new ideas. I hopetherefore, when you read the first 3 month’s syllabus later in this Newsletter,you will notice the Manoeuvrability Event we have planned for Sunday 11September 2005. We hope this will give you a chance to show off your abilityat low speed manoeuvring, something we don’t always get an opportunity topractise on the roads. We look forward to seeing many Members, Associates,friends and family at this event, so please give us your support.

Before I bring this report to a close let me welcome our new Members, bothmotorists and motorcyclists, who have passed the IAM Test since the lastNewsletter. Helen Cameron has mentioned these Members by name later inthis Newsletter so all I will say here is, well done! We hope you will enjoy beinga Member of the Group and perhaps in time you will consider training tobecome an Observer so that you can pass on your new found skills to others.I would like to thank your Observers, who put so much of their time into gettingyou to Test standard.

Finally, let me say thanks to the organisations mentioned above for helpingsponsor the cost of this Newsletter. This support is important to us and it doeshelp to make a difference to the work we do in improving Road Safetythroughout Dumfries & Galloway.

Get a gripShocking statistics from the AA Motoring Trust reveal that17 per cent of main roads fail basic skid resistance tests.One in 10 cars are running on illegal tyres, around nine in10 tyres are incorrectly inflated and up to half of the fore-court air pumps are inaccurate.

They have found that in wet conditions grip is markedlyreduced when tread depth is less than 3mm even thoughthe legal minimum is 1.6mm (across the centre three quar-ters of the width, all the way around, and visible treadpattern outside these limits). At 1.6mm the risk of an acci-dent is three times greater than on dry surfaces - thisincreases seven-fold when the tread depth is less than 0.5mm!

Although it is not a particularly difficult task it seems most motorists don’t checktheir tyres. The AA recommend and advise that:

Don’t let it get thisbad - check them.

- Tyres and air pressure are checked weekly but be aware that tyre pressureequipment may be faulty.

- Monitor car tyres more closely once they have reached 3mm: replace themas soon as tread depth drops to 2mm.

- Reduce speed when it is wet: even new tyres cannot corner as fast in the wetas in the dry, especially on sub-standard roads.

- Different tread depths on front and rear tyres createhandling problems.

- Vehicle handling is affected when tread depth is sub-stantially greater on the front tyres than on the reartyres.

- When replacing two tyres at the same time, fit them tothe rear wheels.

Although the report relates to car tyres similar concernsmust apply to motorcycle tyres although, of course, thelegal minimum is 1mm. Dunlop advise riders that wetperformance deteriorates markedly when the tyre ismore than 1/2 worn.

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ICE to the rescueEast Anglian Ambulance Service have launched anational ''In case of Emergency (ICE)'' campaign.

The idea is that you store the word '' ICE '' in yourmobile phone address book, and against it enterthe number of the person you would want to becontacted ''In Case of Emergency''.

In an emergency situation ambulance and hospital staff will then be able toquickly find out who your next of kin are and be able to contact them. For morethan one contact name simply use ICE1, ICE2, ICE3 etc.''

Signs of the timesTrials are under way of ‘intelligent amber arrows’. Theseare used as part of the amber phase at complex signalcontrolled junctions to help prevent confusion wherevarying combinations of left, right and ahead movementsare permitted at different times throughout the trafficsignal sequence.

Look out for them in Leicester, Bournemouth, Man-chester and Nottingham.

This one will needchanging soon!!!!

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Manoeuvrability EventSunday 11 September 2005, Heathhall Industrial Estate, opposite the AircraftMuseum, starting at 2pm

This is a great opportunity to test your manoeuvrability skills in a safeenvironment. Why not come along and bring your family and friends and havesome fun as well. You can bring your barbeque if you want.

There will be a full complement of manoeuvres to test your ability. Entrancewill cost £1.00 per attempt at the course - you can have as many goes as youwant. However, to ensure an element of fairness in the marking, only the firstattempt will count towards the competition to find the best driver on the day.

We plan to award a cup to the most skilful driver and this will be presented onMonday 12 September 2005 at a special award ceremony evening starting at7.30pm in the Dalston House Hotel. Graham Watson will entertain us with hisvideo footage of some of the manoeuvres.

This is meant to be a fun day with family and friends so please turn out instrength and give us your support.

Missile in your car?Our courses concentrate onhoning safe and responsibledriving skills, but there is moreto safe driving than the abilityto safely control your vehicle.

