It's Autumn again.

Those words that the Weathermen love to bandy about:
Shorter days, Sunshine and showers, sun low in the sky, lovely clear frosty mornings,
misty patches. To a photographer these phrases may produce all sorts of ideas for beautiful, atmospheric landscape photos. Then that same photographer has to think about driving to the correct place to take the photos.
They become a different challenges.
Shorter days. The sunrises later, and sets earlier. Many commuters will be driving in the dark both to and from work, maybe for the next 4 months. If the sun does appear during the drive, it will be coming slowly just over the horizon, shining brightly along the roads, and into mirrors.
Sunshine and showers. That means the sun could well be shining brightly, and reflecting off wet tarmac or puddles, back up off the road, into a driver's eyes. That same sun is going to produce areas of bright sunshine, and areas of deep shadows.
It's raining, then it's not, then it is again. Wipers on, wipers off, wipers on again. Are the wiper blades sliding smoothly and quietly across the screen, clearing all the liquid as it goes? If the wipers are not doing their job, get rid of them. Replace them as soon as you can with a new set. Sunglasses on, sunglasses off. Do they keep steaming up when you wear them? Maybe you need to bring them into the house with you at night, so they don't get so cold at night, so they don't steam up as soon as they get close to your warm face.
Clear frosty mornings. Make sure the windscreen (both inside and out) and mirrors are completely clear of frost, ice, or snow before you drive off. There is no point driving, if you cannot see where you are driving, and is it safe to drive there? No harsh braking, no harsh steering, no harsh acceleration. Drive smoothly.
Make sure that your lights are visible, and working. It is also a legal requirement to ensure your number plate is visible. Highway Code rules Icy and snowy weather (228 to 231).
Misty patches. They are so atmospheric, peaceful, and beautiful to a photographer, sudden and frightening to a driver. That same driver may be driving safely along a dry bright road, and go round a bend, or into a dip, or up over a slight rise, or a bridge, and drive straight into a patch of mist or fog, where the road surface will be damp, the temperature will be colder because the sun cannot burn through the mist onto the road surface, and, of course, that same driver can see considerably less than just a few moments ago. This needs an urgent but careful reduction in speed, to match the sudden change in visible stopping distance.

The general guidance and advice would be to give yourself extra time to warm the car up before travelling. Make sure you can see out of all the windows and mirrors, that the wipers are working properly, and be prepared for sudden changes in weather and driving conditions. Keep back from the vehicle in-front, giving you more time to slow down gradually. Be aware.

Further suggestions and Rules can be found in: 
My Pages on driving in bad weather
The On-line Highway Code

Is it safe? Am I sure?

During my commute to work on Saturday through the Forest, I came across a scene on the road.

Two vehicles  were damaged, on the same side of the road. A lady was wandering around on the grass verge flapping her arm about, and a man was staggering across the road in front of me, and then collapsed onto the other grass verge...

Mirrors, hazards lights on, stop somewhere safe... No phone signal!

She's screaming, so she's alright for a bit. He's rolling around a bit, struggling to breathe, complaining about a pain in the chest.. No obvious injuries, no blood, no gurgling noises. Yes he had been wearing a seatbelt, yes the airbags had gone off, yes, of course its going to hurt! 

Check the vehicles.. Are there any other passengers or casualties? No! Thank goodness for that!

Someone finds a signal and calls in for help. 

Luckily there was an Event happening at the Speech House field. One of the guys was an ex combat medic, and called in their own paramedic car from Beechenhirst. They turned up fast, and started working with the two casualties.

Car engines were off, but the rear windscreen washer was going at full squirt,  as if it was trying to help wash the debris off the road. Some of the Event guys turned up with some big bolt cutters to isolate the battery, permanently. The rear washer gave up and waited for the council road sweeper to take over cleaning the Tarmac.

Paramedic car turns up, calm, caring,  organised, efficient. Brilliant. Nothing for us to do now except make sure the other traffic turns round safely, they will have to find their own diversion route. 

Remember what you saw, nothing more, nothing less. Someone mentioned seeing something, but I didn't see it, so I won't talk about it. Dont forget anything that I did see. The police will need everything I can give them, but it must be accurate. 

Ambulance turns up soon after the fast response car had arrived. They start doing their thing, dealing with the casualties, making notes of the damage to the cars and drivers seats, with photos to back it all up, presumably incase the hospital staff need to check the possible cause of an injury, to work out how much force was involved in the collision.

Police turn up. They are organised. They have obviously had too many chances to work out the best system to use to check safety, find witnesses, check casualties, keep traffic away from the scene. Road blocks are in place straight away. Casualties and witnesses are talked to, to get the basic information. Photos are taken, visibility and lighting conditions are checked. Tyres are checked to see if a puncture was the cause of the collision. No, not this time. Then to start talking to witnesses in more detail this time.. Was I the first one on scene? What did I see? Who got out of which vehicle? Where did they go? What did they say? Who moved that bit of debris? From where? Why? Were the vehicle engines still running? Who turned them off? Where are the keys?more questions, more questions.

