Forward Vision #95

The Newsletter of Chelmsford Advanced Motorists

www.iamchelmsford.org.uk Issue 95 August & September 2012 IAM Group 7223 Registered Charity No 1059372

Put that into your commentary

Chelmsford Advanced Motorists Issue 95


Associates, Full Members & Guests Welcome

Forthcoming Group Meetings These are usually held on the 2nd Monday of each month

at the Essex Police Sports and Social Club, Which is through the Police vehicle park at the very end of St. Margarets Road,

Chelmsford.

Group Meetings start promptly at 8pm, so please arrive at around 7.45pm.

Make a note in your diary and please be there!

http://www.essexexplorer.co.uk/cam.kmz

Date Topic Speaker

Monday September 10th

Supertyres Team Protyre

Monday October 8th

'Where there's blame'. An insight into witness testimony.

Steve Wright

Disclaimer—Please note that the views and opinions expressed in this Newsletter are those of the individual writers and they do not necessarily reflect those of the Institute of Advanced Motorists, nor those of the Chelmsford and District Group of Advanced Motorists. Their accuracy has not been verified.

Notice—Data Protection Act: records are held of members personal details submitted on their application form. The information will be used solely for the Group’s administration purposes and will not be passed to any third party.

CM2 6DS


to our new Associate and Full Members.

We look forward to seeing and talking to them at our monthly Group nights

We are a friendly bunch, so don’t be worried about coming to our Group nights if you are on your own.

Make yourself known to John who will greet you at the desk, he will find one of us to come and talk to you. John will also try to get you to part with some money for the raffle.

There will be Senior Observers, Observers and generally an Examiner at the evening and you will be able to get answers to any questions that you have.

Please come along, we’ll even give you tea or coffee and there is a bar - for light refreshments obviously!

Terry Joyce

July group night

Our speaker, Dr Tim Nicklin from Ford brought along a Ford Escape a plug in Hybrid car. He talked to us about the complex subject of hybrid cars, explaining the different combinations that are possible. He told us about how Ford Hybrid cars use the Atkinson cycle engine and how the engine and electric drive combined. The Atkinson engine is more efficient than convential engines although they have lower bottom end torque but this is not a concern because of the electric contribution. A fascinating and complex subject which brought many questions from the members.

Jennifer Richards Maldon Liberty Weeks South Woodham Ferrers

Matthew Davies Manningtree Emma Cox Chelmsford

John Amos Chelmsford Katie Metcalf Great Totham

Barry Smith Maldon


Please remember: Do telephone both your Observer and Scott Bannister ( Associates Co-ordinator ) immediately after your test.

Congratulations to these latest Members of our Group

who have Passed

‘The Test’.

To all those people who have passed their test: It would be appreciated if you could write a few words thanking your Observer and maybe something about the process and your test, to give those New Associates an insight into the process of learning Advanced Driving.

Roll No Name Test Date Observer

972 Ken Carrington 7th June Brian Williams

973 Nicola Milburn 19th June Scott Bannister

974 Glen Smith 8th July Rob Wise

975 Keith Lovell 19th July Roger Spall


From the Chairman

Hi there,

This is my first piece as Chairman of the Group and I must start by paying due respect to my predecessor. Graham Lowe did a great job for three years. Not just in terms of chairing the committee, but also in fronting up the Group nights and running our Driver Experience Days at Dunton. We have been fortunate to have his services and I hope he will stick around in some capacity now that his chairmaning days are over.

As regards, the way forward for our Group? Well, we are in pretty good shape, con-sidering the recession but numbers of new associates has dropped considerably and shows no signs of picking up any time soon. It’s not an unmitigated disaster in that we are very solvent and there still is an influx, but we have been used to growth and it hits hard when the growth goes into reverse. So, our efforts in the year ahead will be concentrating on what we can do to spread the message to as wide an audience as possible. So, if you know of anybody that needs a bit of a push to get them through our doors, feel free to threaten them with physical violence. Also if any of you know of any club or society that would welcome us as speakers, I am happy to talk to any-body. It has proved successful in the past talking directly to people so it’s something I am keen on. Fees for this service are extremely reasonable…….approaching zero in fact!!

