For the more elderly drivers (most of Probus Members), driver licences all change at 70 such as the loss of license to drive a minibus or a larger camper van besides 3 yearly health declaration reviews from DVLA. Our speaker, Graham Ranshaw, an instructor and examiner for the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) and a ROSPA ‘gold’ driver, gave an illustrates talk about driving safely. He invited the members to volunteer to take up a mature drivers review which IAM offers. A tall ask as we all believe we are competent and safe drivers, but a lot has changed since taking the test and for some that was more than 60 years ago when your Dad taught you, never having seen a professional driving instructor. Safety standards and test criteria have advanced so much that there is a strong case for a refresher to keep safe. Even the ‘oldies’ were taught that it was not safe to COAST (freewheeling in neutral) but a mnemonic of the same name was central to the talk to reminder us of best practice to keep safe.

C         - Concentration, maintain focus on the road, surroundings and avoid distractions

O         - Observation, actively scanning the road ahead; side & rear view mirrors for potential hazards

A         - Anticipation, predict the actions of other road users and anticipate potential hazards for changes in road conditions

S          - Space, maintain safe following distance with adequate space around your vehicle to allow manoeuvring and reaction time. 2 seconds rom the car in front, if tailgated increase to 3 seconds to avoid a shunt

T         - Time, allow sufficient time to react to changes in road conditions and actions of other road users. If you are ‘late’ it usually leads to speeding.

Members ‘rusty’ knowledge of the latest Highway Code and signage was quicky demonstrated by quick quiz about the new priority rules for pedestrians, cyclists and horses and being shown photos of some local road junctions to identify the COAST hazards.

Member David Jeffery (who crashed cars as his job) and was hit by a stag, thanked Graham for the stimulating encouragement to drive safely and to take up the driving assessment in advancing years as we become slower in thought and reaction times.

Posted by Press Officer Rick Purnell