We all know that passengersshould be restrained and asresponsible drivers we don’tset off until all in the car arewearing their belts; but do wealways consider what may hap-pen to any other loose items inthe car?

Have you ever seen peopledriving with such items as hardhats, umbrellas or even steer-ing wheels locks, on the back parcel shelf? All of these items could seriouslyinjure or kill you and your passengers in the event that you have to brakeheavily or are involved in a collision. Even light items like a box of tissues couldcause injury, in the wrong circumstances, so best to stow items safely away.

There’s only one direction these items areheading .... and they’re going to hurt!

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Secretary’s report - Helen CameronAs we approach our new season of group meetings, I would like to urge asmany members and friends as possible to come along to enjoy the friendshipof the group as well as to exchange stories / views and perhaps learnsomething new.

I have gone along to some meetings thinking that I may not find it enjoyablebut I can honestly say that I have been pleasantly surprised. One of the mostinteresting meetings featured a football referee, which is high praise comingfrom a female who doesn’t know much about football!

Like father, like sons, says racing legendNineteen years after scoring his first Formula One victory at Brands Hatch,racing legend Nigel Mansell has passed his Advanced Driving Test with theIAM - and for good measure, so have his two sons.

Leo Mansell (20) was just a year old when dad Nigel first shot to fame - andGreg Mansell (17) wasn't even born. But all three of them showed IAMexaminers that driving expertise isn't just for the race track when they passedtheir IAM car test using a route around the Woodbury Park Hotel and GolfCourse near Exeter in Devon during July 2005.

Ted Clements, IAM's Road Safety Adviser, had been encouraging Nigel totake the test for many years. "It was worth the wait - especially for the hat trick!"said Ted. "I knew that Nigel would pass with flying colours - but it was greatthat his two sons were able to take their advanced driving test as well at thesame time. Young Greg only took his L-test last year, so he did very wellindeed. It must run in the family!" said Ted. "My grandfather always told methat it is no good lying on a hospital bed saying I had the right of way. That'sone of the reasons I was so pleased that the boys could do the IAM test aswell," said Nigel.

With 31 Grand Prix wins, Nigel hashis place in the Formula One Hallof Fame. He joins John Surtees,the late Graham Hill and Sir StirlingMoss as racing drivers who havepassed their IAM test and legend-ary motorcyclist Geoff Duke whotook his IAM test in 1960.

Pictured here from left to right,back row: Nigel Mansell, StephenMead (IAM Assistant Chief Examiner), Ted Clements (IAM Road SafetyAdviser). Front row: Leo Mansell, Greg Mansell, and Ian Harris (IAM Examiner).

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Which do you prefer Coke or Pepsi?

Couple of local delivery vehicles pictured here from Mexico, both designed todeal with narrow streets. The Coca Cola one is based on a quad bike.

We won the 10 pin bowling challenge with Carlisle and we have to defend thetrophy. Last year the Carlisle team had 10 and we could only muster 4 andwe still won (pro rata of course). Hopefully we will be able to entice a few newfaces this year, its a good night out and everyone is very friendly so if you arefree on Wednesday 26 October then please tell me and I will let you know thefinal arrangements nearer the time.

Carlisle won the 3 way quiz which we hosted last year so they will set the datefor this year’s event. It should be held in October or November so again if youwish to participate or even just come along to support speak up now.

We have had a very successful spring/summer season with the followingAssociates passing their tests; Douglas Young with Ryan Fingland observing,Gillian Ross and Kersley Kershaw-Dalby with John Dalrymple observing, LisaRowe with Stewart Cameron observing and Tom Little observed by MargaretVaughan. There are another 3 or 4 about to sit tests soon. Congratulations toall new members and their Observers.

Our motorcycle section continues to grow with 12 passes since our lastnewsletter. Congratulations to Archie Park, Jim English, Allan Smith, GavinTalbot-Smith, Alan Dalrymple, Stuart Eckersley, Vernon Ballantine, KeithRedden, Brian McMeeken, Nicola Forsyth, and Robert Corder who have allpassed their Advanced Motorcycle Test. Thanks go to the observers in-volved: Graeme McColm, Andrew Bird, Scott Anderson and Graham Abrinestogether with Trainee Observers John Muirhead and Alan Dalrymple. Wealso have 5 more Associates test ready.