By the time you read this, Summer will be drawing to a close and I hope you all have enjoyed the three days it lasted. On the positive side, the changeable weather has meant some challenging driving conditions and that makes our driving life more inter-esting. Unfortunately, the rain has caused strong growth in all that green stuff that bor-ders the country lanes and sight-lines are not what they were during the cold Winter months, so progress is not so good. Still it means that a road you know well becomes completely different in the different seasons and different weather conditions. This stops me getting bored with familiar roads. Of course the Council and the utility com-panies like to help in making things more interesting - digging as many holes as pos-sible. I appreciate that sometimes, holes have to be dug and sometimes they are on our roads, but what has been annoying me recently is the new system of digging holes on pavements/verges and putting up cones and temporary traffic lights so that they can park a single van on the road. I suppose their excuse is that it’s a health and safety issue. One can’t help wondering what kind of people they are employing that can’t be taught to not go out on the road !!

Scott


Please contact me

by email at

[email protected]

~~~~~~~~ Editorial ~~~~~~~~

Terry Joyce

Hello,

I am delighted that I have received a number of letters and articles for the

newsletter, please keep it up.

Our members don’t always take the opportunity to go on a Driver Experi-

ence Day at Dunton, so in the past we have offered other groups a chance

to take part. There is a report from one of their members on pages 16 and

17.

Please check out page 26 for our group nights and events for the rest of

this year.

Many Thanks to Sue Sweetland for her patient and educated

assistance in producing this Newsletter.

We are in need of an

Events organiser

Can YOU help

or can you suggest speakers or relevant subjects for our group nights.


Our new Group Enquiry number: - 07757 399897

Chairman Associates Co-ordinator & Chief Observer

Scott Bannister

Secretary Colin Snow

Treasurer John Johnston

Membership Secretary Ken Carrington

Website Editor Jon Ward

Newsletter Editor Terry Joyce

Events Organiser

Publicity John Stone

Group Contact Susan Sweetland

Committee Member Dr Clifford Murira

Committee Member Steve Wright

Committee Member John Ockmore

Hon. Committee Member Ken Howard

Committee Member Pat Clements

Committee

Honorary Life Members Mr Mike Corbett, Mr Glyn Jarrett, Mrs Ruth Jarrett, Mr Dave Travers

Observer Examiner Gaynor Manthorpe

Motoring Milestone

1953, two major steps in the development of car tyres took place in this year and I was born.

Michelin produced the first successful radial ply tyre and tubeless tyres were introduced to Britain by Dunlop.

Selected by Terry Joyce, Courtesy of Heritage Motor Centre, Gaydon


Signals

For those of you that missed my short presentation at the last group nights I’d like to share my thoughts on the use of signals. For those of you that were there – apologies for the repeat. What prompted me to think more about signals was the way a number of associates trot out the mantra pushed by ADI’s on to learners – mirrors-signal-manoeuvre. Nothing wrong with that of course. If that’s all they remember in years to come it’s not a bad chant but it rather implies that there is only one important signal you can give in a car and that is the indicator.

I’m not accusing ADI’s of being negligent in this regard. I daresay other signals rate a mention but they still seem to imply that indicators are you main signal. However it got me thinking about whether signals were in fact the most important. I sat and thought for about 10 minutes – about the limit before my brain explodes – and I came up with a list of 14 different signals which you can give or receive from another vehicle. Not all of equal importance, but all potentially useful when the time is right. It’s at this point I might invite you to come up with your own list to see if you can find something I’ve missed but I realise that you might not have the 10 minutes to think about it, so here is my list:

Indicators, Headlights, Reversing lights, Brake lights, Fog lights, Running lights, Hazard warning lights, Horn, Hand signals, Road position, Road speed, Vehicle type, Driver sex/age ???, Hat.

I am not going to give you a breakdown of when to use each one or discuss the rela-tive merits of each. I figure you can probably come up with that yourself, though I appreciate the last one on the list may perplex you. All I would say is that in my experience hat-wearers in cars are giving you a clue that their brains have over-heated due to the presence of the hat and they are about to do something stupid. You could if you wished substitute the hat as a clue for those silly little plastic flags that seem to appear every time there is a football match.

