Dates For Your Diary
Next meting is on 14 October - an interactive talk and session on Communications - both for cars and bikes, especially when tutoring. 7.30 pm for a 7.45 pm start.
Other topics being developed are Hi-Viz - is it worth it especially in dappled sunlight?
SkillShare & Social
5 October 2024 meeting at the Dandy Highwayman Cafe Cherhill. 9.30 am for 10 am start. See main section for more details.
Bike Ride-Outs on the 3rd Saturday of every even numbered month and the 3rd Sunday of every odd numbered Month. Email will be sent out to Bikers and added to the Forum.
Next ride out Saturday 19 October Details will be forthcoming via email to all bike members.
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Do you have a topic you would like discussed, or know of an interesting speaker? Please contact speaker at speakers@wiltshireroadar.co.uk |
Congratulations
Congratulations to the following members who have passed their Advanced Tests recently:
Cyril Lockett - Bike - Silver
Steve Allsworth - Car - Silver
Please welcome the following to the Group:
Bike
Matt Shaw
Jaqueline Prictor
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Don’t forget that we have a range of clothing available to purchase. We also offer a range of books, such as Roadcraft, Motorcycle Roadcraft and the Highway Code, and these are available at discounted prices.
For more information visit the Merchandise page of our web site |
We are always looking for more articles, ideas and news for the newsletter. Have you been somewhere interesting recently that would make a good story? If you attend any group events then take a camera and send us your pictures!
Please forward all contributions to newsletter@wiltshireroadar.co.uk |
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I live on a reasonably busy 'A' road. I nearly pulled out on a motorcycle when exiting my property, I saw it late and stopped in time, but it shocked me a bit. I ride a motorcycle and to pull out in front of one would have been embarrassing to say the least and catastrophic at worst. I had to have a word with myself and ask why did this happen? I had looked (it needs a good look both ways to check or fast-moving traffic) but clearly had not seen the bike until I did a check look prior to pulling out. There is no excuse, I had moved my head but not looked properly – I was not scanning properly. It also reminded me of a great you tube film on invisibility which I recommend to you all you can find it here. Whilst it is based on motorcyclists the theory applies to all drivers – to steal Steve’s mantra; eyes up! I will be taking more care in the future and ensure I make myself as visible as possible to other road users.
Please note we are reverting to our monthly meetings (less January and August). They will be held on the second Monday of each month at Liddington Village Hall. Please do come along as we will have some lively discussions and some guest speakers. The aim is to rebuild the social element of the group and also to help us all improve our driving and riding. Please put them in your diaries now and come along if you can. There will be reminders sent out for each month but if you plan now it will easier to fit into your busy schedule. Our next interactive talk is about communication, so I look forward to seeing lots of you there on Oct 14th.
I am delighted to announce the Committee has awarded Winston Caslte life membership for his hard work as Treasurer of the Group. He was presented wiht his membership card valid unitl 2088 by Committee Member Laila Rhodes. Thank you Winsotn for your hard work and dilligence.
Stay safe.
Bob |
SkillShare
Our final Skillshare of the year is on 5 October. This month's social event was a real success as about 20 members turned up for a cofee and a chat - we also recruited a new membrb via the skillshare!
We are proposing to continue with the social meetings throughout the winter - we may even pick up some new memebrs in the process. No compulsion but if you are free and fancy a ride or drive to the Dnady Highwayman cafe then please come for a chat on the first Saturday of each month
Remebmer though, it is primarily about tea/coffee and cake/bacon.
The first Saturday of the month - 09:30 - The Dandy highwayman - Café - on the A4 - Main Rd, Cherhill, Calne SN11 8UU.
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Graham Feast talk to Group
Graham Feast gave a tour de force of the history of road safety initiatives at our monthly meeting. He has been celebrating what he calls his 50:20:10. 50 yeas in the road safety business involving working for local Government, IAM and consulting. 20 years as a consultant and 10 years on the road presenting and hosting seminars.
