A number of Herefordshire motorists lack winter driving knowledge

4:00pm Thursday 3rd January 2013 in News

JUST four per cent of Herefordshire motorists taking part in a winter driving survey say they would clear their car lights of snow or ice before setting off.

More than half of those asked say they recognise the importance of driving slower in tricky conditions yet just one in four packs an ice scraper in their vehicle.

Amey and Herefordshire Council conducted the survey by speaking to shoppers at Asda in the city.

Winter kits including scrapers, screen wash and tyre pressure gauges were handed out.

Comments(23)

William Rudd says...
4:28pm Thu 3 Jan 13

The majority I see lack any motoring skills what so ever

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bobby47 says...
4:28pm Thu 3 Jan 13

Bloody Council and Amey, Why on earth are they involving themselves in this.
Leave this stuff to the Police and common bloody sense.
This is the trouble with this idea of bloody Partnerships. You get the bloody Council and bloody Amey involving themselves in stuff that we ain't paying them to do.
Theyd do well to narrow their bloody interests and do the other stuff well instead of bogging themselves down with dross.
This is all to common nowadays. They stuff their noses into stuff that we couldn't care less about and then they hail it all as a wonderful success.
Theyll have all been on a pointless course that we paid for and then they emerge from their burrows and shower us all with their wisdom.
Bloody Rubbish!

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TwoWheelsGood says...
4:40pm Thu 3 Jan 13

bobby47 calls it 100% - WHY ON EARTH is this Council wasting even more money on things like this? What IS wrong with them? Why does my Council tax go towards giving freebies to people with next to no driving skills? If I want a tyre gauge I go and buy one - I don't expect to be given one by, and I wouldn't take one, from this bloody council. Driving safely and legally is for the police to monitor. Bloody Council - Bloody Rubbish!

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bobby47 says...
4:53pm Thu 3 Jan 13

TwoWheels, Happy new year old friend. it's bloody disgraceful!
why do 'they' think that 'we' want 'them' to hand out little gifts that 'we' are bloody paying for.
It's yet another example of 'their' deluded view of what their role is and who's money they are spending.
Leave this to the Police, the AA or RAC.
Why are they involving themselves in this?
I bloody hate this Council Leadership.

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TwoWheelsGood says...
4:58pm Thu 3 Jan 13

For once, I'll agree with Wm Rudd - the standard of driving hereabouts is absolutely dire. The worse the driving the higher the probability the driver will have no tax/insurance/licens
e, leaving the decent law abiding driver severely out of pocket after the inevitable collision, assuming they even stop. I speak as someone whose parked car was hit 4 times last year.

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littlewhitebull says...
5:11pm Thu 3 Jan 13

Dire driving standards? Please, they are even that good.
By the way who paid for the goodies handed out to the motorists? Please tell me it was not the council.

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RogerLFC says...
8:47pm Thu 3 Jan 13

I agree with bobby47 Why are the Council and Amey paying staff to do this type of Survey? The RAC and AA etc are already all over the Motoring stuff. I'd sooner AMey spend their money on sorting out the dire state of Churchill Gardens.

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Themightyboosh says...
9:52pm Thu 3 Jan 13

indicators it seems no one uses them any more
its a lottery at any roundabout
though it does seem to mainly be small jap cars driven by elderly persons.
and headlights just turn them on if the weather is awaful
the amount of people i pass on a foggy day with no lights or just side lights
no clue at all. SIDE LIGHTS DONT WORK IN FOG"srry to shout"
are road standards sliding
or are people just more thick?
i was taught by my dear old dad
"its not what you see is important its what people see you"
solid advice indeed
and after 27 years ,no accidents,no tickets,and currently driving and enjoying a 200+hp car which i drive livley within our current laws
the only way to stop this problem is
more road cops
of the old school. stop/chat/imform

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Themightyboosh says...
10:03pm Thu 3 Jan 13

as a second thought
how many of you readers have been stopped as a random/ordinary check by the police
in the last 5 years
as i remember in the 80s driving the same class of car
i would be stopped at least once a week usually every night
and they would give my car the once over check it was ok
in the end i used to pull over to have a chat and save them the trouble
now i cant remember the last time i was checked
anyone been pulled over randomly
latley/at all

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Themightyboosh says...
10:10pm Thu 3 Jan 13

small post script:i got some of my best tuning tips from some of the police on the cauldra roundabout :)

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Biomech says...
11:58pm Thu 3 Jan 13

Jesus Christ, how stupid do you have to be to not scrape the ice and snow fromm the lights? Do these **** idiots drive around with 2" iced windscreens as well?
The level of idiocy in society is truly **** astounding.

