P. Mares - Roadcraft: The Police Drivers Handbook

Roadcraft

The Police Drivers Handbook

The Stationery Office

London

Authors: Penny Mares, Philip Coyne, Barbara MacDonald

Design: Carl Gamble

Illustration: Nick Moxsom

Project management: Dr Amie Brown, The Police Foundation

The College of Policing has provided a generous grant towards the cost of producing this handbook. The Police Foundation would like to thank the College for its financial support.

The Police Foundation

The Police Foundation is a wholly independent charity dedicated to using high-quality evidence to improve policing for the benefit of the public.

For further details of The Police Foundations work and other related Roadcraft publications, contact:

The Police Foundation, First Floor, Park Place, 12 Lawn Lane,

London SW8 1UD

Tel: 020 7582 3744, Fax: 020 7587 0671

Email:

Website: www.roadcraft.co.uk

Twitter: https://twitter.com/the_police_fdn (#Roadcraft #MCRoadcraft)

Charity Registration Number: 278257

The Police Foundation 2013

Other essential guides to safe driving and riding also published by

The Stationery Office include:

Motorcycle RoadcraftThe Police Riders Handbook (2013)

ISBN 978 0 11 708188 8

Roadcraft DVDThe Police Drivers Course on Advanced Driving (2005)

ISBN 978 0 11 341308 9

To order or find out more about these or any other driving titles, please refer to the contact details printed inside the back cover of this book.

Applications for reproduction should be made in writing to The Stationery Office Limited, St Crispins, Duke Street, Norwich NR3 1PD

New edition 2013

Second impression 2014

ISBN 978 0 11 708187 1

Acknowledgements

This edition of Roadcraft has been approved by the Association of Chief Police Officers for England and Wales, and Police Scotland who are satisfied that it reflects current best practice in police driver instruction and takes into account the relevant views of civilian experts.

The Police Foundation would like to thank the many individuals and organisations who gave so freely of their time and expertise in the preparation of this new edition of Roadcraft. Particular thanks to Dr Lisa Dorn, Reader in Driver Behaviour, Driving Research Group, Cranfield University, for background research and contributions to are adapted from Human Aspects of Police Driving by kind permission of Dr Gordon Sharpe and Police Scotland.

This new edition of Roadcraft was produced with the strategic oversight of a Standing Advisory Board with representatives from major police and civilian driving organisations, to whom we are most grateful.

Standing Advisory Board

John Graham, Director, The Police Foundation (Chair)

Michael Cleary, former Head of Specialist Training, Scottish Police College

John Dale, Operational Lead Driving School, Metropolitan Police

Lisa Dorn, Reader in Driver Behaviour, Driving Research Group, Cranfield University

Paul Helbing, Assistant Chief Driving Examiner, Driving Standards Agency (DSA)

Ian Holden, Senior Education Advisor, Driving Standards Agency (DSA)

Peter Rodger, Chief Examiner and Head of Driving Standards, Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM)

Helen Schofield, Head of Learning Strategy and Development, College of Policing

Bob Smalley, Chief Examiner, Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) Advanced Drivers and Riders

It was undertaken with the dedicated help of a Reflective Practitioners group of senior police, fire, ambulance and civilian instructors, whose contribution to the detailed editorial and updating process has been invaluable.

Reflective Practitioners

Darren Faulds, Inspector, Road Policing Division, Police Scotland (Chair)

Byron Chandler, Senior Driving Instructor, Gloucestershire Constabulary

Michael Collins, Traffic Law and Collision Investigation Trainer, West Yorkshire Police

Kevin Day, Driver Training Manager, West Midlands Fire Service

Kevin Dell, Driving Centre Manager, Oxfordshire/Buckinghamshire Fire Rescue Services

Ady Ellwood, Motorcycle Trainer, West Yorkshire Police

Chris Gilbert, former Sergeant Instructor, MPMDS Hendon

Malcolm Jackson, Senior Driving Instructor, Hertfordshire Constabulary

Gary Jane, Senior Driving Instructor, Devon and Cornwall Police

Paul Mostyn, Metropolitan Police Motorcycle Tasking Team/BikeSafe-London

Andy Reid, Head of Driver Training and Development, East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust

Mervyn Turner, Head of Driver Training, North Wales Police

Richard Whitehouse, Car Instructor/Senior Motorcycle Instructor, Devon and Cornwall Police

We are grateful to Ian Shannon, former ACPO Lead for Police Driver Training, Colm McNelis, ACPO DCC/ACC Staff Officer and Julie Finegan, Driver Training, Deputy Commissioners Portfolio, for their help and support with the new edition. We are also indebted to members of the Editorial and Project Management Board.

Editorial and Project Management Board

Penny Mares, Educational Author and Editor

Amie Brown, Senior Research and Development Officer, The Police Foundation

David Bryan, Commissioning Editor, TSO

Emily Egle and Lisa Daniels, Client Service Managers, TSO

Foreword

Roadcraft is the official police drivers handbook, and is widely used by the other emergency services. This new edition has been prepared through careful consultation with senior police, other emergency services and civilian driving instructors experienced in advanced driver training. It incorporates the best and most reliable parts of previous editions with the latest knowledge in this rapidly developing field. While designed to complement driver training and practice, Roadcraft is a valuable learning aid for anyone who wishes to raise their driving competence to a higher level.

Roadcraft is endorsed by:

Contents

Becoming a better driver

The system of car control

Information, observation and anticipation

Anticipating hazards in the driving environment

Acceleration, using gears, braking and steering

Manoeuvring at low speeds

Maintaining vehicle stability

Drivers signals

Positioning

Cornering

Overtaking

Driving on motorways and multi-lane carriageways

Emergency response

Preface to the new edition

This new and fully updated edition of Roadcraft is the result of sustained consultation with experts in the theory and practice of advanced driving.

The last edition of Roadcraft was published in 2007, four years after the first publication of the European Goals for Driver Education (GDE). The GDE framework set out the competences that driver training in the UK and other EU countries should focus on to produce the safest possible drivers. It emphasised higher level competences such as taking account of human factors that can affect driving behaviour even before the driver gets into a vehicle, managing personal risk factors, and developing accurate self-assessment so that every driver continues to reflect on and improve their competence throughout their driving career.

Both before and since the publication of the GDE framework,