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Motor Schools Association membership magazine, driving instructors, road safety.
Motor Schools Association membership magazine, driving instructors, road safety.
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For all the latest news, see www.msagb.com<br />
build a closer relationship between ADIs<br />
and the DVSA, rather than the ‘us and<br />
them’ attitudes we sometimes get at<br />
present.<br />
Who/what inspires you, drives you on?<br />
My pupils mastering a new skill,<br />
passing their tests, and also my family.<br />
What keeps you awake at night?<br />
I run a school of eight ADIs and<br />
keeping them all busy can lead to<br />
sleepless nights; other than that there is<br />
nothing that keeps me awake<br />
No one is the finished article. What do<br />
you do to keep on top of the game?<br />
By keeping up with my CPD, also<br />
keeping up with all changes that are<br />
introduced and attending all MSA GB<br />
conferences<br />
What’s the daftest /most dangerous<br />
thing that’s ever happened to you<br />
while teaching?<br />
The two that spring to mind are<br />
asking a pupil, as he approached a<br />
roundabout, to turn right, 3rd exit off,<br />
and he was going to turn right at the<br />
stop line, literally against the flow off the<br />
traffic.<br />
Scary but comical were the couple of<br />
occasions when we’ve nearly been hit by<br />
flying debris in high winds: believe it or<br />
not, a low-flying trampoline and a space<br />
hopper!<br />
When or where are you happiest?<br />
Playing with my grandchildren. As far<br />
as the job goes, at the test centres when<br />
one of my pupils passes.<br />
The other Geoff Capes,<br />
pictured pulling a ferry into<br />
harbour. Like you do.<br />
The former World’s<br />
Strongest Man has remarked<br />
several times how people<br />
always assume he’s a<br />
driving instructor from<br />
Stockport...<br />
If you had to pick one book/film/album<br />
that inspires, entertains or moves you,<br />
what would it be?<br />
I’m not a book reader but the film that<br />
moves me every time is The Green Mile;<br />
every time it gets me.<br />
FINALLY, this is not a question we ask<br />
everyone, for obvious reasons, but…<br />
how often, when people know your<br />
name and meet you for the first time,<br />
do they say… ‘oh, I thought you’d be<br />
bigger’ or ‘oh, you’re not THE Geoff<br />
Capes, then...’<br />
Ha, Ha! I used to be asked that<br />
question quite frequently in my business<br />
and personal life but as the years have<br />
gone on the questions have been asked<br />
less frequently. I suppose he isn’t a<br />
well-known name for many young<br />
people, but back in the day he was<br />
huge. Literally.<br />
Oddly enough I have actually met<br />
him. It must have been about 25 years<br />
ago and he was opening a store in my<br />
home town of Stockport.<br />
‘‘<br />
I think the public’s attitudes<br />
to driving needs fixing the<br />
most. A lot of people seem<br />
to disrespect the laws of<br />
the road with the attitude<br />
of ‘me first’<br />
‘‘<br />
Call to overhaul<br />
rules on driver<br />
medical fitness<br />
The current approach to assessing<br />
whether drivers are medically fit to hold<br />
a licence needs substantial revision, the<br />
European Transport Safety Council has<br />
said.<br />
A new report into how countries<br />
assess medical fitness to drive, with<br />
reference to current EU rules, shows<br />
that the starting point for many is still<br />
age-based assessment, despite the fact<br />
that studies have concluded that<br />
specific medical conditions, substance<br />
abuse, mental disorders, epilepsy and<br />
diabetes are more important factors<br />
than age when it comes to medical<br />
fitness to drive.<br />
Mandatory age-based screening of<br />
older drivers has not been shown to be<br />
effective in preventing severe collisions.<br />
It may even have a negative safety<br />
impact, as older drivers with revoked<br />
licences due to poor health become<br />
vulnerable road users.<br />
ETSC is recommending that national<br />
governments should make wider use of<br />
conditional licences to allow those who<br />
may be at slight risk to continue to<br />
drive under certain circumstances.<br />
A lack of good data on the role<br />
played by medical conditions and<br />
disorders in road collisions is also a<br />
significant problem, according to the<br />
report. Pan-European in-depth collision<br />
data could help but currently only a<br />
small number of countries<br />
systematically collect such data.<br />
Many of the countries surveyed<br />
require some form of medical check<br />
when first applying for a licence to drive<br />
a car, beyond the sight test required by<br />
EU rules. But there are vast differences<br />
in how these checks are carried out<br />
among the different countries. The<br />
medical test required when acquiring a<br />
licence for the first time can vary from a<br />
self-assessment form filled out and<br />
signed by the applicant, to a medical<br />
examination carried out by a family<br />
doctor or a medical examination carried<br />
out by a specialist doctor or<br />
centre. ETSC is recommending that the<br />
EU and national governments should<br />
adopt a standardised screening process<br />
based on international best practice.<br />
• You can download the full report<br />
at: https://etsc.eu/pinflash40<br />
NEWSLINK n APRIL 2021<br />
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