Dark Nights Approaching!

Summer is almost a distant memory and autumn is well and truly upon us. For some this may mark the countdown to spring, but for me autumn is my favourite time of the year. It is a beautiful time of transition, with stunning reds and browns appearing on the trees, swirled and buffeted by blustery winds. It is the time to embrace winter warmers for dinner and the stark contrast between indoors and out. For children, it is a time of new beginnings: settling into new classes and, for some, new schools.

However this leads me to the one thing I don’t like about autumn: the changing of the clocks. It’s not the fact that I lose an hour of sleep, although that is something of an inconvenience; it’s the sudden change from travelling home in the light to travelling home in the dark. This change, even though it happens every year, still takes some getting used to. You travel to school or work in the morning and it is light. You hop on your bike, not even considering that coming home you are likely to need your lights. You send the kids off to school, forgetting that their dark uniform is much harder to spot as dusk approaches and they are heading home.

It probably comes as no surprise then, that this time of year sees a peak in road casualties, particularly for pedestrians. However, there are very simple things that everyone can do to make sure they can see others and be seen themselves:

Drivers

• Always use lights in dark and gloomy conditions.

• Use fog lights when visibility is significantly reduced, and make sure to turn them off when visibility improves so as not to dazzle other road users.

• Take extra time to look for pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists who may be harder to see.

• Adjust your speed so you can always stop within the distance you can see is clear ahead.

Cyclists

• Always use lights in dark and gloomy conditions.

• Wear bright colours that stand out better during the day.

• Wear reflective materials that are more visible in the dark.

• Ensure reflectors on your bike are clean and not obscured by clothing or luggage.

Pedestrians

• Wear bright colours that stand out better during the day.

• Wear reflective materials that are more visible in the dark.

Motorcyclists

• Always use lights in dark and gloomy conditions.

• Wear bright colours that stand out better during the day.

• Wear reflective materials that are more visible in the dark.

• Adjust your speed so you can always stop in the distance you can see to be clear ahead.

• Adjust your position to increase your visibility to other road users.

Whether you love or loathe autumn, I hope you can see the difference a little thought can make to your safety.


Note: post also featured in Cambridge Edition magazine October issue

Imagine a world where every child car seat fits every car… that’s i-Size!

Ask any parent about child car seats and you'll more than likely be met with a look of despair!  It all starts with buying the right one:  possibly the parental equivalent of climbing Mt. Everest, even with an expert “guiding” you through the process.  You turn up at a store (or type in “child car seat” into Google) and are met with a vast array of seats in every shape, size and colour imaginable.  By the time you've told the store expert the age and weight of your child and which car (or, heaven forbid, cars!) you want to use the seat in, they've brought out a novel-sized list which turns out to be the paper equivalent of “computer says No!” to every seat you quite like the look of.  What seems like hours later, you finally end up with a couple of seats to try in your car.

Here we come to the second issue:  actually fitting them.  The store expert slots it in with perfect ease, then whips it out again and asks you to have a go.  I'm sure they do this deliberately for the look of horror on your face but, quite rightly, they need to be sure you can fit it again; no doubt after removing it to clean all manner of bodily fluids, food, drink, sand and who knows what from it throughout the course of its life.

Child car seats also seem to be the transport equivalent of flat-pack furniture.  You have the nice pictorial instructions, which for some people might as well be written in Martian, and most people get to the end only to think “what’s that bit for then?”  Eternally grateful for the patience of the store expert, in the end (hopefully) you come away with a seat that you and/or your partner can fit. Great! …Until one day you have to change car, or the Grandparents want to take your little one(s) for a day out and you're frantically searching the manufacturer's website for the dreaded “computer says No!” list.

Then there's the final problem:  the right of passage to the next stage seat (before the whole process starts again).  This is an important issue with the change from rearward to forward facing.  In many parental circles it is held in the same regard as the first tooth, the first word and moving on to solid food; taking on the form of a competition.

From six months, everyone's child seems to have “nearly grown out of their seat” because “their feet are dangling off the end”, or “their head is nearly touching the top”.  In actual fact this is almost certainly not the case, and is putting children at greater risk!  Why?  When a child is forward facing and a frontal collision occurs the child is flung forward in the seat, being caught by the harness.  This puts stress on the neck, the spine, and the internal organs.  In a rear facing car seat, the force of impact is distributed along the whole back of the seat so the neck, spine and internal organs are not subjected to the stress of the force and are therefore protected.  Rearward facing for longer is safer!

At present the requirement is to keep children rearward facing until they reach 9kg, even though most seats will hold them until they are 13kg and you can get bigger rearward facing seats that will go up to 18-25kg - but how old is that? And when should they go onto a seat using the normal seatbelt?

Anyone confused yet?

