Avoiding Accidents in Newbury
According to RoSPA’s (The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents) website, in 2018 the UK saw 186 deaths due to drivers exceeding the speed limit, with thousands more seriously injured for the same reason. Speed can kill.
You might expect that most fatalities would take place on roads where the speed limit is higher, but this is counterintuitive. (Most of us will remember the harrowing road-safety advert in which a young girl tells us “Hit me at 40mph and there’s an 80% chance I’ll die. Hit me at 30mph and there’s an 80% chance I’ll live.”) Two-thirds of the road accidents that kill or injure people take place on roads where the speed limit is 30mph or less. This is because the conditions in these areas are not suitable for speeds higher than the allocated limit. Environments with 20/30mph speed limits have more possible distractions, such as cyclists and pedestrians. Reaction time against dangers is exponentially reduced the faster the driver decides to go.
Despite the obvious danger to life that speeding poses, it is imperative that driving instructors highlight other risks that might encourage people to keep within the speed limit. The minimum penalty for speeding is a £100 fine and 3 penalty points. If you end up in court and are found guilty of speeding you can be charged up to £1000 (£2’500 if you were speeding on a motorway). Not to mention that penalties associated with speeding could increase your annual car insurance bill by an average of £101.
As a learner myself, speed-awareness has been one of the hardest skills to master. Especially early on when I was overwhelmed by everything happening beyond the windscreen, it was difficult to habituate glancing down at the speedo every few seconds or so to ensure I was within the limit. In Newbury (Berkshire), I get a good mix of roads to practise on, and it soon became clear that the limit is a limit and not a target. There are roads that I encounter which allow you to drive at 60mph but have deceptively sharp bends. So even experienced drivers might end up zooming into a ditch or a tree if the limit was matched or exceeded for the entire stretch of road. This highlights that developing good judgement is key, and we shouldn’t feel pressured into driving as fast as legally possible if the conditions are not suitable.
10 thoughts on “Avoiding Accidents in Newbury”
Peter is an excellent instructor, he is very patient and has a great way of putting you at ease. I loved his little sayings to help remember things, they will definitely help me with my driving in the future. I would thoroughly recommend him!
Thank you Ellie for your kind review. After a nervous start to lessons you managed to get to grips with driving and combat your nerves to allow you to pass first time. I hope you enjoy your freedom 🙂
Tomasz is a great Instructor, really patient and understanding and he makes sure to go through everything that could come up in your practical test. I would highly recommend him!
Thank you Sruthi for your kind words and well done on passing your driving test 🙂
Please could you get a message to Thomasz who stopped and helped me when I fell outside Newbury Rail station on Friday 2nd July. He was kind and thoughtful and made sure I was fit to walk before leaving me. He definitely sounds a perfect instruction!! Thank you once again Thomasz.
Hi Christine. I will indeed pass this message on to Tomasz and am glad he could have been of assistance to you. I hope that you are ok now. Peter 🙂
I passed my test first time today with one minor! Peter has been an amazing instructor and made me so much more confident in my test and I’m really grateful to him! Thank you!
Hi Tilly.
Thank you so much for your kind words. I hope you enjoy your freedom and lets hope you drive as well and as safely as your school friends. 🙂
Peter was a fantastic driving instructor, who enabled my son to pass his test with only one minus! His previous instructor had taught him so little in comparison & he said that Peter taught him brilliantly & we would highly recommend him. Thank you so much Peter!
Hi Larissa.
Thank you for your review. It’s always good to hear from parents. Looking forward to the next son 🙂
Comments are closed.