Sorry for not posting this until Saturday, but after the course I drove to Aberystwyth only to find the A44 closed because of a fatal incident and I had to detour via Machynlleth.
The day started with some miserable weather yesterday – plenty of rain, which is just what I didn’t want for the last and most important day of the course. Today, we were going to be doing our response drives on blue lights and our final tests from our instructor.
We got to the Driver Training Unit early as usual and after a quick cuppa we started looking at the theory behind response driving. Following on from earlier sessions in the week were themes such as safety and responsibility not only to other road users but to our passengers as well. Key was the fact that we would always compromise speed and position for safety – all the time using the principles outlined in Roadcraft for safe driving.
We also looked at the exemptions that emergency services drivers have whilst responding to incidents on blue lights. The exemption from speed limits for example is a well-known one, however what people may not realise is that this does not give us carte blanche to travel at whatever speed we want. Blue light drivers can still be prosecuted for offences such as dangerous driving, so at all times out driving has to be safe – in fact, we have to be above reproach as we are affecting other users of the road by contravening some of the principles that driving is based on.
We have a number of exemptions that we can make use of:
- Handheld microphones Emergency vehicles can use handheld microphones such as radios to communicate
- Speed limits Road Traffic Act 1984 Sect 87 gives us the power to exceed the speed limit, but not at a compromise to safety. Blue light drivers can still be charged with driving without due care and attention
- Traffic lights Traffic Signs Regulations & General directions 1994, Reg 33(1)(b) allows us to go through red lights where necessary. However, it specifically stipulates that we must not do so in a manner likely to put other road users at risk. We do not have exemptions at pedestrian crossings – the public has right of way at those crossings
- Keep left/right signs and bollards Traffic Signs Regulations & General directions 1994, Reg 15(2) says that we can ignore these where it is safe to do so
One thing we cannot do which is commonly misunderstood by the public, is that we do not have an exemption allowing us to cross solid white road markings. We can only cross them when everyone else can – to pass a stationary vehicle or one travelling below 10mph.
Once we discussed theory, we went on to look at scenarios in the classroom, and how to ensure that your driving is safe whilst making progress through traffic as quickly as possible. In fact, one scenario that we discussed occurred exactly that afternoon on my response drive.
After lunch we took the Western Beacons team Landrover and left headquarters to begin our response drives. I was first up and my drive took me from Bridgend to Llantrisant, up through Church Village and ended at Power Station Hill in Pontypridd. Traffic lights in Llantrisant posed a problem due to drivers who just weren’t paying attention just as traffic at the top of Power Station Hill did – a minibus stopped for us there having seen us some way back and 3 cars passed him oblivious of our progress and between them managing to block the entire junction. The Fiesta who stopped in the middle of the junction with about 3′ of room for us wasn’t helping either.
From there, we swapped drivers and went through Cardiff, down City Road, past the museum, then past the castle, up through Canton, through Culverhouse Cross and out to the M4, and eventually back to Bridgend.
What surprised me was that we learned nothing new about driving today that we hadn’t already practised over the last few days. The system of car control is so key to being a safe driver, and it was just a matter of implementing in a slightly different way, along with learning how best to use the lights and sirens to achieve your goal. Gone are the days of blindly leaving them on at all times – we now chose carefully when to use them and when not to bearing in mind what people’s reactions will be.
I’m glad to say that I passed the course and have my certificate from South Wales Police. This course was an incredibly boost to my driving skill – I was a reasonable driver before this course but I look back and think of some situations and shudder.
I’ll be posting one more article on this course, more of a general one about driving, IAM, the system of driving and so on.Â
Today was our first day spent entirely on the road, and boy was it great.
We’ve been driving a little Mondeo hatchback ST, a diesel model, and once we’d finished our POWER checks this morning, we got going and headed out to the M4. As usual with my colleagues on the course, I was volunteered to be first at the wheel, so I got to enjoy handling a motorway slip road at 0845, heading eastbound.
Quick acceleration up to the limit, into lane 3 and another push up to around 80mph[1] and we start looking at ‘leapfrogging’. Basically a technique where we ensure at all times that we’re not 3 abreast, we’re not alongside a ‘heavy’ and that we have space to our left so that in an emergency, we have a gap that we can use other than the central reservation – a sterile zone. Thus, your driving is a series of leapfrogs from gap to gap. All using very little if any, braking but plenty of acceleration sense and keeping the revs up high before changing. Very interesting techniques, very easy to see how it’s so much safer. One quick shout out to the navy focus driver behind me who flashed us a few times wanting to get past. At 80-ish mph, flashing an unmarked police car may have not been his brightest move of the morning, but fortunately we were too busy training to care about him and before we could let him past and educate him to the error of his ways he took an exit.
