Road Safety updates from Travel Safe Bucks

Older Driver Awareness Month

1st October was National Older Person’s Day, and Travel Safe Bucks marked the occasion by heading down to St Michael’s Church in Amersham to promote their Older Driver Assessments and brand new Older Driver module.

The number of over 70’s holding a driving licence exceeded five million for the first time in 2018 and there are now over 200 centenarian still driving! Driving is an important part of life for many residents of Buckinghamshire, enabling independence, especially for those living in rural areas. However, as we age, driving can become more stressful. It is for this reason that Travel Safe Bucks is spending the month of October promoting Older Driver awareness month.

To support mature drivers and their families, they have developed an online e-learning module, similar to their Winter Driving module. The Older Driver module contains all the information you need to retain independence and drive safely for as long as possible. It covers fitness to drive, ability, medication, improving your skills, vehicle, licencing and driving assessments.

You can access the module, and book an older driver assessment, here: www.buckscc.gov.uk/olderdrivers

If you want to find out more about the Older Driver module or Assessments, why not pop along to Flowerland Garden Centre, Bourne End, as part of the Older Drivers Forum on the 10th October? For more info, visit www.olderdriversforum.com

Remember to use the Morning After Calculator!

Travel Safe Bucks is advising rugby fans to be mindful of driving the morning after drinking alcohol during the Rugby World Cup tournament, which runs until 2nd November. As with all major sporting events, the tournament will be enjoyed and celebrated by millions, with alcohol potentially playing a part. But people don’t always realise how long it takes for alcohol to pass through the body, and that they might still be over the drink-drive limit the morning after.

The penalties for drink driving include a minimum 12-month driving ban, a criminal record, a hefty fine, up to six months in prison and an endorsement on your license for 11 years.

To assist fans, Travel Safe Bucks is taking the opportunity to once again promote the fantastic Morning After app. The app has been produced to help people calculate roughly when it will be safe to drive the morning after drinking alcohol. It can also help you calculate when you need to stop drinking alcohol if you need to drive the following morning.

The app is available to download free of charge, or can be used online, at http://morning-after.org.uk

The focus on drink driving won’t end with the Rugby World Cup, though. Through the festive season, covering Christmas and New Year right up until the end of December, Travel Safe Bucks will be promoting the Morning After app and launching a brand new Drink Drive campaign with local businesses across Bucks. They will be hosting an event at Arla, with the aim of educating people on drink driving and how long alcohol can stay in the system. More info to come on this nearer to the time…

Upcoming campaign alert: Speed Awareness campaign #MakeThePledge

January 2020 will see the launch of their brand new Speed Awareness campaign, #MakeThePledge. Travel Safe Bucks will be looking to get local businesses involved in this campaign about making the pledge to stop speeding, as well as launching a new speed e-learning module! More to come on that soon!

Interesting Road Safety News…

• Highways England has launched a new motorcycle safety campaign, aimed at those most likely to be killed or seriously injured http://roadsafetygb.org.uk/news/bikes-repair-easier-than-bikers-highways-england/
• An initiative which sees road safety and enforcement resources focussed on areas where there are high rate of collisions and casualties has launched in south east Wales http://roadsafetygb.org.uk/news/surround-the-town-launches-in-wales/
• Using the strapline “look who’s talking”, Tyre Safety Month 2019 encourages drivers to get into the routine of checking their tyres at least once a month http://roadsafetygb.org.uk/news/drivers-encouraged-to-check-for-lumps-bumps-and-cracks/