Accident

[Eutopia]

I had my fist police collision today as a Class 1. Although I know accidents wil happen I feel bad about it, almost like I have let myself down.

I was travelling in a prisoner van on the way to a shout, and approachad a familiar piece of road. It is a two lane road with a very slight veer to the left. At the start of the veer, there is a tiny kerbed traffic island. Both sides of the road as far as the eye can see are visible from well before the traffic island. I naturally will take the offside option to maintain maxium vision around the left kink so long as it is safe to do so.

Today, I took too long deciding on whether to take the nearside or offside option. This was because both were hazard free. I don't know why I hesitated on my decision, and was unaware I had hesitated until the accident. I decided to take the offside option but having left it a millisecond too late I clipped the island with the front nearside wheel. The wheel punctures and needed to be replaced. There were no other parties involved and the vehicle was operationally sound having had the wheel replaced. I explained what happened to the supervisor and accepted full responsibilty. I am to recieve only 1 point on my permit which is leniant in my opinion.

I have thought about where I went wrong and I recall something about the drive. I had a genuine moment of indecision of what side to take. No idea why. I had chosen the offside well before the hazard but this indecision occurred just before it despite me taking a central approach and no change in circumstances. I have decided that should this happen again, rather than try and spend a further half a second deciding, to abort the thinking process and stick to the safest route. I.e when the indecision occurred I should have recognised it and immediatly taken steps to halt it by abandoning the thought and taking the safest route. As the offside is the more "risky" option I think I spent just a but too long trying to justify taking it. I will learn from this experience.

[Gareth]

I don't know why I hesitated on my decision, and was unaware I had hesitated until the accident.

It sounds a bit like you had a momentary loss of focus, almost a microsleep but not so severe.

I remember going out for a drive once during a short return trip when working abroad. While I was away I wasn't doing any driving, so on this day I was quite rusty. My co-driver remarked how he could tell when I wasn't focused because there were short pauses, after which he could see me re-focus and get on with the driving. I wasn't aware I was doing this

[TripleS]

You hit a kerb with your N/S (i.e. left) front tyre while you were adopting an offside position?

That sounds a bit odd or I am misunderstanding you? I would have thought you might have been at risk of hitting the central island with your RH front tyre.

Best wishes all,
Dave.

[vonhosen]

You hit a kerb with your N/S (i.e. left) front tyre while you were adopting an offside position?

That sounds a bit odd or I am misunderstanding you? I would have thought you might have been at risk of hitting the central island with your RH front tyre.

Best wishes all,
Dave.

Offsiding a keep left bollard.

[rlmr]

I never like to hear about "accidents" and would never wish one on anyone (well there might be a couple of folk - the exemption proves the rule etc.) .

However each tale should be a timely reminder to us all that no matter how we strive for perfection and no matter how much training we receive, a moments inattention or failure to correctly process all the available information, can lead to a situation we would have preferred had not developed.

It is very difficult "to put an old head on young shoulders" and I would love folk to learn from my mistakes, but the reality is we really only learn from our own mistakes. So let us hope that our mistakes are minor and we are fast learners .

regards,

Rennie

[Eutopia]

Yes I went the RIGHT (as in left and right) side of a central island, clipping my LEFT front tyre. I.e I took an offside option around a hazard, and caught my nearside wheel.

I have read over my inital post and I feel I phrases something wrong, which is "I don't know why I hesitated on my decision, and was unaware I had hesitated until the accident".

It sounds like I blanked out, I did not, but but having waited too long to decide (a millisecond too long) which I was unaware that I had done at the time, it affected my judgement and resulted in the error.

I posted this to show that we should all learn from accidents and that this is an important factor in advance driving. As roadcraft says, an unwillingness to accept responsibilty breeds contempt and the elongation of habit forming. I was always told that the perfect driver does not exist, and so I have made efforts to correct the sceanrio should it happen again.

[James]

This is a good post.

I remember when I hit the kerb in a police car. I wasn't on a call though.

I was travelling North up The Avenue (Swiss Cottage) and approaching the roundabout which leads onto the Finchley Road, Having entered the roundabout there is a hairpin right, which is just over 90 degrees and tightens on the exit. Knowing this I had slowed to an appropriate speed (it was recorded at 20mph) and entered the right turn from the left side of my path, looking to slightly straighten it and apply minimal drive to balance the car.

Having entered and turned the wheel, full loss of control ensued. I just went in a perfect diaganol straight line into the kerb seperating the bend from Finchley Road. I did not brake through it, just tried to move the wheel straight and to the right again to regain control. Nothing. The wheel (turned to the right) hit the kerb side on and this knocked it off balance. There was no puncture however and no other damage.

