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Martin Hall Driver Training I'm sick of subsidising all the 'steering wheel attendants' who cause, or fail to avoid collisions and push up my insurance premiums.

This page has evolved to show examples of what happens on the road and how to avoid joining the 'accident' statistics.

Well off out of it.Almost 3 1/2 years ago, I 'slipped out of the clutches' of what I have come to refer to as the Double...
12/11/2025

Well off out of it.

Almost 3 1/2 years ago, I 'slipped out of the clutches' of what I have come to refer to as the Double & Variable Standards Agency and moved on to less frustrating things. A major factor being the demise of the B+E car and trailer test (the only part of the booking system where I was planning for tests 10 weeks in advance, rather than 5 months).

I maintain considerably more than a passing interest in road safety and driver training and still receive the DVSA's communications. Yesterday, their CEO 'stepped down' (can't imagine why 😉) and today, they announced various changes to the test booking system via e-mail, which may (or may not) improve the whole farcical situation.

Back during the first Covid lockdown, I don't think the DVSA issued a single communication 'right first time' (even sending out an e-mail to say that the one they were going to send out the following day was incorrect and to ignore it 🙄).

True to form, following two e-mails sent at 11:01 and 11:02, informing everyone of the changes that were afoot, they sent out one at 14:46 issuing a correction to the original pair.

If their first effort is anything to go by, it's going to take more than a change of CEO to turn things around.

Be careful out there :)

Just a little reminder that the primary purpose of dash cam 'footage' is to privide evidence for your insurers in the ev...
25/10/2025

Just a little reminder that the primary purpose of dash cam 'footage' is to privide evidence for your insurers in the event of a collision etc.

Your cause may not be helped if your dash cam is showing the wrong date and/or time (even by an hour).

I know a lot of 'tech' does this automatically but some (including my dash cams) needs to told about the switch from BST to GMT.

(Yes, that is reflective tape on my phone case - it makes it a little bit easier to find when I put it down somewhere daft.)

Be careful out there :)

07/10/2025

I wondered why everyone was moving out of lane 1 and into lane 2 .... and then all was revealed - someone who would have benefited from the Safe Use of Trailers course I'd been delivering earlier today.

There are a lot of myths and oversimplifications regarding correct weight distribution of loads on trailers and getting it wrong is almost invariably a major factor when control is lost.

I can only assume this (front-wheel drive) Mondeo was reversed onto the trailer because the driver had seen a mid-engined sports car reversed onto a trailer at some time and they didn't know better.

Towing a trailer with excess 'nose weight' is bad but running 'tail heavy' is even more likely to result in the 'tail wagging the dog'. The driver of this Explorer may have been fortuate that things only started getting 'out of shape' as they reached the bottom of the hill - the uphill gradient probably saved them from things getting worse.

Be careful out there :)

07/10/2025

ATTENTION SPAN ALERT! - this clip lasts 2 minutes and 13 seconds - so before you complian about it taking 2 minutes of your life you'll never get back - you HAVE been warned.

The wide angle lens of a dash cam makes things in the centre of the field of view appear further away than they actually were so rather than judging distances on this clip by what it looks like, apply the 'two second rule'.

This stretch of the A12 is notorious for the traffic coming to an apparently inexpicable halt (something to do with the combination of a petrol station, a junction with a short slip road and everyone following the vehicle in front too closely methinks). This leads to frustration and what I think it's safe to say is is a pretty 'good' example of tailgating and what a lot of people refer to as "undertaking".

I found the Kuga driver getting a taste of his own medicine more than a little amusing; although had it resulted in a collision making me late for the trailer training session I was due to deliver, I'd have had a sense of humour failure.

Be careful out there :)

01/10/2025

Nothing to see here ..... apart from two of my pet hates on dual carriageways (and motorways but we don't have any of them in East Anglia) - so if you're complaining about wasting time on a pointless post, you've only yourself to blame.

Questionable (in my opinion pointless) speed limits and drivers in the left lane who slow down (significanltly) to let other vehicles join the main carriageway, when it would be safer for everyone if they just maintained their speed and the joining vehicle (who had already slowed to make a little space and time) to slot in BEHIND them.

Combined with everyone following each other too closely, this is a common cause of those mysterious and infuriating stop-start interruptions to traffic flow near dual carriageway and motorway junctions.

Had there been no 50 limit, I'd have 'nailed it' down the slip road and almost certainly out run the two vans - not wise with a Police car at the top of said slip road.

If the second van driver had trusted me to slow down and slot in behind them (which I was clearly atempting to do), I wouldn't have nearly run out of slip road there really would have been nothing to see here.

Be careful out there :)

24/09/2025

The first 30 seconds or so of this clip are to prove that the driver of this BMW WASN'T 'provoked' into overtaking on double solid white lines in a 30 limit by me dawdling along in the national speed limit beforehand.

