Buckley speedwatch chief's concerns about bad driving habits

Arnold Woolley, a former Police Senior Superintendent, Force Training Commander and traffic specialist who now leads Buckley's Community Speedwatch group, raised serious concerns about the standard of driving he and his colleagues have witnessed.

He said: "We are seeing more and more bad driving.

"First of all is a lack of indication. If you don't indicate, other drivers don't know your intentions.

"And then there's tailgating - which has become very common.

"I've had idiots who tell me 'I do not have to worry about braking mate because I have ABS braking systems in my car.'

"They may well do, but they don't have an ABS brain!

"People still have the standard reaction time, even when they're stone cold sober."

Cllr Woolley said another of his concerns is the number of people who are 'cutting corners.'

"People seem to have a total inability to use their arms and shoulders to turn a steering wheel," he said.

"I had a close call myself where one idiot cut across a give way.

"If I hadn't been sharp on my brakes, there would have been a nose-to-nose collision.

"And people appear to regard seatbelts as an inconvenience now.

"It's getting very common to see people not using them at all.

"We're also seeing more and more animals - yes, animals plural - loose in cars.

"Many people have not one animal, but several in the vehicle and a classic one we saw was a cross-breed dog sitting in the driver's lap with its paws on the steering wheel!

"If the driver needs to use the horn, the dog's in the way. And if anything happens, how does an airbag work properly when it's going to slam a dog into the face and chest of the driver?"

Mobile phone usage behind the wheel is also something Cllr Woolley and his team has noticed more of.

"It's absolutely common now," he said.

Cllr Arnold Woolley (Image: Staff)"And the other one is that many of the vehicles on the road now come with radios, DVD players and other devices fitted into the dashboard which need adjustment and controlling.

"We've seen people fiddling and tinkering with their consoles and in-car amusements and not paying attention to what's ahead of them."

Cllr Woolley said he has "a great deal of certainty" that the standard of driving has fallen in recent years.

He also raised concern about the number of people being caught drink and drug driving - which the Leader has covered many cases of in our area's courts throughout 2023.

"Nowadays it is common to find people using more than one drug," he said.

"And of course the trouble is that once the body begins to take in these things, it compensates, rather like the effect of any painkiller.

"You need to keep using more and more to get the same effect and it reaches damaging levels.

"For heaven's sakes, why should legal and proper drivers have to worry about who is around them on the road?

"Because that's the thing - you just don't know. You're hostage to their bad habits."