Date: Tue, 11 Feb 1997 13:54:26 -0800
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: Lawrence Johnson <ljohnson@halhinet.on.ca>
Subject: Convoy travel safety
To all Listees:
Last year I found an article that discussed travelling in convoys. It
was so good that I saved it. With all the talk recently on group trips,
I thought it may be of interest.
Larry
'86 Syncro Westy
__________________________________________________________________
"Trying to follow someone along an unknown route can be dangerous"
TORONTO STAR OCT 12, 1996
Author is freelance journalist Jim Kenzie, Toronto Star Wheels'chief
automotive reviewer.
"Follow that car!" A movie cliche, to be sure. But something we have
all experienced, either as the follower, the followee, or both.
Have you ever considered it a potential disaster?
At a driving safety conference organized by the Automobile
Journalists Association of Canada a few years ago, Sue MacNeill, a
driver trainer and driving psychology expert from Ottawa, related a sad
follow-the-leader story. One of her driving students got her licence so
she could work for a car dealership in a nearby town. One of her
responsibilities was to ferry cars back and forth between the company's
two stores, a couple of hundred kilometres apart. On her first such
assignment, she and another member of the staff were, delivering two
cars. The young girl had never driven this route before; the more
experienced staffer simply said, "Follow me!"
MacNeill described the young girl as "timid" to begin with. Add in
the fact that she didn't know where she was going, was driving a
brand-new, large, extremely powerful and entirely unfamiliar car and her
desire to do a good job, and her nervousness quadrupled.
On the road, she obviously worried about losing touch with her leader.
If a car passed her and separated them, she then felt compelled to pass,
to keep the other car in her sight. On one occasion, she pulled out to
pass - right into the path of an 18-wheeler which, in MacNeill's's own
words, "flattened her".
When MacNeill put on her psychologist's hat, she noted the girl's
"perceived" risk - that of getting lost overwhelmed her "objective"
risk - that of having a collision. MacNeill said she'll never again
conduct a driver training program without emphasizing the difference
between these two categories of risk.
There is a lifetime of Carte Blanches (ed. Column Title) to be written
on driving risk perception and management I want to concentrate today on
the follow-the-leader issue.
I've personally played Mother Duck to hosts of ducklings on my driving
tours to Europe. Perfect scenario for danger. The guests are driving
unfamiliar, fast cars in cities they've never been in - and the street
signs aren't even in their language.
A number of strategies have evolved to deal with this danger, if you're
ever in a follow-the-leader situation, perhaps these can help.
First: increase knowledge.
Go over the planned route, preferably with detailed maps. In cities,
count the traffic lights as accurately as you can, and supply estimated
distances between major turns. Note landmarks, such as parks or large
buildings. If at all possible, it helps to have a navigator in the
ducklings' cars, so the driver can concentrate on dealing with - yes,
the "objective" risk - avoiding a crash.
In daytime situations, make sure everyone has their headlights on. In
Canada, most cars have daytime running lights, but since these are
usually low intensity high beam without taillights, switching on the
regular lights will make it easier still to distinguish members of your
fleet from the run-of-the-mill.
The most fail-safe following strategy is the so-called convoy
procedure.
Every car is responsible for keeping the car behind in full view in the
rear-view mirror. Theoretically, any car that is held up for any reason
will cause the convoy to gradually slow down until they're all in sight
again. Problem: In my experience, it's a rare group of drivers who have
the discipline and faith in their fellow pilots necessary to make this
work. Plus, forcing drivers to focus so much on what's behind takes away
scarce attention-span resources from what's ahead.
Considerable - perhaps the entire - responsibility falls on the
shoulders of the leader. You must abandon any hope of driving briskly.
This isn't about fun; This is about getting a bunch of people safely
through foreign territory.
For example, if there's any doubt at all that you can make it though a
green traffic light, slow down and wait for it to change to red. If you
can't do this without endangering non-convoy traffic, get through the
intersection, pause at the next available safe and legal stopping point,
throw on your four-way flashers and wait until your convoy catches up to
you.
Likewise with lane-changing on the freeway. It's tempting to make a
move to gain a few car lengths. But if your entire convoy can't make
the same move with ease, one or more of them may panic and get out into
the passing lane just as you're signalling a turn to make an exit.
Yikes.
Most important, let your convoy know in advance that you're going to
follow these strategies. Convince them that you won't abandon them, and
tell them that if they do get delayed, you encourage them to continue to
employ proper driving practices - look well down the road (this way
they'll probably be spotting convoy members two or three cars ahead of
them, rather than fixating on the rear bumper of the guy directly in
front).
Also, make sure they maintain proper distance between cars. While they
may fear - as MacNell's student did - that another car may pop in
between, and separate them from the convoy, they should have enough
confidence in your leadership that they'll know you won't leave them
behind.
So far on my tours, only a few ducklings have become temporarily lost.
But they've all returned eventually, damage to neither car nor body.
Because if you employ proper driving techniques, safety just, um,
follows.
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