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Driving to survive
 Five-speed manual: FMTO Stuart Jones and DC PDS Niki Chow with the English and new Chinese editions of the police driving guide |
Force drivers are receiving world-class instruction on healthy driving attitudes thanks to the acquisition of a top British study on the subject.
Human Aspects of Police Driving is a book addressing driving attitudes on a variety of fronts, particularly occupational safety, produced for the Scottish Police College by a British medical science expert.
It gives drivers and motorcycle riders, even those highly-trained and skilled, a better understanding of their own capabilities and limitations in typical police driving situations which can be complex.
Force Motor Transport Officer Stuart Jones said 1,500 Chinese copies translated by the College have arrived and would be distributed to all frontline units next month.
He said Police Driving School trainees were also using the books which would become required reading for all officers with a driving qualification. The book was the result of joint efforts between Transport Division and PDS.
"We have extremely good driver training and drivers in the Force. However, what we are trying to do with the book is to further improve on this excellence by looking at attitude training to compliment our high level of skills training. Leading forces around the world are placing greater emphasis on attitude training and we are keeping up with the best," Mr Jones said.
It looks at how the stresses of police driving operations, such as emergencies, could distort a driver's true view of the dangers around him. The 112-page document also features a host of colour graphics and charts to help explain and animate the issues covered.
"There is a pressure on officers to meet performance pledges, getting to a scene within X-number of minutes, and it is also true that often the first impression the public gets of an officer is how quickly he can arrive at the scene. But these stresses can cause an officer to lose sight of the most important aspect, actually getting to the scene. How fast does not always matter - the safety aspect for all is the top priority," Mr Jones said.
"A management risk project report by the Australian National Police Research Unit states 'the biggest danger in responding to armed-robbery-in-progress calls is in getting there'."
The book was written by Professor Gordon Sharp, consultant to the Royal Air Force and the Scottish Police, who has worked on projects studying stress and reaction in fighter pilots, which featured similar factors to operational police driving.
PDS Deputy Commandant Niki Chow Chun-fung and his staff edited the Chinese edition.
"We would like to acknowledge the author and publishers the Scottish Police College, who waived copyright allowing the book to be translated into Chinese and giving us a valuable and cost-effective training aid many other forces do not have," Mr Chow said.