Having come to a halt I saw a motorbike (brand new 04 plate bike!) on it's side in the road about 40 yards away from me and in front of me. The driver was stood to the side of the road on his phone. I was confused. Having got out of my car I instantly fell over. I was standing in about 5mm of pure oil, which was all over the road and the bend. The wheels of the car were solid with grease and I then realised what had happaned.

Fortunatley it was deemed not to count against me. Lessons to be learned? I thought at the time "Maybe I should have seen the oil?" However this bend has a naturally darker surface due to the tyre marks and wear of the tarmac. It was not obvious and did not look wet. Despite that, I still feel I should have noticed the oil. Maybe I am being too harsh on myself?

[TripleS]

You hit a kerb with your N/S (i.e. left) front tyre while you were adopting an offside position?

That sounds a bit odd or I am misunderstanding you? I would have thought you might have been at risk of hitting the central island with your RH front tyre.

Best wishes all,
Dave.

Offsiding a keep left bollard.

Thank you Von.

I was reading it as merely taking a wide line for the LH curve but still on your own side of the road, i.e. not actually going the wrong side of the island or bollard etc. My mistake, sorry.

Best wishes all,
Dave.

[waremark]

I am surprised that you would offside a traffic island just to (presumably) maintain a long view. Is that normal practise?

[James]

So long as it is safe to do so, and so long as you have crossed the line in order to maintain vision (which is what appeared to have happened) instead of purposefully crossing it to gain vision, then yes.

I can't keep count of the amount of "offsiding" I do. When it is beneficial, and safe, then it is priceless. (When done correctly).

Let's remember at this point that this is police driving where the circumstances differ greatly to civilian driving. There would be no need to do this in civilian driving, and also no exemption.

[rlmr]

Let's remember at this point that this is police driving where the circumstances differ greatly to civilian driving. There would be no need to do this in civilian driving, and also no exemption.

Not wanting to be a "killjoy" but can I stress this point for the varied readership of thus august forum.

Whilst all the UK Police Driving Schools are very similar they are all different and as Von has so often mentioned, techniques have evolved over the years to take account of changing road / traffic / vehicle developments.

At the Scottish Police College Traffic Division in 1983 I would not have been allowed to "wrong side" a traffic island during Advanced Driver training. During that intense course the only exemption we were given was on National Speed Limits. Red lights, white lines, posted speed limits etc., had to be obeyed. During the Security Escort Driver Training or Surveillance Driver Training etc., there are different rule books .

Might I be so bold as to suggest that Advanced Driving for civilians, in its purest sense, is per the SPC Training but without the NSL exemption. Let us keep the "other" techniques in their correct context.

safe driving,

Rennie

[TripleS]

I am surprised that you would offside a traffic island just to (presumably) maintain a long view. Is that normal practise?

Yes, unless I am seeing this wrongly (again!) this surprises me also.

If you're a police driver in a hurry and therefore have the appropriate exemptions open to you, I could see the merits of offsiding for the purpose of overtaking a vehicle ahead of you that was near the bollard and therefore delaying your overtaking.

Apart from this factor I tend to think the offsiding may have been relatively unrewarding and perhaps unjustified.

I trust the OP will acept this as merely being tentative thoughts from an unqualified source. I'm sorry to hear about your mishap in any case.

Best wishes all,
Dave.

[TripleS]

I can't keep count of the amount of "offsiding" I do. When it is beneficial, and safe, then it is priceless. (When done correctly).

Let's remember at this point that this is police driving where the circumstances differ greatly to civilian driving. There would be no need to do this in civilian driving, and also no exemption.

Oh I'm glad you mentioned that. I'll try to mend my ways and go the correct side of these things in future.

OK, just joking.

Best wishes all,
Dave.

[OneDragons]

I think its quite big of you as a class 1 driver to come on a public forum and admit you make mistakes. Makes me feel slightly better when I make mine .

Possibly if more people were as willing to come forward and admit to their mistakes we would all learn more?

[rlmr]

Possibly if more people were as willing to come forward and admit to their mistakes we would all learn more?

I think you can take it for granted that we all make mistakes... some you might not notice and some which make headlines. I for one would be over the moon if folk would actually learn from my mistakes rather than them having to learn from their personal experience. Actually I would be delighted if only my son & daughter could get my experience and not have to amass their own . However in life we do seem to learn from what we do rather than what others say.

Thinking back to my Sailing Instruction we have an old, well worn, maxim:

• I hear - I forget
• I see - I remember
• I do - I understand

So much as I endorse your post... sadly I think we do learn more from our own experiences... but even if a small % gives food for thought, the posts have been worthwhile.