One activity I will always give 100% to though is driving. In consecutive days last week I saw two of the most incredible displays of disdain for the road I’ve ever witnessed. First, I was driving a hire van on the M23 in the inside lane when I approached a slow, swerving car on my right. Not one for undertaking, I gauged when it was safe to cross two lanes to overtake then spotted the dawdling driver, elbows on the steering wheel, gripping his mobile at eye level as if filling in an online form or playing a game totally oblivious to the devastation his total lack of attention could cause.
Less than twenty-four-hours later, I was waiting to pull out on to a minor road. An approaching car from the right was crawling along but I decided to give way any way. As it limped passed me, I was astonished to see the driver totally engrossed in not eating but pouring Crunchy Nut Cornflakes into a bowl. I decided to wait a few minutes to ensure he was well clear before I shared the same tarmac with him.
When I was in the police, officers of my rank were allocated an unmarked car with emergency equipment installed, and many of us used them for enforcement. There is nothing more triggering for a driver on a phone call to hear a siren and see flashing blue lights from an innocuous silver Ford Focus in their rear view mirror. I’m sure few handsets withstood the force they were flung into the footwell with before their user tried to deny to me what I had seen with my own eyes.
According to a survey by Vitality Insurance, 88% of motorists claim they are a safe driver but a fifth admit that being distracted was the cause of their most recent car accident. Given they are admitting this to an insurance company, I suspect there has been a little truth suppression going on. They found that the top ten distractions that drivers admit to are, eating or drinking; changing locations on their satnav; picking something up; turning around to talk to a passenger; smoking or vaping; using their phone; searching a bag; driving whilst not being able to see properly through the windscreen; trying to restrain a child and trying to restrain a pet. Another insurance company, Lambton, discovered the percentage of drivers who admitted the most bizarre distractions. They were public displays of affection (15%), styling hair (15%), changing clothes (9%), applying makeup (8%), brushing and/or flossing teeth (4%), taking selfies (4%), switching drivers (3%) and – incredibly – using the bathroom (3%).
It should go without saying that driving is a privilege not a right and once mobile behind the wheel the driver is in charge of what could become a seventy-miles-per -hour, two-tonne weapon which requires skill, experience and above all undivided attention to control. Using a phone behind the wheel makes you four times more likely to be in a crash, says road safety charity Brake and reaction times when using hands-free phones are 30% slower than the reaction times at the drink-drive limit, although the latter can be fatal too.
Life is busy and in this digital age distractions are all around us and we have been conditioned to expect instant communication and information. None of that serves any purpose whatsoever from a mortuary or prison cell, two likely destinations for those who treat driving as a secondary activity and what else seems so important at the time as the primary. Nor will it salve the guilt and shame of having taken another’s life while busying oneself with seemingly more urgent tasks. If you treat every journey as a driving test and every road user as a loved one, you’ll find your driving improves and everything else can wait.
Former Brighton and Hove police chief Graham Bartlett’s Brighton-based Jo Howe crime novel series continues with City on Fire which is now available in paperback.
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