Peter Dodds will be taking over as car Associate / Observer Co-ordinator, arole which links Associates and Observers and aims to ensure a smooth andpleasant experience from enrolment to test and to support both.

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Data collection on our roadsThere you are enjoying the freedom of thenation’s roads, and apart from the odd TrafficMaster camera monitoring your progress, to-gether with maybe a few speed cameras, youmay think that providing you keep to the speedlimit, you are driving free from the authorities’watchful eye. You may be wrong becauselarge amounts of data, related to traffic, isbeing collected constantly, in a variety of ways.However most of the data is not specific to youor your vehicle.

We are all familiar with the humble temporarytraffic counter nailed to the road surface andwith the detector strips at traffic signals; butespecially on the more important arterial roads,a great deal of time and effort is spent collect-ing data about road, traffic and weather condi-tions. The collected data is often used to triggermeasures, sometimes automatically, to man-age traffic or deploy safety measures.

Traffic on key routes may be monitored forsigns of incidents using such systems as MI-DAS (Motorway Incident Detection And Signal-ling) or IDRIS (Incident Detection for RoadInformatics and Safety). These can take theform of detector loops in the surface or micro-wave based detection systems above ground,or infra-red, acoustic and video based systems.

CCTV Surveillance Systems at critical loca-tions facilitate early detection and resolution oftraffic problems

Emergency roadside telephones on motorways allow motorists to report inci-dents to the emergency services. In some cases as soon as an SOS telephonereceiver is lifted off the hook the nearest camera goes to a preset shot of thetelephone site to collect additional data and help with personnel safety.

At tunnels and bridges traffic flows are monitored constantly and automaticreactive signing can be triggered in the event of a problem.

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The environment also needs to be monitored, for instance in tunnels wherechanges in the atmosphere can trigger automatic adjustments to the ventila-tion system. Typically this might happen if the traffic becomes congested andexhaust emissions start to build up. The amount of light outside tunnels is alsomonitored constantly and the lighting within the tunnel adjusted accordingly toensure drivers don’t suddenly pass from a bright area to a dark one or viceversa with the attendant dangers of reduced vision. A vehicle could potentiallytravel quite a distance before a driver’s eyes adjusted to the change in lightintensity.

Roadside weather stations monitor temperature, among other things, and thisinformation is used to identify requirements for gritting or even may automati-cally activate the heaters in the road surface found on some critical roadsections such as bridge decks. Wind speed data helps assess the safety ofexposed sections of road in adverse conditions and can be used to triggerreduced speed limit signs.

More specific to individual drivers are ANPR cameras (automatic number platereaders) which are increasingly being used to identify individual cars on theroad. These same systems are also used at some road works sites to monitortraffic flows and identify associated problems.

Infra-red detectors can be found at over bridges used to monitor the height ofapproaching traffic and warn the driver of an over height vehicle of the lowbridge. These can set off flashing lights, warning displays or even audiblewarnings.

In addition to all the above there are numerous other locations where vehicleson the public highway are monitored. If you want confirmation, next time youjoin the M74 southbound at Gretna, take a look at the banks of cameras anddetectors mounted on the first bridge you pass under.Poor driving standards hinder safety targetsImprovements in vehicle safety are failing to bring about a reduction in deathsbecause there has been a concurrent decline in driving standards, accordingto research for the DfT.

Based on analysis of accident data, and the contributory factors to accidentsreported by the police, TRL states: ''The proportion of fatal and seriousaccidents that involve 'loss of control' and 'careless /thoughtless /reckless andaggressive driving' has increased since 1999.

The study suggests that, 'at a time when improving car technology had beenexpected to reduce the number of car occupant fatalities, this trend had beenoffset by a decline in the driving standards of some car drivers'.

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Policing on Dumfries & Galloway roads 2004/2005Dumfries and Galloway police tell us that during the reporting year 04/05 onour roads there were 123 KSI (killed and seriously injured) casualties (11 fataland 112 serious injury) up on the previous year’s figure of 10 fatal and 111serious injury.

The quiet and unassuming Man - Mr David Davidson, first AdvancedMotorcycle Observer in the region ... Graeme McColm writes.

David passed his Advanced test in December 1987 on a Honda CX500 Twin.Previously he had achieved his Gold Star certificate. David received no helpwith his advanced test; he was a Star Rider Gold pupil and read the Manualfor Roadcraft, before one assessment with the police prior to sitting hisAdvanced Test. Since passing his Advanced Test David also took part in aHonda Mac 3 day training course.

