Two stories caught my attention recently: transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin speaking out about unnecessary and “ugly” signs which clutter up the roads, are confusing and potentially dangerous blot on the landscape.
The other was from Specsavers revealing that one-in-three UK drivers are putting themselves and other road users at risk by not meeting the legal vision standard for driving.
Apart from thinking how ironic it was that the two stories came out at the same time, it got me thinking about the plethora of information there is to digest on our roads, the impact it has on drivers, and their behaviour.
We had a driver bemoaning his risk rating recently on our online system after scoring poorly on the knowledge section.
At the end of the day, this section of our risk assessment simply asks what road signs and markings mean, as well as other questions relating to the law such as legal tyre tread, alcohol limits etc.
His gripe was that some of the questions were “not stuff he needed to know”.
For example, he’d been asked what colour the cats’ eyes were to the right of the outside lane of a motorway.
OK, perhaps he got a tricky question but he felt it was pointless. Our opinion is that if you are driving in thick fog at night and can hardly see in front of you, you’d be glad you knew the answer to this question before you try and change lanes to the right and meet the central reservation.
But that aside, we do seem to find with some drivers a sense of flippancy about road signs.
Either that some of the more obscure ones “don’t matter” or “they’ll work them out if they ever see one”. And this argument has two sides to it.
I agree with Patrick McLoughlin that some road signs are a bit ludicrous.
However I’d also argue that with something as dangerous as being in control of a vehicle, drivers should be made to learn them, and companies should be concerned if their drivers aren’t up to speed with their road knowledge.
On the subject of eyesight, it’s worrying (but I have to say, not hugely surprising) that so many people fall below the required standard and it would be advisable for companies to ensure that all drivers are having their eyes tested each year and that the results of the test are provided to the fleet manager.
If you don’t agree and feel I’m being picky on both points, let me put this to you: if I asked you to get into an aeroplane and warned you that not only was the pilot’s eyesight a bit iffy but he also didn’t know many of the signs or warnings presented to him at the airport or in the air, would you be happy to be a passenger?
I’ll leave that one with you as you taxi past a warning sign on the runway that the pilot can neither see, nor would understand if he could!
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