On March 1st we commenced a good practice project to support the entire staffing team via in-house road safety awareness sessions, and with the added bonus of a session with local driving instructor Mr. Chris Cornish.

Today at the launch, we met with both Chris, from Patience School of Motoring, Marc Musgrave & Alan Hinchliffe, Safer Road Officers, from the Transport and Infrastructure Department at Denbighshire County Council, who we had previously approached for assistance in our attempts to promote road safety awareness amongst all staff at Michael Phillips Care Agency Ltd.

Our Managing Director, Ms. Karen Hughes was the first staff member to take advantage of the driving assessment, and here’s what she had to say:

“I thought I knew it all, but that was so very far from the truth. I am a good driver, or at least I liked to think I was one of our roads better drivers, I passed my test 26 years ago and so thought it would be a good idea to lead by example and take the first assessment lesson.

I must confess, it was a little nerve racking as I wasn’t in my own car (only because someone had blocked me in tut tut), but Chris was very laid back and explained that it wasn’t in any way a test, it was just an observation period, at the end of which he would point out any driving procedures I’d carried out incorrectly or not at all.

I drove around the area for about 40 minutes, and then we pulled up back at the offices, we spent a lot of the time chatting as I would during any normal journey and I thought I’d done quite well, until Chris spoke.

Apparently (but I know it’s the truth) I am prone to putting my foot down all of the time. I indicate when I don’t need to and I never look at my blind spots on the left or right when using a roundabout or overtaking.

Chris explained all this to me, and pointed out the disastrous possibilities which could occur by using my indicators needlessly and speeding in all 30mile areas. I have to admit that he also noticed that I cut up other vehicles on roundabouts because I didn’t’ keep to the same lane I’d joined the roundabout on.

I also learnt how to tell when exactly my tyres need to be changed, how to find out the pressures required and how swapping the tyres across after around 9 months use, would prolong their life and save me money. I still think I’m a good driver!, I’m confident behind the wheel and am aware of other road users and the common mistakes they make, but I now know that I make common mistakes too, so it was well worth my going out first so that even those of you like me, who think you are grade 1 drivers, could actually learn something whilst having a bit of fun at the same time.

I’ve had to undergo all the mickey taking I can just about stand today, that’s because everyone was privy to the outcome of my assessment, because I’ve written this article for your pleasure, but everyone else taking the driving assessment with Chris and subsequent road safety training with Denbighshires road safety team, will do so in confidence, and any errors, minors or serious mistakes will remain confidential, though you will learn from the experience, just as I did.

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