Once he became an Advanced Motorcyclist David became a great help toother bikers, he gave a great deal of his time to assisting others to pass theirtest, his calm influence, and quiet manner put people at ease. David alwaystook time to explain manoeuvres and had an easygoing manner. Nowadayswith the aid of radios there is no need to continually stop and confer but backthen he had to stop often to give hints and tips. He was always patient andunderstanding of fellow bikers. As he put in a lot of effort himself he expectedyou to do the same and required you to practise between lessons.

David traded his Honda in for a Kawasaki GPZ 600 and the world was hisoyster, he toured locally and further a field including the South of France.

Then came a VFR750 FN and his touring went even further to include Den-mark, Germany, Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, and Ireland to name but a few.

David only ever biked during the summer months and was well known forputting his bike into “hibernation” over the winter as soon as the first salt wason the highways.

David stopped attending our Group in 1998 due to personal commitments.David is a keen Scottish Country Dancer and is very involved with all thatentails. He married Margaret, a fellow dancer, in 2001. Margaret enjoys pillionlife and they have had many sightseeing tours together over the years.

The Dumfries & Galloway Group of Advanced Motorists would like to take thisopportunity to thank Mr David Davidson for his major contribution to motorcy-cling over several years and wish him all the best for the future.

There were no child fatalities in the period although there were 12 seriouslyinjured down from the previous year’s figure of 20 seriously injured children.

In the same period 535 people were slightly injured, an increase of 59 on theprevious year.

491 people were reported for dangerous or careless driving (up 8.6%).

19,184 people were reported for speeding, an increase of 43.1%.

238 people were reported for drink/drugs driving offences (down10.5%).

417 people were reported for not wearing a seat belt (up 6.2%).

271 people were reported duringthe year for driving whilst usingtheir mobile phone.

1,444 intelligence submissionswere received regarding irrespon-sible driver behaviour.

As part of the police initiative totarget and disrupt the movementof criminals on our roads in con-junction with 13 intelligence pack-ages (AIMS) created to address criminal behaviour on the road, there were 11arrests using new technology such as automatic number plate recognition.

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Fancy a groovy windscreen?Available shortly in this country is a Finnish system to improve your forwardvision. It uses the simple technology of cutting a 3.5mm wide, 0.3mm deepgroove, in the windscreen, just above the parked position of your wipers.

Member Nev Parker has had the system applied to his windscreen and is veryhappy with the result which gives a dramatic improvement in vision especiallyon those dirty, wet winter days that are just around the corner.

See www.farseertrading.com for details and in case you are wondering, no itdoes not affect your MOT, the rules allow for grooved windscreens.

Cutting the grooves Finished grooves (arrowed) Groove in action

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STEERING A COURSE FOR SAFERDRIVING AND RIDING

Dumfries Group of Advanced Motoristscan help you be safer on the road, in all

situations - find out more here.

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Membership renewal

It’s time to renew your membership for the forthcoming year, included withthis newsletter is the renewal form. If you’ve not already completed a Gift AidDeclaration please do so as it provides a significant benefit to the Group.

Please note that if you have completed the declaration in the past it is stillvalid so there is no need to complete that section again. The Inland Revenueremind those who have completed a gift aid declaration that they mustcontinue to pay income tax or CGT each year in excess of the value of thegift aid benefit for it to remain valid - otherwise let our Treasurer know.

Finally it seems a few people have slipped through the net and forgotten topay last year’s subscription whilst continuing to enjoy the benefits of groupmeetings and newsletters, it is not too late to pay but please do so now.

You can download a membership renewal / application form and gift aid formby clicking on the relevant link.

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O B S E R V E R S C O R N E R

This section is intended to help when considering the best course ofaction. It is up to every driver to actively assess each scenario.

Can I Block change up?This is a question quite often asked and like all aspects ofadvanced driving there is no hard and fast rule about thisactivity, instead the questions to be asked relate to whetheryou are driving in an advanced manner or not.

Take the situation where a fairly powerful car is about to joinfast moving traffic on a motorway via a relatively short sliproad. The driver accelerates briskly up to the speed of thetraffic (say 70mph) in 2nd gear and next block changes up totop gear, then having identified a suitable gap in the trafficjoins lane one.