He did note the new government seems to be focussing on improving public transport and introduced us to the Department of Transport new motto “Move fast and fix things”. Interestingly this is yet to reach their website here and they have not yet identified what the things are but we will have to give them some time to see if there are any positive results. He talked about the manifesto for Road safety, which has been featured in previous newsletters, but this is a suggestion to the Government - again we wait to see what will happen.
There was a lot of information and statistics , particularly road deaths which have reduced over the past 30 years. Included in the road 2022 deaths were 220 people who were not wearing seat belts – which have contributed to a significant reduction in deaths on the road since being made compulsory in 1983. Considering there are 40 million vehicles registered in UK and 38 million active road users it is not surprising 1711 road users (of all types) died in 2022. The trend is down but the rate of reduction is reducing. Of note is the anomaly of 1460 killed in 2020 when there was 30% less traffic due to lockdown. It seems given the less busy roads and the opportunities to do so, many took more risks than normal - these numbers are not used in the overall statistics as the circumstances were different than a normal year.
I was interested there was no mention of driver and rider education in any of the initiatives Graham outlined (less education on the impact of alcohol). There are many road safety groups on the UK and sadly it seems they cannot all agree on the best way to approach the issue of road safety. This may be because many are developed from a single cause and their focus is on improving a single issue rather than general road safety.
An interesting evening and if you want to receive Grahams monthly newsletter then please register for it here.
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Impact of 20 mph limit in Wales
Whilst it still remains somewhat unpopular, it is reported the 20mph default speed limit in Wales is serving its intended purpose. There has been a drop in casualties on 20mph and 30mph roads in Wales in the first three months of 2024, after the default 20mph speed limit was introduced. The number of serious casualties or fatalities has dropped 23%, with 78 people killed or seriously injured on both 20mph and 30mph roads, compared to 101 serious casualties in the first quarter of 2023.
When minor injuries are included, the figures still show a 26% reduction for casualties of all severities.
Since September 2023, 37% of roads in Wales have had a default 20mph limit, with far fewer roads now having a 30mph limit. For that reason, it is seen as best to look at casualties for 20mph and 30mph combined to judge any impacts of the change. The figures show there were 377 casualties of all severities in January to March, compared to 510 in
the first quarter of 2023 and includes five fatalities at 20 and 30mph, compared to 11 in the same period in 2023.
Looking at the six-month period since last October - after the 20mph policy came in – there has been a 17% drop in serious road casualties, compared to the same six months in 2022-23.The figures from GoSafe, the Welsh road safety partnership found 97% of the thousands of vehicles monitored since January were keeping under the enforcement threshold. |
Stop the Phone Call When Driving
A video produced by the Kier Group, Kier Foundation and Nottingham Trent University, grounded in behavioural change theory, has been developed to help reduce the use of hands-free phones by professional drivers, by debunking the myth that it is safer than using a hand-held device in a project funded by The Road Safety Trust.
Despite being legal, research studies have demonstrated that hands-free calls can be just as
distracting as hand-held calls while driving. As a result, an increasing number of companies are bringing in policies to ban both hand-held and hands-free calls while driving for work – but face an uphill task in convincing drivers to adhere to such policy as they consider being able to communicate in this way essential for business.
The project used a survey of over 400 fleet drivers and a focus group of experts to identify current ‘myths’ that people who drive for work rely on to justify hands-free use while driving, and to then create a road safety video that debunks them.
The resultant video, also created in collaboration with Esitu Solutions, was evaluated in a study that compared mobile phone use, and attitudes towards mobile phone use (both hand-held and hands-free), for a group of drivers who watched the video and a control group who watched a road safety video unrelated to phone use.
The video is available via The Road Safety Trust website here
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Have you been up to anything to do with Riding or Driving lately? If so, then please let us know as we would love to include it here; photos would be great too!
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Ride out to Shaftsbury
Kevin Rivers led our monthly ride out in September. Five of us met at the Three Trees Farm shop at Chisledon and followed a well-planned route through some great roads in Wiltshire and Dorset. Kevin’s map recce really paid off as his satnav refuse to play on the way out but he remembered the route perfectly. He took me down some roads, local to me, which I have not ridden before – just goes to show how effective a good plan can be.
