The Death of Neo Liberalism

The following is a response I posted to the Guardian newspaper.
I think Corbyn has some very specific plans and a very specific vision of our future.
The words of John McDonnell following the Queens speech has given me hope.
He said..

"Labour rejects the failed and cruel austerity programme adopted by this government. Instead, working in partnership with businesses, entrepreneurs and workers, Labour would create an entrepreneurial state to support innovation, create wealth and drive growth. And we would share the proceeds of that growth fairly.
By investing in our economy Labour would lay the foundations of a new society that is radically fairer, more equal and more democratic. An alternative based upon a prosperous economy which is economically sound, environmentally sustainable and where that prosperity is shared by all".

To me this was quite possibly the single most important speech made in modern times. Because these aren't empty words, these are aren't empty promises because behind them is a solid plan that threatens to utterly destroy the current politics of capitalism and neo-liberalism.
I believe that entrepeneurialism and creativity is being strangled by capitalism. The main players in any field are reluctant to take on new ideas and they are just to big to go up against. I myself have approached several insurance companies in recent years with a proposal that would reduce road traffic casualties in young drivers and also almost halve their insurance premiums. None were interested in even looking at the proposal.
So for the last couple of years it has been gathering dust.
Before the Queens speech i wrote to the labour party to tell them of my proposal and told them that they could have it on the provisions that it would never be privatised and only used for the good of the British people. A business, owned by the tax payer, with no shareholders, no overly inflated salaries, a business that wasn't market reliant and where workers could be granted decent salaries and security in their chosen fields. A company that will not slash jobs if profits dip, in fact a company that doesn't have to slash jobs if profits dip.
I do not know if I'm using the right terminology, but I've called this 'Social Capitalism', maybe its just socialism. Where business is a tool used for the betterment of everyone, not for the betterment of individuals.
If this is Corbyns plan, then it is not surprising that there is so much opposition to him, so much desperate need to rid government of him because he is the only solution to the greed that is capitalism.
There is so much creativity, innovation and entrepeneurialism just waiting to burst through that would be prevented from doing so under our traditional parties.
This is a vision that can be achieved irrespective of whether we are in or out of the EU.
To rid ourselves of Corbyn now would be to deny the British people of this chance and the greatest error the people of our country could make right now.

So What Really Happened To Our Motoring Safety?

So What Happened to Our Driving?

This first chart (fig1) is going to try to explain our journey from novice to experienced driver.

  It also explains why so many young drivers have such a high collision risk over experienced drivers. And it also explains why many experienced motorists would not pass the driving test, if required to do so again. This brings into question the age old beliefs that the more experience you have, the better driver you must be.

Fig1

Great driving is not based on experience but on technique. Truly great drivers can only be created by adding experience to solid motoring foundations.

  Adding experience to a poor technique does not develop a good driver. Many motorists have years of experience, but sadly it seems is wasted experience. To illustrate this point ‘White Van Man’ has more miles under his belt than most and yet he has developed a far higher collision risk than our average driver to become one of the ‘high risk’ groups of drivers on the road. So could it be possible, that contrary to popular belief, the more experience we get, the worse drivers we become?

Novice Driver

  At point 1 the novice driver has just taken up driving lessons, their collision risk would be high as they have yet to develop driving skills and experience. However, the novice collision risk here is contained in a controlled environment by the Driving Instructor (ADI) that keeps collision risk to a minimum. Novices driving without the constraints of an ADI have a higher collision risk.

  Between point 1 & 2 the ADI is working very closely with the novice to turn them into a real motorist, everything from basic vehicle control, steering, manoeuvres, junctions, traffic lights, roundabouts, effective observations etc. you get the picture. But the instructor is also trying to promote good attitudes, awareness, knowledge, confidence and responsibility into their driving to produce a well informed, safe and competent driver, who has in place, all of the safe guards to prepare them for today’s roads. This motorist is then tested on their knowledge and ability and if successful, given the green light. This young and inexperienced motorist has a collision risk that is probably going to be at the lowest point that it ever will be throughout their motoring lifetime. Lower than that of most experienced motorists. So what happened that gave them such high fatality rates?

  From point 2 though is where, in many cases it all goes tragically wrong. Free of the constraints of the ADI, the young and vulnerable motorist starts to make changes. Changes to their driving styles that inevitably result in the newly qualified driver (NQD), removing many of the motoring safe guards, the instructor had put into place. Observations and therefore awareness becomes weaker followed by a degradation in mirror and observational work, speed gets faster and so on.