Is this contrary to the principles of advanced driving and if thedriver was undertaking an Advanced Test at the time wouldthe Examiner consider the course of action to be acceptable?

The exact circumstances of road layout, vehicle type andposition of other traffic etc would have to be taken intoaccount of course, selecting top gear may or may not be thebest choice depending on the situation. It all depends on thecircumstances but any doubts about any particular manoeu-vre or technique can be addressed by answering the follow-ing questions:

· Was it safe?·

· Was it in compliance with 'The System'?·

· Was it smooth? (and sympathetic to the vehicle)·

· Was speed used correctly? (i.e. was safe, legal progressmade?)

·

· Was the manoeuvre legal?·

· Did the manoeuvre contribute to sparkle in the drive? (i.e.always in the right place, at right speed, in correct gear forthe speed and able to stop in the distance seen to be clear)

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Examiners should have no problems with block changing up, if it is appropriateto the situation and when carried out the answers to the above questions arepositive. The bottom line is that the driver ultimately must make the decisionas to the appropriateness of any particular manoeuvre or technique.

In an effort to clarify the acceptability or not of block ‘up changes’ an exampleof a situation where this technique would not be appropriate is set out below.

Leaving a 30 limit and entering a national speed limit section (60 mph) wherethe road is free of traffic and with few hazards, a driver maintains 3rd gear andaccelerates up to 45 mph, block changes to 5th gear, continues to accelerateup to and then cruises near the speed limit (60 mph).

In this latter situation, dependant on the capabilities of an individual car, itwould be better to take 4th gear at 45 mph and continue to accelerate untilcruising speed is reached when 5th (top gear) can be taken, if appropriate.Alternatively dependant on the vehicle and other conditions it would be accept-able to accelerate up to the cruising speed in 3rd gear then use a block changeup to 5th (top gear).Overtaking - think about it!

Here’s a situation you might want to consider from the perspective of thedrivers of both red vehicles in this photograph.

The lorry was travelling at around 45mph, there had been a long straightsection free of oncoming traffic. The camera car was following the MPV, bothtravelling at around 55 mph, the MPV made no attempt to view the road aheadand look for an overtake but braked late and took up a position close to thelorry. It had maintained this position for a few hundred yards when the photowas taken. Two vehicles had been gaining from behind, for some time,remaining in the opposing lane, whilst overtaking for the previous ¼ mile or so.

Was the driver of the red MPV compromising his/her safety? How could thedrivers of the van and following ‘overtaker’ maximise the safety?

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Clearly the driver of the red MPV could have improved his/her safety and thatof other road users by not driving so close to the lorry; this position cut offforward vision and reduced the following distance inadvisably.

Given that this driver did not wish to overtake it would perhaps have beenbetter to keep well back from the lorry and allow space in front for anyovertaking vehicle to pull in if required. Simple observation in the offside mirrorwould have alerted the driver to the fact that vehicles had been overtaking andmoving up from behind for some distance.

It may have been the best scenario for the red MPV to have overtaken the lorryso preventing it from becoming involved in this situation. This could have beenachieved easily and well before the two ‘overtakers’ got close.

From the perspective of a potential ‘overtaker’ what action could you take tomaximise safety? Obviously your concern is on several fronts, firstly has thedriver of the red MPV seen you? Is he/she paying attention? Possibly not - theevidence being that the late braking and poor positioning could indicate a lackof attention or perhaps a foreigner in a hire car? What is the body language ofthe driver, is he/she in an animated conversation, on the telephone, looking atthe scenery etc? Does the driver of the red MPV know something you don’t?You’ll obviously also be concerned about what is happening behind you andin front of the lorry, is the road ahead clear, are there any junctions, will thelorry be looking to turn off etc? The list of checks is endless and depends onthe situation.

You should be looking for confirmation that the drivers of the red MPV andlorry have seen you. Maybe a headlamp flash or possibly a toot on the horn(maybe not so useful at this speed) may help. You should only proceed withthe overtake if you are sure that it can be carried out safely, you can alwaystake the safe option by showing restraint even if you lose a few minutes.

In the event the red MPV made no attempt to overtake the lorry and remainedclosely positioned behind it for several miles. The camera car overtook shortlyafter the two cars in the second photograph had completed their manoeuvres.

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Police launch Operation JuggernautJuly saw Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary start Operation Juggernaut.