Allocated Bike parking
It was nice to have allocated motorcycle parking in the centre of Dorchester just a short walk from the excellent Ugly Duckling Café in the centre of town. There was the resurgence of the “born to be mild” attitude of Wiltshire RoADAR bikers as most of us had a salad for lunch!
Ugly Ducklng Cafe - born to be miild
A nice ride back including some of the best roads across Salisbury Plain saw 3 of us return to Three Trees Farm shop in time for a coffee and some cake (well I had some cake!); 2 others had peeled off to take a shorter route home. A great day on good roads with nice people talking about motorbikes - what is not to like?
Thanks Kevin.
First Aid with Helmet Removal
11
members of Wiltshire RoADAR attended an “Emergency First Aid at Work
with Helmet removal” course delivered by Wiltshire First Aid. This, for
many of us, was a three-yearly refresher
to maintain our First Aid Credentials, and practice techniques which we
may have otherwise become very rusty. Luckily, for most of us, we
haven’t had to practice for real the techniques, but its always worth
knowing how to.
This
is the third time we have used Wiltshire First Aid to deliver this
highly entertaining and valuable course. Personally, I feel better
equipped to deal with some confidence with
most incidents that I may come across in my tutoring and riding in
general.
I would thoroughly recommend anyone, bike or car member, to attend one of these courses when the opportunity arises.
Emma Noakes of Wiltshire First Aid and the happy recipients with their certificates
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Promotional activities
Successfully supported by Wiltshire RoADAR motorcycle tutors and WABAM Observers. Final confirmed date for the year is:
If you have any ideas for events, then please get in touch with the committee using the committee email address :
Look forward to hearing and discussing your ideas.
Presentation material
A generic set of slides has been created for use if you are asked about Wiltshire RoADAR and have the opportunity to present. This could be at a local club, workplace etc. Please send a mail to committee@wiltshireroadar.co.uk and the slides will be sent over to you.
We also have flyers and business cards so ask for these via the same means.
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Booking a Retest
Please be aware you need to book your 3 yearly retest directly with RoSPA via their website. Sadly we cannot book it for you as it is all done electronically. You may also need to check when your re-test is due if you have not been paying your subscriptions to RoADAR as they will not remind you.
Tutors will be happy to conduct a refresh should you wish one prior to a re test.
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Membership and GDPR
Due to GDPR we are required to remove an individual's details from our Group database when they are no longer required by us. We remove a lapsed member's details if they have not paid a subscription by the 31 Dec following the AGM (3 months after the subscriptions are due). If a member has forgotten to pay their subs and pays after 31 Dec we will require a joining form to be completed so we can replace them on the database.
It all seems a bit strange, but we do not want to get on the wrong side of the Government's Information Commissioner. We understand if members forget or are late with their subscriptions, but please help us to keep our database accurate and compliant.
This is, of course, separate to those of you who maintain a membership with RoADAR HQ.
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Media coordinator - Help us to broaden our reach
To help promote the group we have a variety of online media platforms, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter. To help make the most out of the opportunities that these outlets provide, we could use some help from someone who has experience of using such tools. Drop me a line at secretary@wiltshireroadar.co.uk if you would be interested in helping promote our group.
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Committee minutes
These are available from the Group Secretary if any member wishes to see them. If you are interested in reading the minutes, then please send a mail to the Group Secretary whom will promptly forward them onto you.
Test results
Reminder to let the Membership Secretary and your tutor know when you have taken your Advanced Driving/Riding Test and result. This is so our database is kept up to date; there is no need or pressure at all to have the result published on the website or in this newsletter if you wish to keep your result confidential.
If you have read this far, thanks! If you have any feedback or suggestions about content for your newsletter, then drop us a line at newsletter@wiltshireroadar.co.uk If you can't leave constructive feedback though, then we don't want to hear from you!
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