So, imagine a world where every child car seat fits every car… 

…A world where you go to the store with your child, choose from the range of seats suitable for their height and age and fit the seat in your car, and any other car, in one of two ways using clearly labelled points on the vehicle seat.

No, we're not in cloud cuckoo land; but believe it or not the future of child car seats is exactly that, and it's already started!  Today, 9 July 2013, the new ‘i-Size’ standards were introduced to run alongside the existing standards (R44.04).  Eventually i-Size will be the only standard and the parental minefield that is child car seats will be significantly cleared.

But, what is i-Size?  

i-Size utilises existing ISOfix fitting methods and specifies the dimensions of the vehicle's seat and surrounding area to ensure a standardised support leg and top tether can be used.

This means any i-Size seat will fit any i-Size compatible car.

i-Size also requires all children under 15 months to be in rearward facing seats.

Is it really that simple?

The details for all the stages aren't available yet, and some time is going to elapse before all vehicles are i-Size compatible, but it now offers parents a simpler option.

There's a great new website set up that has more information about i-Size and will be kept up to date with new developments, FAQs and further advice.

In the meantime, if you want any further advice or to have your child car seat checked take a look at the Good Egg Safety website where you can find expert advice and details of a checking event near you.

TWIST: That's Why I Should Think... Bike!

A new campaign has been launched by Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Road Safety Partnership to encourage motorcyclists to take additional training. The campaign titled 'TWIST' prompts motorcyclists to use the mantra 'That's When I Should Think' whenever they twist the throttle.

The campaign takes a very different approach to many other campaigns aimed at this audience and uses a humorous, 'tongue-in-cheek', short animated film caricaturing some of the extreme behaviour witnessed on the road. The aim of the campaign isn't to point the finger at riders, or suggest that all bikers ride irresponsibly, but to highlight that how ever much experience they have there is always room for improvement. Drivers should also pick up on the mantra That’s why I should Think - Bike.

In the last three years (2010 to 2012) there have been 870 Powered Two Wheeler (PTW) casualties in Cambridgeshire & Peterborough. Tragically 16 were fatal. On a national level, the Department for Transport (DfT) states that motorcyclists make up just 1% of total road traffic, but account for 22% of all road user deaths. Put another way, riders are 50 times more likely to be killed or seriously injured (KSI) in serious or fatal crashes than car drivers, and around 108 riders every week become KSI casualties – that’s 5,609 riders in 2011.*

There’s a lot of debate about why these figures are so high, and who it is to blame (drivers or riders themselves) – but the indisputable fact is that if a rider has a collision with another vehicle he or she will almost certainly come off worst.

For more information visit the campaign website at www.twistandride.net or check out the campaign on Facebook and Twitter.

* Source: Reported Road Casualties Great Britain: 2011, Department for Transport 

Size Does Matter: Vehicle Compatibility

Over the last 15 years or so, since the introduction of EuroNCAP, vehicles in general have got heavier due to the introduction of better crash structures - more metal = more weight.  For example, a 2012 VW Golf is approximately 20% heavier than its 1995 predecessor.  

It may not really come as a surprise that if you are in a bigger, heavier vehicle, you are more likely to come off better in a collision with another vehicle - it is simple physics after all.

Interestingly though, over the last decade there has been a noticeable shift in the type of vehicles people in the UK drive.  The diagram below shows that, since 2000, there has been a 22% reduction in the volume of medium saloon cars, while both 4x4/people-carriers and minis/superminis have increased 192% and 29% respectively and all other vehicle types have remained steady.  

Source: Reeve, I. & Lloyd, L., The link between casualties and demographic data – and the importance of vehicle design. Presentation to Road Safety GB Conference, November 2012. 

This demonstrates that the UK vehicle fleet is diverging in terms of vehicle size, meaning greater potential for collisions between vehicles of different sizes/masses.  These are known as incompatible collisions, and include the following issues:

• Bumpers/crash structures often do not line up so the crash structure of the smaller vehicle is not properly engaged by the collision - this is particularly evident in crashes involving small cars and 4x4s, and the effects can be even worse for side impacts.
• Due to the difference in mass, the acceleration forces are greater on the smaller vehicle (and therefore on its occupants).

Although this video is from the US Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and the models of vehicle are a few years old now, it explains the principles of incompatibility really well.

So, it may seem that the simple solution is for everyone to go out and get a bigger car?  Not so simple unfortunately, as there would almost certainly be an adverse effect on pedestrian and cyclist survivability.  However, manufacturers could start to make their vehicles more compatible in terms of bumper and crash structure heights.  My personal view is that small cars are fine around town where the conflict speeds are much lower and there are higher volumes of pedestrians and cyclists, but out of town I'd prefer a big car any day... just in case!

Light Quadricycles: What are they and are they safe?