I would though leave you with a question. If I was to tell you that you had to do without one of these signals for a week which one would you be most reluctant to give up? I suppose it’s another way of asking which one is really the most important. In case you are looking for answers to the question, I don’t have one. I reckon there are three or four main contenders and I can’t make up my mind which one takes the gold medal. I will however say that one of my contenders is vehicle positioning. And a question to finish – ‘When you see a car in front of you running a left-hand indicator what does it tell you for sure?’ ………..answer on that one is ‘the car has a working indicator bulb !!’ If you came up with a different answer you were wrong. Think about the words ‘for sure’.

Scott Bannister


Valeting and Detailing

Following the presentation by Meguiars at April's group night and my experience of using their products and others, I thought I'd share my experiences. I've been valeting and now detailing my cars for a number of years. I am also a member of a number of car forums where professional detailers post their experiences and advice.

Washing the car - I use the two bucket method. One for the shampoo and the other as a rinse bucket with grit guard. I use Meguiars microfibre wash mitt and their gold class car wash shampoo. It is OK but I do not find it lifts the dirt particularly well but it does rinse and dry well. People sometimes mistake lots of bubbles and foam as an indica-tion of a good car shampoo. It's only air and so does nothing to help remove the dirt. Also many products contain fillers and thickening agents that do nothing apart from fool some people into thinking a thick / gloopey product must be good. I'm now trying a citrus pH neutral sham-poo that claims not to strip off wax or sealant, dilutes to 1 to 4000 and which aims to lift of dirt to reduce the risk of swirls by Chemical Guys. Like Meguiars it's an American company. There are a number of UK companies such as Fare-cla G3, Autoglym and Dodo Juice to name a few. Zainol shampoo is also made in the UK and gets good reviews on forums. Dodo Juice is a new company run by enthusi-asts and their products are 100% natural and all hand made. They have recently won a number of awards and also get excellent reviews on forums. I will be trying their products next as I’d rather use natural ingredients, no gimmicks and made in the UK products.

Clay bars - I used to think were a marketing gimmick until I used one a few years ago. A car may look clean but it's amazing the amount of contaminants / dirt, a clay bar will remove after washing. I've used Meguiars before but a company from Essex, Bilt Hamber make the best clay bars and theirs work with water too so no need to buy de-tailing lubricant.

Polishes - I use Farecla Smooth Compound with a rotary polisher to get rid of minor swirls to give a deep mirror finish. Meguiars Scratch X is very good for removing tar-geted scratches as opposed to complete panels as it is more abrasive than Farecla.

Glaze – a glaze is a super fine polish with ingredients to brighten the paint before waxing. For dark cars, I can thoroughly recommend EZ Creme Glaze with Acrylic Shine, also from Chemical Guys. It produces a mirror like finish also smells wonderful. Wax – over the years I’ve tried many waxes and the following is my experience. Turtle Wax is full of fillers and easily washes off. Meguiars NXT is also full of fillers and leaves so much dust like Turtle Wax that it's annoying to buff off.

Continued on Page 11


Valeting and Detailing continued

Meguiars Gold Class is better but a wax that is by far superior (especially for dark cars) is Pete's 53, which is a carnuba wax and smells lovely. It is a real wax that is affected by ambient temperature and is a joy to apply to paintwork and buff off. It's durable and helps prevent dirt sticking to the paint. It may seem expensive but a little goes a very long way like Dodo Juice's products. I’ll be trying the Dodo Super Natural Wax next.

Wheels - specific wheel cleaners are a waste of money and many are too harsh and can easily damage alloys, lacquer or remove wax. I use the same car shampoo for wheels that I use for the paintwork. Use wax on wheels for protection and make it easier for brake dust to be cleaned off.

Tyres – I’ve used two products only. Amor All – not very durable and Meguiars’ Hot Shine in spray form. This product is so good, it give the tyres a glossy shine and is very durable. Also it’s much better to apply using a cloth by holding the cloth over the nozzle and apply the liquid to the tyre, as a little goes along way. So long in fact, I’ve had the same spray for over 5 years and it’s still over a 1/3

rd full!

Under bonnet / engine cleaner – I have used Autoglym’s Engine Machine cleaner – very effec-tive, easy to use and biodegradable. It must be followed with Vinyl & Rubber Care on plastic and rubber parts.

