Driver Education

ballooba

It's been mentioned a few times here about ads that the government used to run for driver education.

I pointed out a guy undertaking on the M50 to my sister on saturday. She didn't know that it was illegal to undertake. Given that our driving tests don't cover motorways, a lot of people are likely to have the same level of knowledge.

Running ads in national press on issues such as this could be a good way of getting people to think about how they should drive and about some practices they employ being inconsiderate.

Issues that could be addressed would be: Moving to the white line when turning right to allow traffic pass on the inside, moving out of the overtaking lane if you are holding up traffic behind.

Enforcement of laws is one thing, but a lot of people appear to be oblivious to the fact that they are unnecessarily impeding thte progress of others.

My question is:

Do you think that such ads in national press would be of benefit?

seamus

ballooba wrote:

Do you think that such ads in national press would be of benefit?

As part of a multi-media campaign, yes. They tried it in late 2004 with TV ads, but from what I saw they ran for about 3 weeks and got very little airtime. For a campaign to be of any used, they should show at least once (ideally twice) in every hour, and for at least 6 months.

I don't read the paper (at least not in a paper format), so a national paper only campaign would be lost on me. Likewise some people watch very little TV but may read the papers.

prospect

TBH,

I would guesstimate that 50% of these annoying offenses are due to lack of knowledge. As you point out, your sister would happily undertake on a motorway, but she would not be a sh1t about it, she simply wouldn't realise she was doing wrong.

So, a good, clear and continuing advertising campaign could potentially remove alot of this kind of driving.

Then the remainder of people could be considered to be deliberately breaking the law for their own gain.

So, I would think it is a good idea.

Bluehair

prospect wrote:

I would guesstimate that 50% of these annoying offenses are due to lack of knowledge.

Couldn't aggree more, it'd be a fantastic idea. The number of times i've told friends "it's not the fast lane it's the overtaking lane" is amazing, same with indicating at roundabouts (a boards.ie favorite topic ).

It'd need to be pretty intensive and should cover a wide range of things to keep it fresh, everything from safe stopping distances to personal car security i.e. keeping doors locked etc.

Would be the best damn money spent on road safety in years... so naturally it won't happen. :mad:

ballooba

I wonder would the insurance interest bodies or the AA or a even a new organisation have any interest in contributing to funding this. Surely it would reduce the number of accidents. I'd throw in a few bob anyway.

Loads of people I know don't ever seem to use their mirrors. Others never seem to use indicators. Combine these two practices with a cyclist inside and the motorist turning left and you have a disaster.