Aixam Coupe S

Since 19 January 2013, pan-European legislation means that people who pass the theory and practical elements of the UK's Compulsory Basic Training (CBT) are not only eligible to ride a moped, but also drive a class AM 'light quadricycle', such as the Aixam Coupe S or Renault Twizy.  These vehicles are restricted to a 28 mph top speed and 350 kg weight, but it basically means that a 16-year-old is able to drive one.

Renault Twizy

The benefits over a scooter may seem obvious: you have a roof and four walls around you so you don't get wet and you can't fall off it, so it is not surprising that, despite the £10,000 price tag, there are already around 300,000 of these vehicles, on the roads across Europe.  But, are they safe?  Road safety professionals have certainly expressed some concerns.

Aixam claim to be 'No.1 in safety for licence-free vehicles', citing their rigid safety cell, flexible body panels and ABS as key features.  The Renault Twizy even boasts a driver's airbag!  Yes, in a crash with a stationary object at less than 28 mph I'm sure they would perform reasonably, and I don't doubt that they offer better protection than their two-wheel counterparts.  But, I do have three concerns:

Firstly, by putting the 'rider' in a box, with four wheels instead of two, the radio blaring away, and phone easily accessible, will they have the same risk awareness as they would being exposed to the road environment on a moped?  As such, rather than the high volume of low-severity accidents we currently see for 16-17-year-old moped riders, will there be fewer, but more serious light quadricycle ones?  The stats, from France, that Aixam quote as an example of the safety benefits actually demonstrate this perfectly as the proportion of deaths compared to all injuries is far higher for quadricycles (7%) than it is for mopeds (2%) or motorcycles (5%).  Yes, the numbers for quadricycles are small, but it is a trend that will need monitoring as these vehicles become more popular.

CATEGORIES	INJURIES	DEATHS	TOTAL
Bicycles	4 379	162	4 541
Mopeds	13 434	299	13 733
Motorcycles	16 414	888	17 302
Automobiles	39 461	2 160	41 621
Quadricycles	290	21	311
Others	4 453	247	4 700
Total Victims	78 431	3 777	82 208

Secondly, as the lightest 'car' on the road, if these vehicles are in collision with a bigger, heavier vehicle, i.e. any other vehicle, they are going to come off far worse.  The video below shows this principle in action, with the smaller, lighter Fiat 500 (NCAP 5*) coming off far worse than the larger Audi Q7 (NCAP 4*) and far worse than in its own crash test.  Remember, the Fiat has a full frontal crash structure which the light quadricycles do not.

Finally, de-restricting of mopeds is commonplace among the young people I have worked with and I would expect similar practices to be developed for these vehicles.  Last year one of the mopeds we tested was found to be capable of over 60 mph - if people can get the same performance out of one of these quadricycles I would certainly be very concerned.

All in all, I have to say I can certainly see the appeal of these vehicles, particularly to parents of 16-year-olds who would rather they didn't go out on two-wheels, but I still can't see how these are going to end up being any safer overall?

Which cars can fit three child car seats in?

Earlier this year, my wife and I found out we were going to be having a third child.  Now, knowing that there isn't really enough space for anyone to sit in between the two car seats in the back of our Focus (not comfortably anyway) there was no way a third child seat was going to fit in the back.  So, I set about trying to find some advice on which cars were best for fitting three child seats across the back... and struggled to find anything!  I've put this blog together to try and help other people in a similar situation.

What I'm going to do is separate this into three types of vehicle, large family cars (predominantly estates), MPVs and 4x4s.  All have their strengths and weaknesses and people will also have preferences as to what they'd rather own so I thought I'd try and cover all bases.  I'm basing this on the assumption that at some times there will be two adults in the car in addition to the three children.  I'll also add the caveat that I haven't personally gone out and tried all of these cars so the information is based on a combination of cars I've looked at, tests done by others and advice from child car seat experts.  There will also be certain car seats that are not compatible with the cars I've picked out, or with specific seating positions, for various reasons, but I've tried to include things to watch out for.

Large Family Cars

For many families, a large estate car provides a good balance between practicality and performance... until you need a third child car seat that is!  Frankly, there are very few that can fit anything other than a backless booster cushion in the middle which, while meeting basic safety and legal standards, offers far from optimal protection in the event of a collision and is not recommended.  For some cars the manufacturers specifically state that any child should not sit in the middle seating position e.g. BMW 5-Series and Peugeot 508 SW.  You could, however, opt to put one child in the front seat, providing you have the option to deactivate the front passenger airbag.  My personal view is that this is not ideal for journeys where two adults are in the car, with one having to sit in the rear, but if you really want that Audi, BMW or Mercedes estate it's a compromise you will have to make.

The only large family car I'm aware of that is likely to fit three child seats across the back is the Peugeot 307 SW - some also have an extra two seats in the back too.  Its not quite your typical family estate, but it definitely isn't an MPV, so it comes top of the pile in this section.  One note of caution though: you do have to watch out for the curve of the roof if you are using high back boosters towards their maximum height.

