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Considerations for safe driving

The Driver
The Vehicle
The Journey

The Driver:
Things that may affect us are our health. Consider the medication you are taking and it's affect on driving.

Does your GP know that you drive? If you suffer from a condition such as Arthritis, do you have certain times of day that you feel at your best? Could you arrange to carry out your journeys when you feel at your best and arrange alternative travel for the times of day you don't feel as well, or avoid travelling altogether?

Pain can be distracting and cause fatigue. Stiffness can increase reaction times and affect your ability to apply pressure to the brake pedal, or restrict movement when trying to make observations.

Eyesight generally starts to deteriorate from around 40 years old. It's not just our ability to see distances that can be affected. We may also have problems judging depth and colour.

•  Have your eyes checked regularly. Regular checks can also detect other health issues such as diabetes

•  Avoid night driving if you suffer from cataracts or find it difficult to cope with glare from headlights

The Vehicle:
The type of vehicle we choose can either help or hinder our driving.

As vehicle design improves with regards to additional protection through air bags and side impact protection, the visibility from within the vehicle can suffer. Wider pillars and smaller rear screens can make effective observation difficult - especially if the driver has stiffness and restricted movement.

'Small and tall' vehicles can sometimes offer better views, easier accessibility in and out of the vehicle as well as economy.

Changing from a manual to an automatic gearbox can also help where joints are stiff, and in addition give the driver one less task to focus on.

Mobility aids, such as additional mirrors, steering balls and swivel or wedge cushions can also help with comfort, ease and accessibility.

Power assisted steering and brakes usually come as standard in modern cars and can be beneficial to drivers with restricted mobility.

The Journey:
The number of vehicles on the road and road layouts make driving ever more challenging.

We can look at the routes we take and the times we travel to help alleviate stress and fatigue.

Is the journey necessary? - Could an alternative mode of transport be used? With fuel costs and the costs and inconvenience of parking in town, could using a Taxi be an alternative?

Could certain times of day and routes be avoided all together? Sitting in rush hour with all the commuters wastes fuel, and can be tiring and stressful. Would leaving half an hour later be acceptable?

If we need to be somewhere at a certain time, could we avoid the busiest routes?

The GrandDriver scheme can offer further advice on these issues in more detail as well as giving drivers an opportunity to improve or refresh their skills and knowledge.

For many people, the Driving Test is the only assessment of their driving that they will ever have.

Most of us would not even consider not regularly servicing our vehicles. Not having a current MOT or ignoring a knocking noise would be unthinkable.

Yet around 95% of crashes are attributed to human error, so why do most of us not even think about servicing our driving skills?