The initiative follows a doubling of traffic collisions involving heavy goodsvehicles on the A75, up from 14 to 28 in the period January to May 2004/2005.

Operation Juggernaut will concentrate on the enforcement of such problemsas lorries speeding, careless driving, useof mobile phones, failure to wear seat belts,together with driving hours and vehicle de-fect offences.

The police will also be using education as atool and will distribute safety leaflets todrivers, contractors and ferry operators.

The initiative runs through until December.

Looming problemsThose of you who are familiar with the Roadcraft video (available from theGroup Secretary) will have noted that the Police instructor refers to driversmaking statements such as “ suddenly this car appeared out of nowhere”. Heputs it to the class that very few things happen suddenly; but maybe scientificevidence has now shown that events can happen suddenly and that vehiclescan appear out of nowhere, from the perspective of another road user. We’rereferring to ‘motion camouflage’ and the ‘looming effect’, a scientific phenom-enon proven to exist and used by certain of nature’s predators - a techniquealso being employed by the designers of military hardware!

Scientists at Queen Mary College have demonstrated that motion camouflageis used by hoverflies to help them to approach their prey unseen. Effectivelythey use the principle to hide the fact that they are moving towards their prey.The pursuing insect approaches along a particular trajectory which allows it toappear to remain stationary from the point of view of the target. The pursuercan use this "motion camouflage" to rush right up to the target before it isperceived as a threat. As the predator makes it’s final approach the preysuddenly spots the attacker but freezes for a moment whilst it decides what todo about the threat, by then of course it is too late!

It has been suggested that the same principle could be behind the ‘sorry mateI didn’t see you’ syndrome where a vehicle pulls out directly in front of anothervehicle, usually a bike, with disastrous effects. Although it is most likely to beapplied to incidents where motorists pull out in front of motorcycles theprinciple could apply to any combination of vehicles and indeed could also

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explain why pedestrians may step into the path of traffic even though theyappear to have looked first. For this reason it is important for all road users tobe aware of the existence of the phenomena.

When you look out of a car window,objects close to you, like signs andhedges, pass you very quickly butthings further away like hills in thedistance hardly seem to move at all.The angle between you and a nearobject changes rapidly whilst far awayobjects are effectively positioned atinfinity and therefore do not seem tomove - the angle between you and thatobject nearly remains constant.

Stationary objects in the mid groundappear to move only slowly becausethe angle between you and the objectchanges slowly and smoothly. Objectsin the mid ground can effectively be-come lost in the scenery because theeye has difficulty in detecting anymovement.

'Motion camouflage’ confuses the partof the eye that detects the edges ofobjects which alerts us to the presenceof movement. If no edge movement isdetected, then no alert is triggered.

When a motorcyclist is riding towards a junction he can effectively be ridingstraight towards any waiting road user; if the scene behind the motorcyclistconforms to certain parameters the rider is effectively camouflaged against thebackground because the viewer’s eye does not detect any movement to the‘edges’ of the rider.

This camouflage effect can apply whether the rider is masked by a rural orurban background or even by following traffic This is because the rider’s'edges’ are effectively staying constant in relation to the background.

At a certain point the effect is lost as the rider gets close to a waiting motoristwhose eyes then become able to detect edge movement and suddenly theapproaching rider appears a lot larger. This is called the 'Looming Effect'.

The deer in front of the tree can be‘hidden’ from the observer by thebackground. If the observer movesthe deer can remain ‘hidden’ if it toomoves a little, at the same time, tomaintain its relative position betweenthe tree and observer. Provided therelative angles remain the same thedeer could even move closer to theobserver unobserved.

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This looming effect may not occur until the motorcyclist is very close andindeed the motorist may have already commenced to move out. At the pointthe edge movement is detected the motorbike ‘suddenly’ appears.

It is thought that the motorist’s brainmay react by freezing momentarilywhilst it decides whether to ‘fight orflight’. A rider approaching this situ-ation may believe they have eyecontact with the waiting driver but inreality although the driver may belooking straight towards the riderthey may, in fact, just be lookingstraight through him or her.

If the failures to spot approaching motorcyclists are caused by motion camou-flage what can you do about it? Whether you are a rider or a driver the firstthing of course is to recognise such a phenomenon can exist and that it relatesto a failure to identify the edge movement of the approaching bike and rider.

