Drivers
The Road Safety department at RoSPA produces a vast array of advice and information for drivers on all aspects of driving.
The Road Safety department at RoSPA produces a vast array of advice and information for drivers on all aspects of driving.
Although the level of drinking and driving has dropped dramatically over the last three decades, around 200 people are still killed in drink drive accidents every year.
It is not just the drivers who have been drinking who suffer, but often their passengers, people in other vehicles, pedestrians, cyclists or motorcyclists, and the families of everyone involved. In 2017, 130 pedestrians were killed or seriously injured by drink drivers, as were 420 car passengers. 50 children (0-15) were killed or seriously injured by drink drivers that year.
Clearly, there is still much to do to prevent drink drive accidents, deaths and injuries.
There has been much attention on driver distraction due to the use of mobile phones in vehicles, but increasingly research is also revealing the dangers of other forms of driver multi-tasking, and its contribution to road accidents.
Although our Driver Distraction Factsheet talks mainly about driver distraction, other road users including riders, cyclists, and even pedestrians can also be distracted when using the road.
A substantial body of research shows that using a hand-held or hands-free mobile phone while driving is a significant distraction, and substantially increases the risk of the driver crashing.
Our Mobile Phones and Driving Factsheet outlines the law relating to the use of mobile phones in a vehicle, concerns around the use of both hands-held and hands-free mobile phones while driving and issues around mobile phones that employers are advised to consider.
Although it has been noted that headphones can cause hearing damage, much less attention has been paid to the effects of headphones on the quality of driving. It is expected that drivers who are wearing headphones would need to shift their attention from what they hear in their headphones to external sound sources in certain situations, which could delay the speed of their response to external events. This is thought to be dangerous enough to form a risk in emergency situations.
Our Headphones as a Driving Distraction Factsheet provides an overview of the evidence relating to headphones as a driving distraction.
Several different types of Sat Navs are available to drivers, many of which are built into the vehicle itself.
Used well, a Sat Nav can help drivers plan routes and prevent them from making last minute lane changes or hesitating because they are not sure of the directions. However, a badly used Sat Nav can distract the driver and increase the risk of an accident. It is important that drivers understand how best to use their sat nav and learn not to use it when it may be dangerous to do so.
Our Satellite Navigation Factsheet provides advice on making the best use of a sat nav and choosing the best device.
Over the last ten years, there has been a huge increase in the digital technology available to motorists, allowing them to perform tasks that are unrelated to driving while they are behind the wheel. One of the biggest developments in this period has been the rise of infotainment systems. This refers to vehicle systems that combine entertainment and information delivery for drivers and passengers, often with the use of audio and touchscreens.
Whilst infotainment systems can be handy for the driver, allowing them to carry out many tasks, there is also the potential that they can be a distraction – more so than traditional radio systems. Distraction is a serious road safety problem: in 2018, there were 2,647 road traffic accidents where ‘distraction inside vehicle’ was cited as the contributory factor – 68 of these accidents were fatal.
A person's fitness to drive can be affected by a medical condition, by temporary illness, substances such as alcohol and by the environment in which they work, drive and live.
Health impairments, such as stress, sleep disturbance, migraine, flu, severe colds and hayfever can lead to unsafe driving. Sometimes, the treatment for these conditions can also impair someone’s driving. Our advice highlights some of the factors that can make someone unfit to drive and the importance of assessing your fitness to undertake a journey.
Driver fatigue is a serious problem resulting in many thousands of road accidents each year. It is not possible to calculate the exact number of sleep related accidents but research shows that driver fatigue may be a contributory factor in up to 20% of road accidents, and up to one quarter of fatal and serious accidents.
These types of crashes are about 50% more likely to result in death or serious injury as they tend to be high speed impacts because a driver who has fallen asleep cannot brake or swerve to avoid or reduce the impact.
Sleepiness increases reaction time (a critical element of safe driving). It also reduces vigilance, alertness and concentration so that the ability to perform attention-based activities (such as driving) is impaired. The speed at which information is processed is also reduced by sleepiness. The quality of decision-making may also be affected.
It is clear that drivers are aware when they are feeling sleepy, and so make a conscious decision about whether to continue driving or to stop for a rest. It may be that those who persist in driving underestimate the risk of actually falling asleep while driving. Or it may be that some drivers choose to ignore the risks (in the way that drink drivers do).
Crashes caused by tired drivers are most likely to happen:
Good eyesight is vital for safe driving. Drivers and motorcyclists must be able to read a standard number plate from a distance of 20 metres (or 20.5m for an old style number plate) wearing corrective lenses if required.
You must wear glasses or contact lenses every time you drive if you need them to meet the ‘standards of vision for driving’.
Although eyesight often gets worse as we grow older, people can develop a range of eyesight conditions at any age. Glaucoma and Cataract are perhaps the most well known conditions, but diabetes and other age-related diseases, if left unidentified and untreated, can also affect vision seriously enough to prevent safe road use.
The general recommendation is to have an eyesight check every two years, or more often if your optician recommends it. This will help to make sure you meet the minimum eyesight standards for driving and will usually identify the majority of common eyesight conditions early as they develop.
Everyone has the right to travel on the road safely, whether by car, motorcycle, pedal cycle, horse or on foot.