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Biomech says...
12:00am Fri 4 Jan 13

Of course what I want to know, is what question they asked. Was it.

"Which part of a car do you scrape", to which 96% didn't say the lights, or

"Do you scrape your lights", to which 96% said no.

BIG difference

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WYSIATI says...
8:45am Fri 4 Jan 13

Biomech - you're exactly right - the question you ask matters and no one ever spells it out.

I think the Govt spends something like £3m to avoid a single fatal accident (that may well be out of date and a lot more now) - so perhaps we should measure this activity against that. If the survey and the publicity gets someone to think twice and scrape the window clear and saves the life of one child on the road then it's a bargain.

By all means make it a legal requirement to carry an ice scraper - I am sure it is already illegal to drive off without clearing lights and windows but no one's being arrested for it. Education may be more effective.

Maybe we should all honk the horn when we see a cars driving along with a letter box to look out of and ice all over the back window

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mizza21 says...
9:34am Fri 4 Jan 13

This is all ridiculous. I never scrape my lights. They would get all scratched just like the windscreen.
No my rural chums, the way to de-ice your windscreen is to boil a kettle and let the boiling hot water do the work for you.
Also, if the roads are snowy and icy, let the conditions of the road help you. Simply drive faster, the ground is nice and slippy already so you will not waste so much cash on fuel.
My message to the fools who put their headlights on in the fog is this: Why oh Why illuminate the fog directly in front of you so you cannot see what is in the distance.
As my Grandad told me "Turn your lights OFF in the fog so that you can see properly"

There, sorry, lecture over. Safe driving everyone.

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A.Non01 says...
9:59am Fri 4 Jan 13

Modern driving standards and how to improve them. Standing and having a cosy chat and handing out freebies in a supermarket ? If you want to tackle the lunacy I see on our roads every day then put more police patrols out there with zero tolerance instructions. If someone is driving with snow or ice on their lights, give them a fine and they will remember next time. If someone cant be bothered to stick their indicator on at a roundabout or junction, fine them. they will remember next time. If someone "boots it" at a filter lane to stop the person in front of them in the next lane getting in before them stick some points on their licence and see if that lesson sticks. Its a real fact that the lack of any meaningful police presence on our roads directly affects driving standards. People drive "lazy" because they know the likelihood of being challenged or piunished is so low!

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Biomech says...
12:29pm Fri 4 Jan 13

"No my rural chums, the way to de-ice your windscreen is to boil a kettle and let the boiling hot water do the work for you."

Sadly I would bet that the number of people who've actually done this far outweigh the ones that don't scrape the lights :(

Also, on the fog, you're right, it's much easier to see if you dip your lights. But at 3am it can be quite fun putting the full beams on :P

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Biomech says...
12:32pm Fri 4 Jan 13

A.non I absolutely agree, and it's the reason I wouldn't be a good cop, because I would literally pull over everyone. Not indicating is something that really winds me up. I'm also having a dashcam fitted to my van (after a startling incident up north) and I intend to report and submit the video of people on their phones.

One women was on the motorway the other day in the left lane doing 40 .... because she was on the phone. Cars behind were having to break and pull out around her causing other lanes to break.

(I checked with WMP, if the video makes them clearly identifiable, it can be used to prosecute)

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William Rudd says...
1:17pm Fri 4 Jan 13

People on the phone whilst driving.I do make sure they know what I think of them.

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Vic Vomitello says...
1:38pm Fri 4 Jan 13

The adverse reaction to this time and money wasting exercise by the council could easily have been foreseen. Why is there no emotion intelligence to their PR? All we want them to do is do the job they are paid to do adequately. Simples.

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Ubique5740 says...
3:31pm Fri 4 Jan 13

William Rudd, for once I agree with you, I do too. Happy New Year.

Biomech - you are so right, it's a pity that HT did not print a list of questions, in fact they could run a competition, the prize being tyre pressure gauges and window scrapers, just a thought.

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A.Non01 says...
4:09pm Fri 4 Jan 13

What I think about people who use their phones whilst driving cannot be printed here!

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mr.dig says...
9:50pm Fri 4 Jan 13

keep a bottle of vinegar in your car, that will de-ice . i recall years ago there used to a polisman near geoff hinksman along brecon road with a speed camera, they caught some. never see that now. standards have slipped or vanished,but then i am an old boy , bring back the 70' s i say. bay city rollers and all that .
happy new year.....

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Moreteavicar? says...
1:09pm Mon 7 Jan 13

Migrant workers get everywhere don't they .....I wonder where the ones who managed to evade capture along the Brecon road went?

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