Driving Tips

with Derek Peers

Hello there!

My name is Derek Peers and with a bit of luck, this will be the first of many opportunities we'll have to chat about driving and using the roads - I'll look at the information from the view points of young and old, drivers and pedestrians, able bodied and the not-so-able.  I'll also share the latest information from the Driving Standards Agency with you to make sure that you are up to date with safe practise and new ideas and I'll try to answer questions you might have about situations you've come up against whilst getting round the city.

I'm going to start with what is considered by many to be a rather contentious issue - respect.  When I was growing up, respect was a two way street.  If you wanted people to respect you and your ideas, you needed to show respect to them.  Sadly, it seems to me that for a great many people respect is a rather out of date idea, however respect on the roads can not only help to reduce accidents, but can also make driving a much less stressful experience.

Let's take an incident which occurred whilst I was teaching a young woman to drive round Sefton Park last week.  It was only her second time behind the steering wheel and so she was making fairly slow progress on a very quiet stretch of road.  With no warning, a couple of young bucks in a flash car came tearing past us doing about fifty miles an hour, sounding the horn and mouthing obscenities and frightened the life out of her (and me).  She was so shocked we had to pull in and wait several minutes for her to compose herself before we could continue her lesson.

Not only is such behaviour ignorant and unnecessary, but it has the potential to cause a serious road traffic incident which could have led to serious injury or death. Be nice to each other and take care when you're out there!