Up then onto the A465 past Neath, and some more driving at speed, building confidence and looking at how you handle hazards at those speeds. Quick change of drivers, and then we’re up over the Penderyn road – a fantastic road, and then up to Libanus where we changed drivers again. From there, we headed up towards Brecon on the A470 and then over to Sennybridge on the A40 where we stopped for a quick cuppa. Off again down past the Cray reservoir along what is an exceptionally fast road, and then down to Craig Y Nos where we stop to swap drivers and I’m up again.
I take her over the top through Onllwyn, down to Glynneath and through the town itself. A quick lesson in “dominating the road”[2] and we’re through and back onto the A465. A few more swaps over various roads – all quite fast, and we’re back to Headquarters for lunch (yes, all that in a morning!). On the way a shocking example of how not to drive resulted in a quick bit of sharp driving from Jon under our instructor’s experienced tuition and we pull the gentleman over. Julie, the instructor (an operational police officer, ex-traffic) had a quick word about the use of mobile phones whilst driving before we carried on.
 In the afternoon, we had a quick familiarisation drive in the Bridgend Landrover that we’d use for our response driving tomorrow before picking Julie up and heading down through the Vale’s lanes. The afternoon was spent getting used to the Landrover – which was a bit of a shock after the Mondeo – and we all had the opportunity to drive it.
The style of driving is interesting – a lot harder than my normal driving, though this is specifically looking at building our skills at emergency response driving. Certainly a lot more expensive on fuel – I’m having to rapidly adapt my driving when I get into my own vehicle. However, this system of driving makes you stop and think about the hazards on the road. I have no doubt that my driving is orders of magnitude safer than before – and I really wasn’t that bad a driver then. I’ve told Sean that I’d like him to take the IAM test after he passes his standard category B test because that teaches you this system of driving. Julie did say that it was a shame we only had one week with them – and I agreed – I’d love to do the three week course, but it just isn’t feasible.
Anyway, to bed now – I have a day of response driving ahead of me tomorrow along with plenty of classroom work about the law and where we get our powers of exemption from.
[1] This is a police response driving course and was specifically designed to show us how to drive at these speeds. Under these conditions, we’re exempt under the Road Traffic Act, so don’t try this one at home, kids. *wink*
[2] Fnar!
So after two days of police driver training, my driving is already immeasurably improved.
The course that we’re on is a special course designed by South Wales police to allow Mountain Rescue personnel to respond safely on blue lights to incidents. It’s a truncated version of the police basic driving course which usually takes 3 weeks – because we can’t be expected to take 3 weeks off work, they’ve brought it down to one week – and because the driving school operates on 10-hour days, that’s 4 days.
So we started off by covering the system of car control. There’s loads of details on it in Roadcraft, the course manual, but I think it’s safe to say that just reading the book is nowhere near enough. It’s implementation is crucial, and the driving we did yesterday afternoon and this afternoon has really showed us how to implement it correctly. We spent some time on the skid pan, looking at controlling skids and then this morning looked at ABS and different steering techniques and how they affect the car’s balance and handling.
It doesn’t sound much, but that’s 20 hours of physically and mentally exhausting instruction there. I’ve been given another book to read on the Human aspects of police driving, which has a fascinating insight into how the mind processes the information needed to drive. As a result, I’m understanding why this course is so challenging and what I need to do to make sure that the information I receive in this course gets to be a “habit”, an automated reaction and skill to use while driving.
So tomorrow we’re covering the system on larger roads, dual carriageways and motorways before going on to look at response driving on Friday, all of which I’m really looking forward to.
This course is realy opening my eyes. When we started the course, the instructor told us that no matter how good we think we are, and how good we actually are, by the end of the course, we’ll be thinking “My God, just what was I like before this course?”. No need to reach the end of the course I think.
Friday turned out to be an interesting day around here.
When I got up there was a dusting of fresh snow on the ground. As I drove into work, I was hearing reports of further snow falls but when I got to Cardiff, there wasn’t a huge amount on the ground. We got to work sorting out a few servers since I was leaving early for a doctor’s appointment and more to the point, I was going to be away for a week on this driver training course.
By 1100, the situation had gotten interesting. The M4 was closed in West Wales, other major routes were being marked as too dangerous to travel on[1], and public transport was advertising that they would not be able to guarantee a service beyond lunchtime. By 1200, many offices in Cardiff had shut down, and we closed the Cardiff office to those who needed to travel.