  What results from this self re-education, is a collision risk of the newly qualified driver that rises rapidly and results in greater numbers of young drivers, being involved in serious collisions, which are out of proportion with the rest of the motoring community. Young motorists do have a higher collision risk than the average motorist, but they didn’t start out that way.

  From point 3 onwards, as experience kicks in, the collision risk of the NQD slowly starts to reduce, eventually settling around the same level as today’s experienced drivers. Many newly qualified drivers sadly never make it this far.

  As the novelty of the car begins to fade, it is increasingly used as a means to get from A to B rather than for recreational reasons. Collision risk begins to reduce and eventually settles around the average driver standard.

This is a journey that many of us should recognise.

  (Also at point 3, I have shown what happens to the collision risk of the average driver who made the decision to become an advanced driver, which is incidentally the same route I took).

   Had the novice only been told to keep the skills they had learned just after passing the test and then added experience to them, then our NQD’s could have been, the safest group of motorists on the road.

  The answer to reducing the casualty rates in young drivers is not making the driving test harder, or expecting the novice to have a minimum of 100 hours driving time with their instructor, this may have some minimal casualty reduction benefit, but not as much as desired as all that is likely to occur, is a delaying of the skills degradation process. But by preventing the degradation of skills that all too often happens just after passing the driving test, would yield the greatest possible casualty reduction in novice drivers.

  One way in which this could possibly be achieved, without hitting the young motorist too hard, is to adopt a process similar to that which ADI’s have to undergo, a ‘test of continued ability’ after 12 months whereby the novice has to re-take the driving test under the same stringent criteria. This is one possible way to inspire the novice driver to keep up his standard if he wishes to keep his licence.

  It also has to be said that many novice drivers do follow the ideal path, retain their skills and add experience to it. These are quite probably amongst the safest and best drivers on the road and yet, as they are grouped with the worst, they are unjustly punished by the insurance industry.

  Just to illustrate this point, some years ago, I had a group of friends who were probationary police officers. Before they were allowed to drive the liveried police vehicles, they were required to undergo a test of basic driving competence. One of the lads approached me, knowing I had been an ADI and asked if I would take him out for an assessment, which I did. I tested him on all aspects of his driving ability and made the appropriate corrections which took a further three or four hours, after which he got through the tests.

  Needless to say, I was approached by several more Police Officers who were in need of the same treatment. (I have to say at this point that at no time were any of these officers charged for these services).

  Anyway, one of the officers was a young female who was not very confident, as her driving had been the brunt of some jokes by her colleagues. One of her colleagues told me beforehand that she would probably be hard work. However, on taking her for her assessment, I found that she was not overly confident in her ability. At the end of the assessment though, I could find very little wrong with her driving ability that could not be put right within minutes. She had not long passed her driving test and yet her ability was far superior to that of her more experienced colleagues. She went on to pass the assessment with ease.

Experienced Driver

  Throughout all of this, the experienced driver is trundling along as he/she always has done. His driving style has developed quite a few errors by this point in time, which is reflected in their elevated collision risk. Errors such as speeding, weaker observational powers and so on have all made their contributions but a slower overall average speed has reduced the average motorist’s collision risk leaving him feeling that after all these years and all this experience, that he must be a good driver.

White Van Man

  Even though white van man has gained way more experience than most motorists on the road, he also possesses a disproportionately higher collision risk than the average motorist, why?

  Well, ‘Van Man’ has developed in the exact same way as the average motorist. ‘Van Man’ spends so much time on the road that he has developed a far more aggressive driving style. This is probably due to the pressures placed on him to meet targeted deliveries etc. In addition, he has also developed a far more lazy driving style than many other motorists with fewer observations included. Van mans speed may also be a little higher than average, this has all combined to create his higher than average collision rate.

  It just goes to show that our perception of what a real driver should be is impaired, most of us have no idea of what a motorist should be and much of the advice we give to young motorists, is dreadfully flawed. We should be pointing our critically blame laden fingers back at ourselves for a change and try to understand where we ourselves are getting it wrong.

  All of us at one point in time had driving perfection in the palms of our hands, only to let it go to eventually see our standard settle within the realms of motoring mediocrity.

  What it really meant, when we were told to go out and learn how to drive, was that we were expected to retain all of the skills and techniques we learned as novices and then, add experience to them. Over the years, as our experience grew, we were supposed to become more altruistic with our attitudes but sadly, it appears that its meaning has been somewhat lost down the years.

  It is interesting and worthy of note to explore what happened through this transition, to our risk of being involved in a collision.