Interior – I use a little warm water and fairy liquid for glass and plastic trim pieces. For protecting plastic / vinyl parts from the sun and restoring colour / lustre, I use the same Vinyl & Rubber Care product as above. I also use it on all exterior rubber parts such as door seals and window seals to protect against the sun and road salt.

For carpets – plain fabric detergent works best and no need to buy specific car prod-ucts.

For leather – by far the best products are made by Gliptone. Their Liquid Leather range is consistently voted the best by car forums and many professionals. They are also a UK company. Their website makes interesting reading explaining how all-in-one leather cleaners & conditioners cannot work and what is the best product for your car, sofa or handbag. They also sell dye and restoration kits and can colour match any colour.

Anthony Shilson


Changes in the New Highway Code (2007)

© Crown copyright 2007

Highway Code

269

Hard shoulder. You MUST NOT use the hard shoulder for over-

taking. In areas where an Active Traffic Management (ATM) Scheme is in force, the hard shoulder may be used as a running

lane. You will know when you can use this because a speed limit

sign will be shown above all open lanes, including the hard

shoulder. A red cross or blank sign above the hard shoulder

means that you MUST NOT drive on the hard shoulder except in an emergency or breakdown. Emergency refuge areas have also

been built into these areas for use in cases of emergency or

breakdown.

[Laws MT(E&W)R regs 5, 5A & 9, MT(S)R regs 4 & 8]

Motorways

Active Traffic Management and laws have been added.

Stopping You MUST NOT stop on the carriageway, hard shoul-

der, slip road, central reservation or verge except in an emer-gency, or when told to do so by the police, HA traffic officers in

uniform, an emergency sign or by flashing red light signals. Do

not stop on the hard shoulder to either make or receive mobile

phone calls.

[Laws MT(E&W)R regs 5A, 7, 9, 10 & 16,MT(S)R regs 6(1), 8, 9 & 14, PRA 2002 sect 41 & sched 5(8), & RTA 1988 sects 35 & 163 as amended by TMA 2004, sect 6]

270

The wording has been modified and laws added.


Ron Adams

Scott Bannister

Pat Clements

Philip Cooper

Paul Crosby

Jamie Drummond

Max Ford

Tony Hawes

Helen Jeffries

Terry Joyce

Rob Laird

George Locker

Graham Lowe

Gaynor Manthorpe

John May

Janet Miller

Dr Clifford Murira

John Ockmore

Roger Spall

Lawrence Tattersall

John Tullett

David Wall

Brian Williams

Rob Wise

Our Observers

An Introduction to 4x4 driving on Saturday November 17th.

Increase your driving skills and have fun.

Book your place. Not to be missed, contact Scott for details.

The instructor demonstrates each section of the course prior to you taking your turn. They are carried out in a light hearted but professional manner.

The course has challenges and excitement. Steep inclines, muddy pits, tight corners, deep ruts and lots of mud.

Educational and Fun. Come and have a go. Terry Joyce


Commentary I can hear the sharp intake of breath, when the word commentary is mentioned. Lots of people dread trying to give a commentary and I was one of them. When I started training to be an advanced driver, I never thought that I would be able to give a fluent commentary. Although I found it difficult, it was the single most important factor that improved my driving. Initially you say things that you see, like warning signs, speed limit changes but what you don’t tend to do is link that to your thought process. It is just a list of words coming out of your mouth. The hard bit is to link what you have seen with what you need to do about it.

So the question is how do we give a good commentary? Practice, practice practice. Well that is the beginning anyway. I believe that Information is the most important part of the ‘System’ and without it a commentary is not possible. It is the catalyst that brings the other parts of the system together. If we can gather enough information and most importantly use it, we are gradually able to see more hazards and be able to pri-oritise them.

We use several senses to gather information to allow us to utilise the other parts of the system. The most frequently used of these is our eyesight, which accounts for 95% of the sensory input while we are driving. We use it to judge distances, widths, look for clues as to what might happen, to allow us to plan our journey. The more we are able to see and more importantly, able to process, the better drivers we will be-come. In busy situations, sometimes it is difficult to process everything around us. How are we able to see more?

We need to give our self plenty of time to have a look. When I say plenty of time, It could be between half a second and say a couple of seconds. We need to recognise minute changes to the road ahead and situations that may be developing. Sometimes our brain cannot take in everything that is happening. We can give our self time by us-ing acceleration sense. As soon as you spot a brake light coming on, a pedestrian getting closer to the kerb or a pink mouse running across the road (I just used that for dramatic effect), lift that right foot, reassess the situation and ask the question, can I accelerate or do I need to brake.