I headed off myself and after my errands, I headed up to base – we’d gone back on Standby with the ambulance service again. This time, things were more serious. We’d been running a full service with two vehicles since 1100, so by the time Mal and I got there at about 1700, things were well into action.
I manned the radios for a few hours until about 2300 when I swapped out with a very tired crew. Calls were winding down though, and I eventually headed off to bed at about 0200, with further snow promised between 0200 and 1000. At 0330 the pagers went off, with a message telling us that Ambulance control had stood us down, which was fine. Only thing was that they called for help at about 0400, so we jumped out. By this time, I was the only driver left in base, so we had a non-response drive (i.e. driving just like a normal road vehicle instead of with blue lights and sirens) to the incident. We transported the patient to Prince Charles before heading back to base.
I called Ambulance control to inform them that we were back and to have a conversation with the duty officer about the situation, and she immediately said “Oh, well, actually, I have a red call for you now…”. Off we went again.
Eventually by 0900, it was clear that the latest predicted batch of snow wasn’t going to materialise, so Ambulance control stood us down again and we made to pack up base. Of course I should have known that wasn’t going to be the last of it, because by about 1000, just as we were finishing the kit checks, log books and tidying up, Huw phoned with a message that Ambulance control needed assistance to transport a dialysis patient to hospital.
Off we went again, and dropped the chap off in the Heath. I quickly popped over to pick Jon up and headed back to base, where Jon helped me load the car. After a night like that, I needed some Sean-time. Aberystwyth was our next stop, where I quite happily collapsed into a nice warm bed. And boy did I sleep.
Note: I know this is a bit late, sorry. I’ve got my driving course this week, so I’ll post today’s update on the course tomorrow.
[1] Yes, I know Elaine, that this is nothing like your snow. However, we’re not used to it, it happens 2 days out of the year if that, so yeah, this country does slow down a lot when it snows.
So after a brief period of indecision while Ambulance Control, the Met Office and our Incident Controller were trying to work out what the weather was doing, it was decided that we should go on standby from midnight.
So some 19 of us appeared up at base last night, with probably half of us being quite sensible and appearing with sleeping kit. I’d managed a few hours before I went up as well, so as soon as arrangements were over, I headed up for some sleep.
At about 6am, I got up thinking of making some coffee before heading into work – just as Ambulance control called. An ambulance had gotten stuck in the snow, so we dispatched one Landrover to help the casualty and a second to head down to Bargoed to pick up a Paramedic. Unfortunately, I’ve got some important stuff going on at work, so I decided that I’d better head off into Cardiff instead. Mal and I jumped in the car, cleared the snow off of it and made it onto the road in the tracks of the Landrover. Dowlais
had about 6″ of snow, although it was drifting to a good depth.
Roads were as to be expected, but we got to Cardiff without incident. I’ve just had a message that training is cancelled tonight, but I don’t know what time we’re being stood down for, and as my sleeping kit is still there I might see if I can pop up a bit later on.
Pretty quiet night then really.
Update: Looks like that call this morning has been picked up by the BBC here.Â
We’ve had a pager message this morning – the Ambulance service have requested that we place two Landrovers on standby to assist them this evening and for the next 36 hours or so due to the expected poor weather. This means that base and two Landrovers will be permanently crewed tonight and tomorrow including a Paramedic from the Ambulance service. At the moment the met office is warning of
up to 6″ of snow overnight in areas of Wales[1]
More updates as they happen.
[1] To our Canuck friends: I realise this counts as a mere “dusting” for you, however, this is big news for us. Deal with it.
Saturday dawned bright with a deep blue sky more typical of a summer day. Jon and I’d arranged to have another attempt at getting him up to the highest point in the Beacons – twice we’d been up on to the Neuadd Ridge already, but we’d not been able to make it.
So we parked up at the Neuadd pump house and headed up the direct path straight up the ridge just as we’d done before. The sun was shining and there was a gentle breeze on the way up – 4 degrees according to the met office. Once we reached the ridge however we felt the wind – about 20-25mph, which give a temperature after windchill of about -1 degree – all of this I knew, but with the sunshine it felt wonderfully warm. Jon and I headed along the ridge before we met a young lad called Adam. He’d driven down from Norfolk the night before to do some walking in the Beacons as training for his Mountain Leader award.
Adam, Jon and I walked along the ridge chatting when we spotted a Sea King coming in to play. Crowds gathered on the ridge as they hovered close to the cliff before flying off to find another few places to practice their flying. We carried on along the ridge – time was getting on a bit, and I was on duty with the ambulance service at 1700, so Jon and I took the quick route around the first peak – Corn Du – whilst Adam left us to bag the peak. As we reached the saddle between Corn Du and Pen Y Fan I looked up the path ahead of us an saw two army lads stood around a figure on the ground.