Some road users are more vulnerable than others. A vulnerable road user refers to those who have less crash protection than occupants of motor vehicles and therefore have a higher risk of being injured or killed in a road crash.
Drivers should take extra care to avoid collisions with vulnerable road users, because a pedestrian, cyclist, motorcyclist or horse rider will always come off worse. Whenever and wherever you drive:
Our drivers and vulnerable road users leaflet gives advice on how to avoid collisions with vulnerable road users.
There are around three million horse riders in Great Britain, many of whom ride on the road and although they prefer not to do so, riders often have no choice because they need to reach to bridleways and other off road facilities.
Horse riders have a right to use the road, and both riders and motorists are responsible for each other's safety. Horses are powerful animals that are easily frightened and can panic, especially near fast-moving traffic or at sudden loud noises.
There were 96 horse rider casualties recorded by the police in Great Britain in 2016, including 23 adult horse riders who were seriously injured. 4 child horse riders were also seriously injured.
Driving conditions are remarkably different in the night time, vision is reduced and it can be more difficult to spot hazards such as bends and junctions and to see vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists.
If you are driving at times when you would usually be asleep then you are in much greater danger of falling asleep behind the wheel.
Overtaking is one of the highest risk manoeuvres for both drivers and riders because it can put the overtaking vehicle into the path of oncoming traffic, often at high speeds. If there is a head-on collision, the speed of both vehicles combines to create a much more severe impact.
In 2015, 9055 vehicles were involved in an overtaking accident, of which 57% were car drivers, and 34% were two wheel vehicles.
There are three types of overtaking manoeuvre:
| Pedal cycles | Motorcycles 50cc and under | Motorcycles 51-225cc | Motorcycles 126-500cc | Motorcycles over 500cc | All motorcycles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overtaking a moving vehicle - offside | 163 | 123 | 702 | 187 | 678 | 1,709 |
| Overtaking a stationary vehicle - offside | 432 | 98 | 463 | 107 | 285 | 963 |
| Overtaking - nearside | 436 | 37 | 226 | 33 | 111 | 412 |
Driving in the winter is very different than in other times of the year. Adverse weather and longer periods of darkness (especially after the clocks go back at the end of October) makes driving more hazardous.
Sometimes conditions can be extreme, as we have found out over recent winters, with prolonged periods of heavy snow and floods.
Different weather conditions create different hazards throughout the winter and in different areas of the country at different times. A single journey may take us into very different weather, road and traffic conditions, so we need to be prepared for each one. This means that we need to adapt the way we drive to the conditions.
Most of us have very little experience of driving in extreme conditions, such as snow, so take some time to consider how it affects your driving. Don't just drive as normal.
In very bad conditions, avoid driving completely, unless you absolutely have to make the journey and driving is the only option.
Learning to drive is a key moment in the life of many young people and can be a time of anxiety for parents. Being able to drive allows greater independence to get around, especially in areas where public transport is limited.
However, the sad fact is that young drivers aged 17-24 make up just over 5 per cent of UK full driving licence holders yet are involved in over 20 per cent of fatal or serious collisions in which they are the driver.
In 2018, 1,784 people were killed and 28,122 people were seriously injured in reported road accidents in Great Britain. Around 90% of road crashes involve some element of human error. Although educating road users can reduce the number of road crashes that occur, human error cannot be eradicated. Therefore, road users will still sometimes make mistakes that can lead to collisions.
One way in which the number of road users killed or seriously injured can be reduced is by adopting a Safe System approach, so that when crashes do occur, it is less likely that the road users involved will be killed or seriously injured. Safe System is the generic term for approaches such as ‘Vision Zero’, ‘Sustainable Safety’ and ‘Towards Zero’. It is based primarily on Vision Zero, recognising that human beings’ lives and health should never be compromised by their need to travel.
Unlike the traditional approach to road safety, the Safe System approach recognises that human error is no longer the primary cause of accidents. Rather, a failure of the road system is the cause of many collisions that result in death or serious injury. It also shapes interventions to meet the long-term goal of zero deaths and serious injuries, rather than relying on traditional interventions to set the limits of any long-term targets.
Road crash costs usually represent around 1-3% of a country’s gross domestic product (GDP), depending on the approach used. The Safe System approach can produce economic savings for a society, as the costs of the prevention of accidents are usually substantially less than the cost of collisions occurring. Therefore, attention must be given to making roads and roadsides, vehicles and speeds more forgiving, as well as continuing to work towards achieving greater levels of road user compliance. In terms of individual incidents, studies have found that in a high percentage of fatal crashes, either the road or the vehicle did not meet safety standards that would be present in a fully implemented Safe System approach. This shows that the approach could reduce fatalities, even without addressing road user behaviour.
An example of a goal following the principles of the Safe System is the UN Sustainable Development Goals. On January 1 2016, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development officially came into force. These Goals had been adopted by world leaders in September 2015 at a UN summit.
The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals act as a blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. They address the global challenges we face, including those related to poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace and justice. There are 17 Goals, all of which are interconnected. The aim is that all 17 goals are achieved by 2030.
Goal 3.6 is to by 2020, halve the number of global deaths and injuries from road traffic accidents. A five pillar approach to road safety has been adopted as a framework for the decade for action on road safety (2011-2020). Our factsheet identifies the progress both in the UK and internationally towards this goal.