We can use other senses to complete a picture in our mind. By lowering the window slightly, we can listen for noise, other traffic, children, horses and the list goes on. Smell can also help to give us further information, cut grass, even smells we are not able to identify. If you smell something, it is warning you that you may not know 100% what is happening around, be vigilant.

I’ve just scratched the surface of this subject, if you get a chance read Roadcraft and Human Aspects of Police Driving to get a better understanding of how our brain can be trained to make our driving better and allow us the time to talk about it too. Now lets talk more about commentary and observation links.

Continued on page 15


Commentary continued

What is happening in the picture below? What can we see and what are we going to do about it? Firstly let’s talk about Observation Links. They are clues to what you might expect to see or meet.

Equine Defecation otherwise known as Horse S**t. It looks fairly fresh, so it is reasonable to expect a horse to be around that left hand bend. It is important for us to store these links and what if sce-narios in our brain, because when we see them again, our brain is able to process them quicker than if we have just seen them and have to think what they mean. Below I have picked a few more links to get you started. Please send me your obser-vation links, so that I can pass them on to our members.

From the picture above, the top sign is warning you of possible flooding, so you can now picture that horse you are going to meet trotting through the flood waters. By giving yourself these slightly ridiculous pictures in your mind, they will be more acces-sible when you need them.

You are driving along a country lane, national speed limit and in the distance you a spot some cottages. It is likely that there will be a change in speed limit. You are now mentally prepared for that change and if it does materialise, you will deal with it better.

The simple Bus Stop sign, just another sign. No it has just warned you that you are travelling along a bus route. Think of a bright orange bus. If and when you see a bus you should already have a plan in your head as to how you are going to deal with it.

You are driving along that national speed limit rural road, flanked by hedges. It looks safe, you acceler-ate up to 60mph. Look for gaps and imagine a pink and white spotted combine harvester pulling out into the road.

Use Commentary to help you identify hazards, prioritise them and plan your drive

More in the next issue. Please let me have your thoughts on Commentary.

Terry Joyce


A Day on the Track

A sunny and warm September day was a perfect day for exercising our cars and en-suring we know how our cars perform in extreme conditions. Early signs were good as the car park filled with a wide variety of cars, ranging from sporty, such as Mazda MX-5, BMW Z4, Porsche 911, Honda Civic Type-R and a Caterham together with some non sporty ones like a Fiesta, Primera and Corolla. Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take pictures in case any prototype Ford was being tested (there weren’t).

For those of you who don’t know, Ford Dunton is located near Basildon, just off the A127. It can best be described as 2 banked bends connected by a four lane single carriageway, approximately 500m long. Ford had kindly loaned us the track without charge but a small donation was required from each participant to be donated to Essex Air Ambulance.

The first ‘test’ was a few laps of the track at 50-70mph to get a feel for the corners which are banked at 40 degrees in places. That was quite an eye opener, especially as the concrete road surface was in sections and things got a bit bumpy on the gaps. The Civic driver scraped his front spoiler once, so took it easy after that. A sign ad-vises you of a ‘neutral’ speed of 47mph whereby you shouldn’t need to steer to get around the bend thanks to the banking, how-ever, that was a lot harder than it appeared.

There is a 70mph limit on the track, however only the brave or foolhardy at-tempted that speed around the banking (yes it was quite scary).

The first set of manoeuvre were slaloms around 2 sets of ten cones followed by a fig-ure of 8. The first slalom was achieved in second gear using push-pull steering. The second set of cones were closer together and required a more responsive (i.e. des-perate) method of steering.

The figure of 8 was quite difficult for cars with poor steering lock, such as the Porsche and the Honda. They both entered the gravel trap a few times. Everyone got the chance for several runs and we all worked out better ways of getting around the obstacles.

Continued on Page 17


A Day on the Track continued

The Caterham and Z4 did these with ease, mainly thanks to good manoeuvrability and lots of steering lock.

The remaining manoeuvres were all about braking.