  Every element of driving a vehicle defensively has been developed into a driving technique. For example, the reason why we push and pull a steering wheel as opposed to crossing hands, is so as we retain complete control of the steering, all of the time. When we cross our hands, at one point both hands will be on the same side of the steering wheel and then if we need to steer further, then one or both hands have to be repositioned. Now this repositioning may only take half a second longer, than if we were pushing and pulling the wheel as suggested, but if this error were to occur at 40 mph, you could have travelled an additional 30 feet before being able to steer again whilst correcting this mistake, over the motorist who was pushing and pulling. These sorts of distances can make huge differences in determining the motorist’s ability to avoid a collision. However, you will probably never find any statistics on collisions that have occurred due to this error. This is one scenario that I will now use to explain how speed cameras compensate for poor driving habits.

 

  A motorist drives in a 30mph limit at 40mph and is not in total control of the vehicles steering.

  Another vehicle pulls out in front of him 30 feet away; it takes him ½ a second to reposition his hands on the steering wheel to allow further steering, by which time he has travelled 30 feet. Too late, and the collision occurs just as he has regained control of the steering wheel.  

 

  The same vehicle at 40 mph in a 30 limit but with total control of the steering, when the same vehicle pulls out in front of him 30 feet away. He is now able to steer immediately giving himself a chance to avoid the collision.

Now with a speed camera present 

  The same vehicle at 30mph, not in control of the steering would travel a distance of approximately 22.5 feet before regaining control of the steering wheel, but would have a much lower impact speed and still has almost 8 feet left in which to steer.

  The same vehicle driving at 30mph, in full control of the steering has 30 feet to steer and stands the greatest chance of completely avoiding the collision.

  Effectively the speed camera, by forcing us to reduce our speed is in the same way, allowing a degree of compensation for all of the other errors that we make. 

  There are thousands of examples such as this one and driving instructors, will be able to give a potentially fatal scenario for virtually any driving error. So it is by no means unreasonable to conclude that many serious collisions are not caused because of speed alone, but because there are many other factors that contribute towards collision causation. If all that we see is the speed of a vehicle, then speed gets all of the blame. It follows therefore that by improving certain aspects of driving, other than that of speeding we can realistically reduce the chance of getting involved in a serious collision. Obviously keeping to the speed limits or below, currently gives us the greatest chance of reducing collisions, but expecting 28 million motorists to stop speeding is in reality, impossible. So the best practical way to reduce collisions is to address driver standard. This is where the philosophy behind this book can be summed up in one simple statement.

‘You can’t take the speed out of the motorist, but you can take the danger out of speed’.

  I am a firm believer that anyone expecting our nation of motorists, not to use a bit of excessive speed is living in dreamland. But what the statisticians say is occasionally right, speeding is dangerous and has been linked to many deaths and serious injuries. However, I also believe that mildly excessive speed will not actually increase the risk you present on the road exponentially (yes, I did get that out of the dictionary) provided that the other errors you make are reduced. This can be achieved relatively simply and quickly by instead of hammering down a little excessive speed that may influence a half percentage improvement in road safety, improve the basic standard of the motorist instead and influence a 5% improvement in their driving. This would allow most motorists to avoid speed camera activations whilst at the same time, helping to reduce road casualties. Or in other words, you can’t take the speed out of the motorist, but you can remove some of the danger out of speed.

  I have heard it said many times by motorists that they were penalised for speeding when they were driving on a perfectly safe road. The reality is that even a car that is parked on the road has an element of risk attached to it, as it becomes a hazard. There are no perfectly safe roads.

  Simply due to the presence of a vehicle on the road, risk exists. When you get into that vehicle, risk is then slightly raised and continues to climb as you pick up speed. Eventually, speed reaches a point whereby either, the limitations of the vehicle or the ability of the motorist get exceeded and total loss of control is inevitable. Because of the degradation of our driving skills, we all too often see these limitations being exceeded at speeds well within the posted speed limits. It is your basic driving standard that determines how sharply that ‘speed risk’ rises.

  As you progress through the book it will become abundantly clear, that most collisions are caused because the motorist failed to see the potential of a hazard or failed to see the hazard itself. Then when the collision occurs, the severity of that collision is then determined by the speed at which the vehicle was travelling at. However, if the hazard was spotted because of good hazard perception skills, then the collision is far more easily avoided and what could have been a fatal road traffic collision now becomes a non incident, with no change to the motorists’ use of speed.

Did you know that the average cost that a fatal road traffic collision incurs, is now heading towards £1.5 million and a serious injury collision around £400,000.

  Use of speed though has to be reasonable, irrespective of whether it is excessive or inappropriate, go beyond the boundaries of reason and you enter the realms of information overload, where there, you start prioritising hazards instead of dealing with them all.

