What time can we go Driving?
When I started driving I must admit I did not fully understand what, Fit to Drive meant. Most of the time, when I felt OK I would jump into the car and drive. I say the car because very much like many young people today that pass their driving test before their twentieth birthday, I did not have sufficient funds to buy a car, so I used my parents car whenever either of them were not using it.
Some years later whenever I was under the weather and feeling ill the thought of driving never crossed my mind so in this instance it’s reasonable to say I was not fit to drive. Conversely, like most other people I would from time to time catch a cold, get fuzzy feelings in my head, a runny nose and a sore throat. This sounds pretty bad but I would still go to work, still drive my car and never knowingly ask myself whether I was fit enough to drive? There appears to be degrees of what we call personal fitness and even this differs from person to person it is therefore an individual assessment, choice and sense of what would be reasonably acceptable.
Each and every time you contemplate driving a vehicle do you ask yourself, if you consider yourself fit to drive?
Part of the planning process is to check that any necessary documents are indeed up to date before getting into the driving seat of a vehicle. These include an appropriate current driving licence, MOT and vehicle insurance. Certain stipulations need to be met regarding driving incidents e.g. speeding and other offences. The policy holder would need to inform their insurance company of any offence commited even if they elected to undertake a course of training instead of receiving points on their driving licence. This is important.
Let us say an accident happened, undertaking any journey by driving e.g. a car would be at great risk to the driver, any passengers or other road users if the insurance company had not been informed beforehand of any driving offence. This is a very important subject because a driving offence is considered to be a material fact, the insurance company should be informed. An investigation carried out by the insurance company would reveal a lack of factual information that information that has been witheld by the policy holder. Similar incidents have resulted in insurance companies refusing to pay for any repairs or damages.
Before using any vehicle on the highways how is road and legal fitness determined?
What is included in the fitness of vehicles. The following will consider the things we need to know?
It is good that learner drivers have to learn a variety of simple maintenance checks that they will be tested on during their driving test. Around 19 aspects cover under the bonnet engine bay, in-car checks and exterior safety items. This is part of a positive move towards new drivers having a greater amount of knowledge and awareness about the vehicle that they not only drive but are expected to maintain simple maintenence. Although their driving examiner will only ask one show plus one tell me questions it is more likely that new drivers will continue weekly maintenence particularly when they get their own cars. In addition it is recommended that new drivers study the car handbook before taking to the road.
Colour coding is designed by vehicle manufacturers in order to simplify maintenence tasks that drivers are expected to check on a regular basis. Colour coded items are generally on or around the engine, under the bonnet of the car. Not all manufacturers use the same colours so it is wise to consult the vehicle handbook, this can often be found in the glovebox. Before driving any vehicle which is new to you it is recommended that you allow some time browsing through the car handbook to familiarise yourself with the controls and safety systems of the vehicle. E.g. where is the spare wheel kept and having found it, where are the tools located so that you could change a wheel should you have a puncture. Jacking the car up requires you to know where the jacking points are located on the underside of the vehicle. Older or second hand vehicles may not have a car handbook, it may have been misplaced by the previous owner however, there are websites that specialise in the supply of a replacement handbook if you are not to secure a copy from the manufacturer. Check to see the spare tyre has the correct pressure, is the spare wheel a normal or an emergency type wheel and if so, what the maximum car speed would be when fitted.
Before you decide which driving school you are going to select for your training course it would bea good idea to check out Eddie Reade’s site including resourceshttp://www.carryondriving.co.uk/book-store. This article, What time can we go Driving? is released under a creative commons attribution license.
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