There was a straight braking test from 30mph, then 40mph and then 70mph. The Civic, with its fat front tyres and modern ABS system performed the best although there wasn't much difference between any of the cars. It is really impressive how lit-tle space is required for modern cars to stop, when you make full use of the brakes, although, of course, this test didn't take into account thinking time. There was a defi-nite smell of hot brakes and even burning rubber from the non-ABS Caterham and the 16 year old Porsche with an antiquated ABS system. Other interesting sights were noticing a Fiesta's hazard warning lights automatically come on under hard braking. An Astra has a similar system, which worked by rapid flashing of the brake lights. It was certainly noticeable and looked an effective way of notifying traffic be-hind.

Of course the raison d'etre of ABS is to retain steering control whilst braking hard. The next test allowed us to put that theory into practice by driving towards a 'V' of cones at 60mph with the pointy end of the 'V' facing you. A brave observer stood behind the cones and when you started to get close, they waved their left or right arm to indicate the sudden emergence of a haz-ard and the direction in which you should steer your car whilst braking hard. In some ways this test was an anti climax because, for such an extreme manoeuvre, all the cars seemed to manage without drama. Some extreme body roll was noticed on the softer sprung cars but there were no spins or slides.

Highlights of the day for me were being a passenger in the Z4 with the roof down, the sun and wind in my hair and sound of the straight six engine filling my ears. As the track was closed off, there was also an opportunity to hear an air-cooled Porsche 911 being revved to the limit whilst it spun its wheels up the track for the start of another test.

For a small donation to the Essex Air Ambulance you get to experience how your car will respond should you ever encounter emergency conditions. Leo Sarafin-North East London & Essex Group of Advanced Motorists Pictures by Terry Joyce


A South African Experience ….continued

It is common to see open trucks travelling with up to a dozen workmen sitting in the back, often along the sides of the truck. It only needs emergency braking or other manoeuvre and half of them will be deposited on the road. Drivers even carry young children in the backs of pick-ups and no-one seems to turn a hair. Our small house has central heating in the form of a wood-burning stove in the centre of the living area (most houses don’t even have that) and, early on, I laid in a supply of fuel. We went to the local greengrocer, oddly enough, and chose a large crate of hardwood logs. The owner whistled up two lads who forklifted the crate onto a “backkie” (pick-up). It didn’t quite fit and hung out at the back, leaving the tailgate swinging freely. The lads sat on top of the pile to hold it in place. As we were only going about 3 km back to our house it was not thought worth the trouble to rope the crate to the backkie.

There are road hazards in SA not met, or even thought about, at home in England. One is the Chacma baboons. These are wild and rove around in small troops. They can be seen, not regularly but occasionally, anywhere on the Cape but more especially to the south away from Cape Town city. They have no road sense what-ever. On the other hand they are highly intelligent and are quite capable of opening car doors. A troop on the road will stop traffic and if your doors are not locked one may well join you as a temporary passenger while he roots around for any food titbits you may have. The males are large and aggressive animals and I have seen one raid a cafeteria, to the considerable consternation of a number of tourists inside, and make off with as many packets of crisps and chocolate bars as it could carry

Even more unexpected are the penguins, though there is only one colony of African Penguins on the Cape. The car parks near to the colony all have signs exhorting visi-tors to look under their cars, before driving away, in case a penguin is sleeping there. They make a good photo to show folks back home! A considerable number of the birds are killed on the nearby main road each year; drivers just do not expect to find a large and slow-moving bird suddenly appear in front of them, or to be sheltering from the sun under their cars. Then there are the sharks that have taken to eating swimmers at our nearby seaside town of Fish Hoek, much to the dismay of the Tourist Board and the local Chamber of Commerce! Hazardous enough – but at least not on the roads.

Availability of parking on the Cape Peninsula is good. It is rarely a problem to find a space close to your destination. (It may be different in the City of course). Roads are comfortably wide with designated parking spaces clearly marked and with the bonus that nearly all parking is nominally free. I say ‘nominally’ because included with any group of half a dozen spaces or more is usually an attendant. These men are not paid a wage, appear to be self-appointed, but are accepted throughout the