New and Young Driver KSI Explained

New and Young Driver KSI Explained

For many years, young and new drivers have been considered to be the most vulnerable group to get themselves involved in serious and fatal road traffic collisions, not just in the UK, but the world over. As this is backed up statistically, then this point is never in dispute. However, the motoring world is full of myth and one such myth relating to new drivers is that they were only trained to ‘pass the driving test’ and not taught how to actually ‘drive’. A myth that I hope to expose as a misinterpretation of the facts and eventually lay to rest.

Based on these beliefs, changes have been made to the driving test in an attempt to reduce casualty rates. It seems to have had little or no positive effect, as the collision risk presented by young drivers is still significantly higher and out of proportion with the rest of the motoring community. The reason for this is simple; our belief in motoring myth and legend is causing the road safety community to misinterpret statistics and as a result, misguide road safety initiatives for young and new drivers.

Young drivers in the UK today are taught to very high standards, certainly still amongst the best in the world. Irrespective of this, the belief seems to be that a young novice driver, when released onto the road, is not driving to a good standard. Indeed, the statistics clearly show that a new driver’s involvement in collisions is as much as 5 times the amount of some other groups. So it is easy to understand why and how this myth has developed.

What is indoctrinated within the driving instructors’ community is that instructors are entrusted to teach our novice drivers to become safe and responsible motorists and any that instructor teaching a novice just to ‘pass the driving test’ is not worth their salt. Even on the driving test, any number of eventualities may occur that the novice has never encountered before, which only a good quality level of training will enable the novice to evaluate and negotiate safely. To train as an approved driving instructor, you have to take three exams which include: a knowledge test, an advanced driving test of a higher standard than any offered to members of the public and finally a test of instructional ability. The tests are designed to ensure that the instructor has attained the highest standards of motoring knowledge and driving ability and then has the instructional skills to transfer this knowledge to their pupils. It is the instructor’s duty to get his or her pupils as close to that standard of ‘advanced driving’ as possible and provide the pupil with all of the skills and safeguards they need to survive the perils of modern motoring.

Once the pupil is ready for the road, then the examination takes place, where the novice is tested by professional and highly-trained driving examiners on their ability to drive. It is the examiners’ duty to ensure that the novice is fully equipped to deal with demands of modern motoring - a duty not taken lightly as the lives of many people depend on the examiners’ judgement. At the point the novice passed their driving test, they were deemed to be safe and responsible motorists.

The reality for most is that the day they passed their driving test, they would probably have attained a level of motoring that would prove to be the best they would ever be; the safest and closest to an advanced standard that they were ever likely to achieve. However, as we are beginning to understand, this standard doesn’t seem to last and the rapid descent to become amongst the most dangerous group of motorists on the road ensues. So the question is:

What happened that turned our potentially safest group of motorists into our most dangerous?

It is clear that the learning and testing process in not at fault.

The current belief is that when a novice motorist is released onto the road, they immediately present a high risk and only over time, as they gain experience, do they become safer drivers. This is nothing more than myth and misunderstanding. In reality, young and new drivers took to the roads as safe and competent drivers, but for many it is at this point where things start to go catastrophically wrong. Almost immediately they start to under-go a period of a re-education of their driving skills. The main reasons for this change are: choice, peer pressure, influence or just plain bad advice, but they all too often result in life changing and potentially fatal consequences for the young and inexperienced driver. It is the combination of this re-education combined with inexperience that sends their collision risk soaring. Many decide to make very few changes and as a result their collision risk remains low. These motorists are, in effect, doing what was always intended and advised, by adding experience to a good basic standard and solid foundations.

The following chart has been created to demonstrate the changes the novice makes to their driving. The left hand column shows areas tested on the novice driving test, in which the novice has achieved a competent standard. However, the right hand column displays the areas where the novice has re-educated themselves and the primary reason for their dramatic rise in collision risk. 