MPVs

MPVs have really taken the world by storm over the last decade or so.  With lots of space and storage they are seen by many as the most practical of family car options, but often at the expense of performance, with poor handling and some of the smaller engine models lacking power.  With practicality top of the agenda for these cars you'd think that fitting the car seats in would be a doddle across the range... but you'd be very wrong!

A number of the smaller MPVs, e.g. the Ford C-Max, Mazda 5 and Vauxhall Zafira, suffer with the same middle seat issues as the large family cars where three high-backed seats will not fit side by side.  In models with a third row of seats you can utilise them to overcome this, but it is far from ideal as you lose precious boot space and in most cases only universal child seats will fit in the third row.  There are other problems too, like all those handy little underfloor storage compartments that aren't so handy when you can't put a child car seat support leg on them!  The only manufacturer I know of that offers a solution to this is VW, who can supply foam inserts for the storage compartments in the Touran and Sharan to allow support legs to be used (the Britax fit list for my Maxway identifies this but worth checking your own seat fit list to be certain).

However, if the storage isn't going to be a problem, and the performance isn't a high priority, there is certainly far more choice in this class than any other including both 5-, 6- and 7- seat options.  The main choices really are as follows:

• Renault Scenic/ Grand Scenic
• Peugeot 807/ 5008
• Toyota Verso
• Citroen C4 Picasso/ Grand Picasso
• VW Touran/ Sharan
• Seat Alhambra
• Ford S-Max/ Galaxy
• Fiat Multipla (3+3 seats)
• Honda FR-V (3+3 seats)

Personally I rather like the VW Touran and both Fords, the build quality feels solid and there are a good choice of engines with some good performance figures.  The S-Max is labelled as the MPV for drivers who don't like MPVs and is said to handle a lot more like a medium sized hatchback than others in its class.

4x4s

Certainly in my mind, I'd never thought about owning a 4x4 as a 'family car' before, although I know many people do, and the more I've looked into this the more I've started to seriously consider it as an option.  Again, there are some that will not fit three high-backed seats, e.g. the Nissan Quashqai, but the +2 version offers the same possibility of utilising the third row of seats.  The real contenders though are the bigger beasts, early Mercedes M-Class models have three separate seats in the back and the Volvo XC90 and Land Rover Discovery both have ample room and the bonus of 7 seats.  

However, they are not without their drawbacks, with lower mpg and generally higher tax bands they aren't cheap to run, but as a result the second hand market is rather good and there are many bargains to be had.  They may not be everyone's cup of tea but I've certainly found it useful to at least consider the pros and cons.

I am now going to throw one more spanner in the works, and its only something that I've come across in doing some additional research for this blog post:  the Multimac.

It is basically is an all-in-one seat for three or four children that can be fitted straight into most cars, converting your small family car into a larger one, or your large family car into a 6-seater.  The company offers plenty of assurances on safety, and it passes all the necessary regulations, but at a starting price of over £1000 it certainly isn't cheap... but could be cheaper than a new car???

If anyone wants to look at some further stuff (that I did manage to find!) try this section of the Which? website - it doesn't cover a lot of vehicles, but it gives a good idea of the things to look out for etc.

VIDEO: Driving on the phone - what effect does it have?

Earlier this week I spent an afternoon pressing the button on a pelican crossing repeatedly and throwing a football out in front of cars... no I wasn't having a breakdown, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Road Safety Partnership were putting on a press event with Alconbury Driving Centre to demonstrate the dangers of driving whilst on the phone.

Reporters took turns negotiating a course on Alconbury airfield, in a dual-controlled car with instructor Paul Staple, whilst talking or texting on their mobile phone. Road Safety Officers from Cambridgeshire and Peterborough set up a series of scenarios, including lights changing as the driver approached and a ball bouncing out in front of them, to see how the reporters reacted.

Here's how Heart Cambridgeshire reporter Tom Horn got on...

You can also read Cambridge News' Jennie Baker's experience.

The Facts

• Last year Cambridgeshire Police reported 2,535 drivers were caught using a mobile phone while driving, in 2011 that figure was 2,431.
• You are four times more likely to crash if you use a mobile phone while you are driving.
• If caught using a hand-held mobile phone behind the wheel, you will receive a £60 fine and three penalty points on your licence.
• The punishments for careless or dangerous driving while using a phone include up to two years in prison.
• Using a smartphone for social networking slows a driver’s reaction times by 37.6 per cent.
• Reaction times are slowed by 37.4 per cent by texting.
• Cannabis slows reaction times by 21 per cent.
• The reaction times of a driver with alcohol levels at the legal limit are slowed by 12.5 per cent.