Continued on page 19


A South African Experience continued

Peninsula and are usually recognised by a tabard or other item of dress. They make a small income from tips for ‘looking after your car’. (They also carry shopping bags and produce brollies on the rare times that it rains). I am entirely comfortable with this arrangement. With an unemployment rate of around 35% these men have found a useful job to do, rather than begging, and the Clio has never been tampered with when there has been an attendant in the vicinity.

The last hazard I will mention, especially for drivers new to the Cape Peninsula, is the scenery! Where it is not beautiful it is spectacular. For its size, the Cape must have as much beauty packed into it as anywhere else on earth. It is a hard job to keep your eyes where they should be, on the road, when there is so much to look at pass-ing by.

And what about Rita? Even two years after her ‘stroke’ she still suffered from several disabilities and her walking was painfully slow. Any further than about 200 yards and the wheelchair was used. That was the time that her potential was re-assessed. The prognosis was not good – Rita had no capability for any improve-ment from then on, apparently, and a steady deterioration was the more likely future for her. Three months after that assessment was made we began the first of our two winters in SA, (it being the summer there of course.)

Rita has received rehabilitation therapy throughout those two visits. Progress was rapid - the wheelchair has been gathering dust now for over a year. Two weeks before writing this note she undertook her longest walk yet. This was one of 8 km in the mountains of the Cape Peninsula, some 25 km south of Table Mountain. It involved a hike along a poorly surfaced track that climbed to 2,400 feet at the highest point and she accomplished the full distance without difficulty. Not bad for any 73 year-old, especially one who had been ‘written off’ less than two years earlier. Three cheers for South Africa I say – and no, I am not in the employment of the South African Tourist office!

David Guthrie


JACKSON ENGINEERING

STATION GARAGE HIGH STREET. ONGAR. CM5 9HH

Telephone: 01277 363707

SERVICING & REPAIRS

EXHAUSTS

MoT TESTING OF PETROL & DIESEL VEHICLES

WE NOW TEST MOTORCYCLES AND 3 WHEELERS

JAPANESE 4 WHEEL DRIVE VEHICLES SERVICED

AND REPAIRED

FREE COLLECTION AND DELIVERY

A British summer, we’re told, consists of three fine days and a thunderstorm. Well we’ve had five fine days in the last week plus torrential rain with lightning and thunder. Needless to say, there were those of us who were complaining that it was too hot but then, we’re never satisfied. So, summer means: warm weather if we’re lucky; runner beans from the garden; bees and birds and butterflies; children outside until late evening; groups of youngsters showing off by walking down the middle of the road; the chance to have my morning cup of tea outside; swifts screaming as they fly. By the way, I’m typing this on Monday 30

th July and so far we’ve had 113mm (about

four and a half inches in old money) of rain. Time to have a word with Pluvius, I think!

Susan Sweetland


Join us for a 14 or 28 mile cycle ride along Southend Seafront and surrounding countryside.

ENTRY FORM 01702 544964

or southendbikeathon.co.uk


Dear Mrs Manthorpe, Thank You. We were delighted to receive your kind donation of £240 raised from your Advanced Motorists Driver Experience Day.

On behalf of all the people who have assisted, we would like to say a big and heartfelt thank your- your support is very much appreciated.

The Essex Air Ambulance is a vital life-saving Helicopter Emergency Medical Service for the County. It costs in the region of £250,000 per month to cover all charitable costs and aircraft operations. In this current economic climate when fundraising contributions have declined, it makes it even more difficult for us to reach this essential monthly figure.

Every day, volunteers, the public and local businesses work tirelessly to help raise the required amount to keep your lifesaving helicopter flying seven days a week.

The introduction of Doctors on board means that we can now provide enhanced critical care at the scene, The doctors work alongside the Paramedics bringing two sets of skills to the benefit of patients, enabling lifesaving procedures to be carried out which would not otherwise be possible so early in the treatment process.

For all our latest news, please visit EssexAirAmbulance.uk.com - it’s a great way to keep in touch and to find out about our new and exciting plans for the future.

If you would like to receive our twice yearly newsletter or would welcome news of events via text or email, please check our website.

Once again, on behalf of us all, a very sincere thank you. We hope you will continue to support us.