You can't make it out, but the flashing red sign indicated that they were doing 47mph as they passed me.

Be legal out there :)

21/09/2025

Two wrongs don't make a right - Part 2 (take two - I posted the wrong video first time)

I don't condone failure to comply with the 'rules of the road', as set out in the Highway Code - but sometimes I sympathise.

Joining the A12 at barely 40mph, in busy traffic that was travelling faster, this Audi driver 'provoked' the van driver behind into crossing a hatched area bordered by solid white line. In fairness, having done so, the van driver made everyone else's life a little easier by moving straight into the empty right lane.

Technically, the van driver committed an endorsable offence, which may be accompanied by 3 penalty points - a snowball would probably survive in hell before the Audi driver would get 'done' for driving without due care and attention 🤔

Be careful out there 🙂

20/09/2025

Two wrongs don't make a right - Part 1a (edited because I posted the wrong video, but it provoked so many more comments than the original, I might as well keep it 'live')*

Occasionally work takes me to what I think must be one of the worst roads I've encountered for centre lane hogging - the A130. I COULD have posted FIVE clips from this day alone but on this one, we get 'two for the price of one'.

Passing the centre lane hogs at 70mph wasn't fast enough for someone. Had I not been aware of the red Astra and moved across earlier, or either of the centre lane hogs 'woken up' and suddenly realised where they SHOULD be, this could have ended badly.

Be careful out there :)

*What is 'interesting' is that despite all the comments regarding the video - no one seems to have picked up on the fact that my original 'commentary' made no sense whatsoever. I should have realised that by the number of comments thinking the A130 is a motorway (because it has 3 lanes) should have told me something.

20/09/2025

Two wrongs don't make a right - Part 1

Occasionally work takes me to what I think must be one of the worst roads I've encountered for centre lane hogging - the A130. I COULD have posted FIVE clips from this day alone but on this one, we get 'two for the price of one'.

Passing the centre lane hogs at 70mph wasn't fast enough for someone. Had I not been aware of the red Astra and moved across earlier, or either of the centre lane hogs 'woken up' and suddenly realised where they SHOULD be, this could have ended badly.

Be careful out there :)

08/09/2025

I'm sure 'lane hogging' is a pet hate with pretty much everyone but it takes a special type of gormless to ignore a vehicle running blue lights that's straddling the centre line twice in an attempt to get the attention of this Discovery driver, who was clearly 'blue light unaware'

I didn't see how the situation resolved itself because the van that pulled out ahead of me blocked my view, but I THINK the Discovery driver finally moved left after they'd passed the lorry at the end of the clip.

Be careful out there :)

07/09/2025

There are two ways of looking at this one.

Joining a busy dual carriageway from a short slip road is never going to be easy and will almost certainly require some co-operation from the road users, who in turn need to be aware of what's going on and anticipate what's LIKELY to happen.

Cruising back down the A1 from the Land Rover Owner Show, I saw the Kuga approaching the VERY short 'slip road' and as the Octavia that was overtaking me passed, I signalled right, indicating my intention to make space for the Kuga to join the dual carriageway. However, having passed me, the Octavia then moved to 'undertake' the next vehicle in the right lane ...... pretty much as the Kuga was joining the dual carriageway.

Having seen the left lane clearing, as my Land Rover moved to the right lane, quite understandably, the Kuga driver thought they had plenty of time to join the dual carriageway. However, they almost certainly hadn't checked their right rear blind spot. If they had, they MIGHT have seen the Octavia returning to the left lane at a considerably higher speed than ALL the traffic around it (not just my Land Rover, which is only supposed to be doing 60mph on a dual carriageway in the first place).

Should the Kuga driver have seen the Octavia moving to the left lane?
Should the Octavia driver have been aware of what the Kuga driver was about to do or were they already too focussed on passing the slower vehicle ahead down its left side?

Bear in mind that the dash cam lens makes things in the centre of the field of view appear further away from the camera vehicle than they actually were.

Be careful out there :)

01/09/2025

It probably comes as no surprise that I keep an eye on various dash cam and other pages related to 'antics' on our roads. A lot of these occur on what SHOULD be our safest roads - the dual carriageway and motorway network and are accompanied by numerous comments regarding the related topics of speeding, driving 'too slowly', lane discipline and 'undertaking'.

However, I believe the biggest single issue (and it's a contributary factor in the aforementioned issues on such roads) is failure to follow the vehicle in front at a safe distance.

Had the car been following this lorry more closely when the latter's inadequately secured load* blew off, this could have been nasty.

Be careful out there 😀

* one of the pages I follow is 'plagued' with comments along the lines of "that's not going anywhere", when someone is stopped for having an insecure load.

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