Let's take a step back at this point and think about how our driving skills were originally taught and how they develop, or not, over the years. Most people have vivid memories of learning to drive or of the test itself. I'm sure that you all remember being told-off for crossing your hands and for failing to give a sig­nal - even when you were the only car on the road!

As a novice driver, many of the risks that existed were not always obvious to you, your awareness was yet to be developed. This should have been the priority of your instructor, but more often than not, the priority was learning the routines of the test itself, without always being given a full understanding of the reasons for doing so. The lessons would consist of learn ing specific skills that cover the various ele­ments of the Driving Test and in fact would often take place in areas known to be test routes. The first time that some drivers eve r saw a dual carriageway was after they passed their test.

At the end of this period of tuition, usually conducted in as few lessons as possible, in order to impress your friends, the test was taken and usually passed without much difficulty. Then, as if by magic, you were a qualified driver - with the same standing as other road users, despite the lack of experience.  I’m sure that the only emergency braking that you have carried out since then was for real, which means  that it is likely that it took place at 25mph on a good road surface, slightly uphill and with plenty of warn­ ing that you were about to do it.

What does not exist, at least not yet, is a compulsory dual-carriageway section, or motorway, or any­ thing at all concerning modern technology, sµch as ABS. In fact the rest is much the same as the test you took, without the hand signals which are now ignored on practical grounds. (In fact in some cities, there is even dispensation granted that allows the emergency stop to be skipped if the traffic density is too great!)

What exactly have you retained from the lessons needed for the test? Well, the mechanical skills   needed to move the car - (except that many drivers  still don't  understand why they have so many gears). When you have "Right of Way" and when to "Give Way" . Possibly a fair amount of Highway Code, especially if you had to take the new theory test, and perhaps the prescribed method for carrying out certain manoeuvres.

I am sure that you also remember the routines for observation using mirrors - although many drivers still do not understand what they are looking for! The classic example is that when novices are being trained  to turn right from a major road into a minor road, they are told to check both their interior and door mir­rors before moving out into the centre of the road, and to stop with their wheels straight, pointing along  the centre of the road - in case their foot slips off of the clutch. This avoids the car lurching into oncom­ing traffic, or rather that is what  you are supposed to tell novice  drivers.

In the real world, the most likely event is a rear-end shunt - the most common car accident in the UK.  It is this which would push you into oncoming traffic. Apparently telling a novice driver that this may hap­ pen is considered to be too scary, so instructors are told to avoid it - or in some cases are only told the first version themselves, hence the poor quality of information given to novice drivers. If you relate this to surveillance driving, you can perhaps appreciate that by having to make decisions based on   other

people's journeys, you are likely to put yourself at risk of being involved in a shunt when the driver be­ hind is unable to anticipate  your next change of speed or direction.

It is only when you can understand these risks that you will see the need for the more extreme control techniques that I shall cover in the next chapter.

Another point that is remembered is the need to control speed in urban areas, although very few drivers religiously use speed correctly - especially when to do so would incur the wrath of the drivers following them, provoking "Road Rage". The most recent figures indicate that 70% of all drivers break the 30mph limit, which puts pressure on the remaining 30% to comply or suffer the abuse that follows. I'm sure the true figure is actually more than that if you consider the drivers who lied when answering the survey questions and those who literally aren't aware of breaking the limit.

Not surprisingly 57% of drivers also admit to breaking the 70mph limit and 19% claim that they regularly exceed 80mph, and not always on Motorways. As for company car drivers, the latest Lex report shows that 50% of company drivers think that breaking speed limits is "acceptable" and one in five think that they should be allowed to set their own limits according to conditions! This sounds a ridiculous idea in theory and would be quite impossible to put into practice as every driver would have there own judge­ment of what is safe - pretty much as they do already , hence the continuing problem of pedestrian fatalities and the increased use of controlled crossings.

This is the area that is directly in conflict with the design of modern vehicles and the artificial sense of safety that drivers feel when travelling at speed. As a professional driver, you will need to control the   urge to use speed just because it is available to you - especially on surveillance operations. It is better to consider blending with other traffic and then controlling their speed where it is considered necessary  for your personal safety or for the benefit of the  operation.

Safe Driving Culture

Utilising the correct attitude to safe driving and correct Business Ethics when driving.

Back in the real world we need to look at how to promote a "Safe Driving Culture" for yourself or your business, while allowing you to operate successfully. If this proves to be impossible for any of your oper­atives, then it is usually the demands on the driver that are to blame - for which you will need to arrange appropriate training in the area of weakness. There is little point offering to carry out any surveillance  if  the stress that it causes leads to problems in either your personal safety or the correct conduct of your business.

The correct Business Ethic to adopt is one of always wanting to conduct your business without causing any unnecessary risk to third parties or to your own staff - including yourself of course. If you find your­ self unable to operate effectively without taking high risks to do so you may as well consider a career change - professional operators are considered to be the best planners , they take only controlled risks to achieve their objective and they do not risk themselves  or their other team members no matter what  the significance of the operation.

It is all too easy these days to hide behind a shield of data which proclaims that your choice of vehicle alone is going to protect you from the more severe risks in accident scenarios- but what about avoiding the accidents? Surely the best insurance that you can have as a driver is the knowledge that you are do­ ing as much as you reasonably can to prevent accidents from occurring - rather than simply accepting them and trusting to technology to keep yourself and your passengers alive!

I have always been amazed when speaking to drivers who have just written-off their pride and joy in the back of another vehicle, especially  when they describe how they braked - but "the ABS didn't work so I hit the other car''. Often the ABS worked fine, but somehow the drivers thought that the car steered itself away from danger! Another common misconception  is when the ABS operates, often in a violent way, drivers think that there is something wrong with the vehicle, let go of the brake pedal, and hit whatever they were pointing at!

In all of these cases, there is scope for developing the correct attitude to your driving - even if until now you hadn't given it much thought. If your work depends on you being able to guarantee being able to fol­low a target, or provide secure transport for a client, then you must first be able to protect yourself from  the risks that other drivers are simply unaware of. You must control the space surrounding your vehicle as if it was a bubble which may be squeezed on occasions, but which must never be allowed to burst.