Yours sincerely

Nina Benscher

On behalf of the Aircrew and Fundraising Team.


CHELMSFORD ADVANCED MOTORISTS

LIBRARY LIST

DVDs

Drive Smarter, Essential know-how for your driving career (2 copies) By Gem Motoring Assist

Roadcraft, The Police Driver’s Course on Advanced Driving By The Police Foundation

PC CD-ROMs

The Interactive Highway Code HMSO/ Interactive Driving Systems

Hazard Perception Test HMSO/Oasis

BOOKS

Roadcraft TSO Human Aspects of Police Driving Scottish Police College The Tyre Digest (2 copies) Michelin

Driving Abroad Robert Davies

The Official Highway Code Rev. 2007 Edition HMSO

The Official Guide to Accompanying L-Drivers DSA

Sideways to Victory Roger Clark

The Myway Code Ian Vince/Dan Kieran

Paul Ripley’s Expert Driving Daily Telegraph

The Inner Game of Tennis W Timothy Gallwey

Mind Driving Stephen Haley

Older Drivers – Safe or Unsafe? IAM Traffic– Why we drive the way we do Tom Vanderbilt

CDs

Awake, Driver Reviver THINK

Advanced Road Craft Bespoke Driving Training

The Driving Test – Your Licence to Drive IAM/Safety on the Move


Notification of Events

There has been a lot of positive feedback from events organised by the Group. If you would like to be kept informed of any up and coming events please make sure that David Wall has your current email address.

Young Driver Scheme

Do you know of anyone who is not 17 years of age, but wants to learn how to drive?

In partnership with DICE ( the Driving Instructors Club of Essex), our Group has launched a road safety scheme to give people the opportunity to learn basic car control skills in Driving School Dual Controlled cars on private land before they go on the public Highway.

getting behind the wheel (again, or for the first time).

Full details of the scheme, a letter from Essex Police and a map may be viewed, and the application Form can be downloaded, from

www.youngdriverscheme.org

Lessons, lasting for one hour, are run on the third Sunday of most months at Earls Colne (near Coggeshall). There is an initial Registration Fee of £28 which covers registration and the first one hour lesson. Subsequent lessons cost £24. Lessons must be booked in advance.

The scheme is intended primarily for 16 year-olds but, if vacancies permit, places may be offered to 15 year-olds or even to older people who are nervous about

Alternatively, forms may be obtained from the YDS Organiser.

Nicola Hyland, 67 Main Road,

St Lawrence Bay, Southminster,

CM0 7NA

Dedicated Mobile number

07847 645632 or

[email protected]


Group Nights & Events 2012

Please make a note in your diary

Monday September 10th

Supertyres Team Protyre TBC

Sunday October 7th

Skid Pan

Monday October 8th

'Where there's blame'. An insight into witness testimony.

Steve Wright

Monday November 12th

Essex Police ANPR/Interceptor Team Fame or Failure?

TBC

Saturday November 17th

4 x 4 Experience

Monday December 10th

Christmas Quiz Night & Buffet Andy Jarrett

Membership Secretary As a fairly recent recruit to the Chelmsford group, I attended the AGM last month, and by the end of the evening, went home as Membership Secretary. For three years, between 2001 and 2003, I was Membership Secretary for the Alfa Romeo Owners Club with a membership of around 4000, so I am sure that experience will help. As part of the task, I look forward to getting to know more group members in the future.

Ken Carrington


Congratulations

Here are some of our successful members receiving their certificate from our new Chairman Scott Bannister

Ken Carrington our new Membership Secretary. His Observer was Brian Williams

Having talked about doing this for years, I am delighted to have passed my test, and to do it with a ‘First’ is the icing on the cake. I owe this to Brian Williams, and must thank him for his guidance and encouragement.

Ian Smith His Observer was Gaynor Manthorpe


The links below are to websites that you may have an interest in. Please

let me know if any of them are not working. Email me if you think of any websites that may be of interest.

IAM DrivingAdvice & Tips

http://www.iam.org.uk/driving_advice_and_tips

Online Highway Code

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Highwaycode/index.htm

Know your traffic signs

http://www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consum_dg/groups/dg_digitalassets/@dg/@en/@motor/documents/digitalasset/dg_191955.pdf

Tyresafe

http://www.tyresafe.org

Drive Alive

http://www.drive-alive.co.uk

Heritage Motor Centre http://www.heritage-motor-centre.co.uk/

Photo by T.Joyce

Sadlers Farm Junction

Members of our Group man stands at various shows during the year to promote Advanced Driving and try to recruit new members. If you know of any shows that might be useful in this quest please let us know.

Dave Travers, Eric Jones and Pat Clements at the Maldon Car Show

This car was at the

Maldon Car Show.

What is it?

Who owns it?

How much do you

think it is worth?

Forward Vision #95

Documents

Transcript of Forward Vision #95