Uh-oh.
Jon and I picked up the pace a little and I stopped in front of the lady on the ground, bringing my rucksack down. “Hello, I’m Aled and I’m with the Mountain Rescue team. Do you need any help?”
The lady had gone down hard on her ankle whilst going to have a look at the helicopter and couldn’t put any pressure on it. There was good bloody supply to the ankle so I made sure she was comfortable and called Huw who was fund-raising in Cardiff. We settled down and chatted whilst waiting for the team to arrive. By this time Adam had caught up and stopped to help – as did a Royal Marine who was up in the Beacons with the Army on a training exercise. Jon and I quickly felt the wind in that bare spot between the two peaks and so the decision was made to ask the Sea King to come back to the Beacons. Soon enough, Mark and Rhyan arrived with some Entonox and splints – just about the same time as Rescue169 found us.
With the Marine guarding the path downhill, Jon uphill and the rest of us hanging on to equipment, 169 came in and the winchman dropped down whilst the helicopter stood station a little distance away. The winchman took some details and checked our casualty over before prepping her for the winch up. It only took a minute before she was in the helicopter and heading off to Prince Charles Hospital.
We picked up the kit and headed down to Pont Ar Daf with the casualty’s partner to get his car – until we got a radio message asking for assistance to help an 11 year-old girl who had twisted her ankle on the path on the way down.
Our day didn’t end there as we walked down with the chap whose partner was now nice and warm in Prince Charles. Once we reached the bottom, we went searching for a cup of tea – and quite surreally got given a cup of Earl Grey in a polystyrene cup – it was wet, warm and sweet so I wasn’t complaining. I got a lift back to the car, but my helmet is still up at base, having been placed on the head of the lady with the ankle when she was being winched. Lucky I’ve got a spare in the house really.
Oh, and Jon still hasn’t been to the top of Pen Y Fan.
The BBC has a news article today which is basically an editorial piece calling on the government to look at central funding.
This has been an issue for a while – Mountain Rescue teams are not funded by the government in any way and to be frank, some people don’t want us to receive government funding either. So what’s the fuss now and what’s the insider scoop?
It’s coming up to midnight. You’re just getting ready for bed when the pager goes off: PLEASE CALL DUTY INSPECTOR, SOUTH WALES POLICE.
The inspector tells you that a police search manager has requested Mountain Rescue for a search of a missing vulnerable 42 year old in Ebbw Vale. You page out the message to the team and head off yourself.
As you arrive at the police station, you see around a half-dozen of your fellow team members gathered around the police station, which is locked and looks quite dark. A quick call to the police control room gets an officer around to the side gate, and in fact you realise that an incident room and a conference room are in full swing at the back of the station. You and your team members settle down for a cup of tea while you get your maps out and start looking at the area.
Two police Inspectors enter the room – John is a police search manager, and the other Inspector is the Bronze commander – duty Inspector there for the evening. John begins his briefing.
“Thank you for coming. We have a missing male tonight, aged 42, white, 5’10”. His name is Eric Starcrosser – this isn’t his given name. Earlier in the evening his ex-girlfriend found a note from him showing his intention to self-harm, and when she called him on his mobile, she indicated that he was upset and was slurring his speech. This was around eight pm. He has spoken to the control room who also indicated that he was slurring his speech.
“He does have a history of similar incidents, and some 18 months ago, we searched and found him on the mountain some distance from his home. However, it’s not thought that he has been on the mountain since then. He is on medication, but what that is and what it’s for we’re still trying to find out. He is known to have a violent history and has a record with a smattering of minor violent crimes – affray, wounding and some theft.
“He does have a mobile phone, which Silver control won’t authorise a location search on it until we’ve exhausted local enquiries first. I’ve just called Eric, and he was lucid and clear, sounded happy and content and advised me that he was safe and well, but didn’t want to reveal his location.
“What do you want to do?”
As the Inspector finishes talking, you look around the room. The clock says it’s 0100, and you count 23 of your team members looking at you. Behind the two Inspectors are 6 police officers, all looking at you.
What do you do?
Sent to me by Sean who found it somewhere and amused me:
1. Picture yourself near a stream.
2. Birds are softly chirping in the cool mountain air.
3. No one but you knows your secret place.
4. You are in total seclusion from the hectic place called “the world”.5. The soothing sound of a gentle waterfall fills the air with a cascade of serenity.
6. The water is crystal clear.
7. You can easily make out the face of the person you’re holding underwater.
8. See! You’re smiling already
No prizes for guessing who’s face I can see…