Ambulance is on its way back, road is cleared enough to allow traffic to pass, while recovery vehicles are organised for the two cars.

My incar Video recorder has recorded my drive, and the whole scene as it happened. It turns out that I arrived immediately after the impact, and the car was still spinning on the Tarmac. Clouds of radiator steam and airbag gases pouring out of each vehicle. Drivers escaping out of the cars, and then going into shock. Crowds of people running from the Event to see if they can help. Unfortunately I was not in the right place at the right time to see the collision happen. I was about two seconds too late, so it wasn't recorded, but the cause is thought to be known.

Apparently, it is believed that, allegedly...

 A vehicle was driving to the Event. The driver passed the entrance before the driver had a chance to slow safely, so the car was driven to the next junction to turn round safely. As the car was approaching the entrance from the other direction, the driver was looking into the field to ensure it was the right Event. Unfortunately, the driver then turned across the road, into the gateway, just as another vehicle was driving along the road in the opposite direction.

I was told later in the day that both drivers were out of hospital, bruised and battered, but safe. "Good news - incredibly lucky, the best result possible in the circumstances".

Two vehicles collided

Two casualties

Two paramedic vehicles used

Two police vehicles used

Two vehicles written off

( and a two hour commute )

Next time you hear me ask " is it safe, are you SURE?" you know why I am asking. 

Scanning and Planning. 

All-round Awareness. 

If you're not sure, slow down!

It all makes sense.

The news tonight reported that well over 100 vehicles were involved in a massive collision on a bridge leading off the Isle of Sheppey during this morning's commuting time.

Amazingly, thank goodness, there were no fatalities.

The news reported that the bridge has no hard shoulder running along the edge of it. There is no lane dedicated for use by the Emergency Services in the event of an emergency. There is no lane that vehicles could use in an emergency to avoid colliding with, or being hit by, other vehicles.  There is no lane that could be used in an emergency by people trying to leave the site of a collision, without having to clamber around the vehicles involved in the collision. 

There a plans by the Government, to start using existing hard shoulders as extra lanes on some motorways, to ease congestion, at very little cost. They say that there will be refuges for emergencies every half mile or so.

 I beg to suggest that we should keep our hard shoulders as hard shoulders, to be used whenever there is an emergency. As shown by today's event, emergencies can happen at any time, with almost no warning. Although today's cars are very reliable mechanically, I suggest that we cannot plan ahead for a collision, and clear the hard shoulder ready for the Emergency Services. That hard shoulder needs to be available all the time.

The news also reported that there were no gantry signs above the carriageway so that the speed limit could be lowered in the event of fog.

Surely the drivers can see the vehicles ahead of them disappearing into mist or fog, and start adjusting their speed and "safety bubble" accordingly? Surely it makes sense for people to drive with enough space in front of them, to be able to slow or stop safely? In fact, The Highway Code states in Rule 126:

"leave enough space between you and the vehicle in front so that you can pull up safely if it suddenly slows down or stops. The safe rule is never to get closer than the overall stopping distance (see Typical Stopping Distances diagram, shown below)

allow at least a two-second gap between you and the vehicle in front on roads carrying faster-moving traffic and in tunnels where visibility is reduced. The gap should be at least doubled on wet roads and increased still further on icy roads

remember, large vehicles and motorcycles need a greater distance to stop. If driving a large vehicle in a tunnel, you should allow a four-second gap between you and the vehicle in front.

If you have to stop in a tunnel, leave at least a 5-metre gap between you and the vehicle in front."

I am well aware that if you leave a gap in front of you, that it will be filled by someone else. If that happens, just ease off the gas pedal for a few seconds and build up the safety gap in front of you again. Even if you have to do that a number if times on a journey, then you will only arrive at your destination a few seconds later than you planned. That extra time would probably less less time than you having to wait at a red light at a junction, that's all.its not a lot. It's not going to get you sacked.

Surely it makes sense to drive safely, carefully, and with enough attention to be able to see what is happening around you, and to do something about it when it starts happening?

Why do people drive so fast and so close to each other, that a collision is inevitable when something goes wrong?

If in doubt, slow down. 

If still in doubt, stop. 

You cannot hit anything if you are not moving. 

Leave enough time to complete your journey safely. Do not rely on luck, and the fact that you've survived without crashing so far, that it's not going to happen to you. It has just happened to over 100 families. Luckily, today, in that particular collision, there were no deaths. There were some serious injuries, but there were no deaths, this time. Despite that, over 100 families have been directly affected by that collision today. Over 100 extended families are changing the way they think about travelling.

Please, learn from others, drive safely. You are responsible for your actions and your safety. No-one else, just you.

http://www.andrewknightdriving.org.uk/driving-in-the-fog.html