When a rider is moving almost in astraight line directly towards the wait-ing car this will do little to ‘break’ themotorcycle free from the backgroundand the possibility exists that therider will not become noticed until heor she is almost upon the waitingvehicle. Deviating your course awayfrom this line may help to break thepattern and help your ‘edges’ to bedetected so triggering an alert to thewaiting driver.

The advice given in the Spring 2005 issue, for dealing with ‘A’ pillar blind spots(available on line from our web site) may also help in this type of situation.Easing back and moving away from the danger, e.g. towards the centre-linefor a junction on the nearside, should help to make your moving outline morelikely to be detected. Finally if you are not sure you have been seen (and howcan you be?) consider slowing down even more as you approach the danger.In addition use of your headlight together with high visibility clothing are bothgoing to help make you more conspicuous to other road users.

For drivers, using a full active scanning method may also help (see Spring2005 issue). This involves not just using your eyes but turning your head andindeed moving your head sideways and/or back and forwards a little.

The driver is looking but can he see me?

This driver has seen the lorry but has heseen the bike in front?

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Scotland's drivers close upMore than a quarter of motorists inScotland are 'an accident waiting tohappen' - because they drive too closeto the car in front. So said the RACFoundation when Strathclyde Policelaunched their ‘RU 2 Close?’ campaignearlier in the year.

The figures come from a traffic surveyconducted by the RAC Foundation onthe M8. The results showed that morethan 60% of drivers in vehicle clusterswere travelling too close each other(and ignoring the Highway Code!).

The results have prompted theFoundation to call for more chev-ron markings designed to encour-age drivers to keep their distance.

The tailgating survey was also carriedout at a location where such chevronswere in use and appeared to show thatthey do help to reduce tailgating.

The results show that on the stretch ofroad before the chevrons, tailgatingwas at around 60%. But in the middle ofthe chevron patch, it appeared to dropoff significantly. It did pick up again afterthe chevrons, not to the extent that itwas at beforehand - suggesting chev-rons could have a role to play in chang-ing driver behaviour.

A previous TRL study showed a 56%accident reduction at chevrons sites,compared to the same stretch of roadbefore the chevrons were installed.

Remember the minimum two secondrule in good conditions as per the High-way Code.

Summary of IAM Fact Sheets.

These are aimed at helping you be-come a safer driver/rider and enjoyyour time on the road more.

You can download them fromwww.iam.org.uk or speak to Helen.No. Subject

21/001 Safety Cameras

20/001 Successful Towing Tech-niques

19/001 Driving Attitudes

18/001 Emergency Vehicles

17/001 Sharing the Road with Cy-clists

16/001 Use of Gears & Adv Driving

15/001 Driver Fatigue

14/001 Driving in Wet Weather

13/001 The 'School Run'

12/001 Scooter Riders should bestylish but SAFE

11/001 Personal Safety on theRoad

10/001 Membership Information

9/001 Winter Driving

8/001 Holiday Driving in the UK

7/001 Driving at Night

6/001 Mobile Phones

5/001 "Greener" Driving

4/001 Motorway Driving

3/001 The "Older" driver

1/001 Driving Abroad

‘Skill for Life’ course can make you safer on the roadMaybe you know little about advanceddriving or riding and would like to findout more?

Would you like to improve your driving orriding skills?

Would you like to be safer and moreconfident on the road?

Would you like to reduce your chances of having an accident?

Would you like your driving/riding to be more relaxed and enjoyable?

Dumfries Group of Advanced Motorists exists to promote roadsafety and the improvement of driving & riding standards to allmotorists and motorcyclists through the provision of driving andriding courses.

So whether you are a newly qualifieddriver or rider, or have had manyyears of experience on the road, whynot find out more?

Contact the Secretary, Helen Cam-eron (see page 1), to find out how wecan help you to help yourself - it’s a‘skill for life’.

Recent IAM News ReleasesThese are available from the IAM’s web site go to: www.iam.org.uk

13/05 Like father, like sons says racing legend Mansell (see p6) Aug 05

12/05 Drivers demand more warnings about Speed Cameras July 05

11/05 Tailgaters and Phone users revealed as Britain's mostdangerous drivers.

May 05

10/05 'In-Cab Camera' wins IAM backing May 05

9/05 "Two Wheels Good" as IAM Bikers grow - Four new IAMMotorcycle groups join the pack

April 05

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