ROSPA Driving Instructor Portsmouth

We welcome Phil as our new ROSPA Trained Driving Instructor for all the Portsmouth Gosport and Fareham areas. Phil offers driving lessons, Fleet driver Training, Pass Plus and Advanced driving courses to all pupils.

ROSPA is an independent, registered charity which was created in 1917 in response to an 'alarming increase in traffic accidents' in London. Today, RoSPA promotes safety in all areas of life – on the road, in the home, at work, in schools, at leisure and on or near water. Our aim is to Save Lives and Reduce Injuries.

The breadth of RoSPA’s expertise allows us to draw lessons from different areas, schools of thought and approaches to injury prevention. Indeed, this is how RoSPA began its Managing Occupational Road Risk campaign in 1996, which has led to ‘at-work road safety’ being a key priority in the UK’s road safety strategy today. Other examples of RoSPA’s contribution to road safety over the years include the formation of a national network of local road safety committees (the forerunner of today’s local authority road safety officer service), the National Cycling Proficiency Scheme, the Tufty Club, compulsory seat belt wearing (RoSPA’s President introduced an amendment to the Transport Bill in 1981), and the ban on using a hand-held mobile phone while driving.

Safety organisations can be accused of taking safety problems too seriously and encouraging ‘hypersafety’, ‘excessive risk aversion’ and the ‘nanny state’. However, “Absolute safety” is neither feasible nor desirable, since it would come at such cost to our freedoms. Common sense and balance is essential when developing and promoting safety interventions. There are clearly areas where prescription, through regulation, legislation or standards, is essential, for example, the nuclear, chemical or aviation industries. On the other hand, people need to be able to get on with their lives and be free to decide what risks they wish to take, provided they are not putting others in danger.

The difficulty is where to draw the line - too prescriptive, and accusations of the “nanny state” fly around; too casual and people would undoubtedly be forced to take unknowing risks. RoSPA draws the line with two simple questions:

1) Is the intervention proportionate to the risk? If the problem is not that great, steer towards the lighter touch, but if the evidence demands more guidance, consider intervention.

2) What would be the effect on others? Someone who puts only themselves at risk should have the freedom to do so; but if an act can kill or injure others, it must be proscribed or regulated. A solo mountain climber fits into the first category; a speeding motorist the second.

ROAD SAFETY
Great Britain has one of the best road safety records in Europe and the world. Despite massive increases in traffic over the last few decades, the number of people killed on our roads has fallen from around 5,500 per year in the mid 1980s to just over 2,500 in 2008. However, this still means that around 7 people die on Britain’s roads every day.

Road Casualties in Great Britain, 2008
Killed 2,538
Seriously Injured 26,034
Slightly Injured 202,333
All casualties 230,905

Common causes of these unnecessary tragedies include:

Speeding
Over 700 people a year are killed in crashes in which someone exceeds the speed limit or drives too fast for the conditions.

Drink Driving
Over 450 people a year die in crashes in which someone was over the legal drink drive limit.

Seat Belt Wearing
Nearly 400 lives each year could be saved if everyone always wore their seat belt.

Careless Driving
Over 400 deaths a year involve someone being ‘careless, reckless or in a hurry’.

At-work
Around one third of fatal and serious road crashes involve someone who was at work.

Inexperience
Over 300 newly-qualified drivers and their passengers are killed in car crashes a year.

Road safety is one of the most important areas of RoSPA’s work. As almost all road crashes involve human error, ranging from simple mistakes to deliberate dangerous and illegal behaviour, our key issue is the need to improve the standard of driving and riding. RoSPA supports a twin-track approach of making it as easy as possible to use the roads safely and responsibly and voluntarily and willingly comply with road traffic law, and of increasing the likelihood of catching, and the punishment for, those who choose not to do so.

RoSPA:

* Raises awareness and provides advice, help, training and information for all road users and the general public
* Provides road safety education resources and guidance
* Provides advice and guidance, practical products and services to help employers manage their occupational road risk
* Supports the work of other professionals and practitioners in road safety
* Supports the development and implementation of national road safety strategies