Voluntary Changes Made to the Novices Driving Standard
Good standard achieved in novice driving test in the following areas	Common changes made to novice test standard
Eyesight	Often deteriorates without being corrected
Highway Code	Level of knowledge not retained and new rules not learned
Controlled Stop	Not practised so driver unaware of vehicle braking ability, however ABS is of great help.
Reverse Left	Often performed in inappropriate places, at speed and with too few observations.
Reverse Right	As reverse left
Reverse Park	Generally performed at appropriate speed, lacking observations.
Turn In Road	Performed in unsuitable locations, at speed and too few observations.
Control
accelerator	Too harsh
clutch	Harsh, covered, coasting
gears	Rushed, inappropriate timing, incorrect selection
footbrake	Harsh, late
parking brake	Button not pressed in before activation
steering	Crossing of hands, hands incorrectly positioned on wheel, steering with one hand for long periods, steering with knees
Move off
safely	Observations weak, blind spot not covered
controlled	At speed, roll back on hills
Mirrors
signalling	Too late, too early or not at all.
change direction	Too late, too early or not at all.
change speed	Too late, too early or not at all.
Signals
necessary	Often never given when needed
correctly	If given usually correct, sometimes forget to cancel.
timed	Too early or late if at all.
Clearance/obstructions	Too fast and too close
Response to signals
traffic signs	Often missed due to weakened observations
road markings	Often missed due to weakened observations
traffic lights	Try to beat lights, amber gambler, totally disregarded
traffic controllers	Develop disregard due to erosion of driver qualities
other road users	Poor interaction with other road users due to poor attitudes, awareness, concentration, impatience.
Use of speed	Excessive, inappropriate
Following distance	Too close
Progress
appropriate speed	Failing to keep up with traffic flow
undue hesitation	Annoys other with hesitation
Junctions
approach speed	Too fast
observation	Weak
turning right	Position
turning left	Position
cutting corners	Often
Judgement
overtaking	Incorrect method - not PSLMSM (Position – Speed – Look – Mirror – Signal – Manoeuvre). Poorly judged, unnecessary
meeting	Lack of courtesy, failing to read actions of other road users.
crossing	Poor judgement, awareness, anticipation
Positioning
normal driving	Not keeping left of centre,
lane discipline	Not driving in centre of lane, not moving back into the left when safe.
Pedestrian crossings	Fail to anticipate pedestrian ready to cross, fail to understand pedestrian right of way.
Position / normal stops	Fail to select safe and appropriate place to stop. Position by kerb. Wheels correctly aligned.
Awareness / planning	Dealing with things as they happen and not thinking ahead.
Ancillary controls	Spend too much time looking at in-car entertainment, Bluetooth, mirrors, phones etc.

The answer was simple, it’s nothing to do with the driving test and everything to do with the changes novices make after they pass. The story is much the same for all of us, as it has always been. The day we passed our test, we started to change the way we drive. The safeguards that the instructor had put in place, to keep the new driver safe on the road, were being removed one by one, and there are hundreds of them. Observations weaken, mirror work reduces, speeds increase, hands cross on the steering wheel, acceleration and breaking harshen and indications lessen, to name but a few. It’s not just the psychomotor skills that suffer, but also the cognitive. As their concentration and awareness reduces, they are less able to react to the hazards surrounding them. As a result, their group collision risk elevates. Their risk didn’t start high, but raises beyond that of most, if not all, other motoring groups because of the adaptions they are making. Eventually, as experience of these new techniques (bad habits) finally kicks in, their collision risk lowers to that of the average driver.

All of these young drivers initially had a very good, very safe motoring technique and a very low collision risk. For whatever reasons, be it outside influence, peer pressure or choice, their level of safety on the road deteriorated. The best standard most young drivers will ever achieve is the one they had the day they passed their test.

Too many young and new drivers are developing a flawed driving technique before adding experience. If young drivers can be persuaded to base their experience on solid foundations, then their collision risk will remain low.

Many of the changes they make can be graded in terms of safety. For instance, crossing hands on a steering wheel is far less a risk than a poor overtaking technique. The mirror signal manoeuvre routine is another technique that often gets dismissed and yet it is so important to sustain our levels of awareness. By encouraging our young motorists to retain the most important of these skills, their collision risk (and therefore the numbers of KSI within this group) would drop like a stone. In my opinion, the most important set of skills include awareness and anticipation, concentration, hazard recognition, overtaking and the MSM routine - all qualities that are in a ‘good drivers’ make-up. These are a mix of psychomotor skills that support the cognitive. Improvements in these areas alone would produce significant reductions in casualty rates.

To achieve significant reductions in young driver casualties, the magic bullet has to be preventing them from making these basic changes to their driving styles, or at least the most important of them. They already have knowledge, they just need to be made aware of the process they are going through, and be persuaded from making the changes they are all too often eager to make.

Before I finish, take a second look at the chart, not only does it represent the direction that our young and new motorists are heading in, it also represents the place where millions of our motorists have already arrived. Maybe this dispels another myth, where most of our motorists consider themselves to be good or excellent drivers, yet they admit that they probably wouldn’t be able to pass the basic driving test, if they needed to do so again.

End