Friday 14 June 2013

Being Safe - Cycling and Towing and Being Seen

Whatever kind of trailer you’re towing, Safe T Signs mean Safe TowingBe seen and be safe when you emerge from junctions or roundabouts, and when you are towing in the dark.

Buy Safe T Signs from our website here:  http://www.safetowing.co.uk/buy-now.htm





I wrote a blog last year called "Mind the Antelope" highlighting the fact that our eyes aren't designed for driving and that we miss obvious things.  It was based on an London Cyclist Blog.

There are obvious dangers for towers - if other drivers don’t expect there to be a trailer, even a great big one, their brain is more likely to automatically jump to the conclusion that the vehicle they see is the car, and that's all there is to see.




One comment from a tower about people not seeing the obvious includes:

" ....on a large island I was negotiating with my discovery and twin axle tourer when some idiot had not realised I was towing a nearly 8m long caravan and tried to slot in behind my car and then realised his mistake to which I had had to take exceptional driving manoeuvres to avoid a collision!"


Most of us will remember our own "near misses", when we should have spotted something on the road but didn't.  With 1500 towing accidents involving personal injury every year - more than four personal injury accidents every day - this is important. 

We also know that tow combinations are slightly more slikely to be involved in severe accidents.





I follow the London Cyclist Blog - it's a really insightful blog and has a real and obvious interest in road safety, safe driving and cycling behaviours and other stuff.  Recent comments on their blog "What an RAF pilot can teach us on being safe on the road" also emphasis how drivers don't see things which are right in front of them. 


Equally, we need to recognise that towing is risky - if another driver can't see the trailer because of other vehicles, or because it's out of their line of sight, then they'll behave like it's not there, possibly with disastrous consequences

Using a Safe T-Sign on the side of your car means that if other drivers can see your car then they can be alerted to the fact that there's something else to follow your vehicle.  They are reflective, so they will catch the light and the eye of other drivers.  As Safe T-Signs become a more familiar sight on the road, other road users will instantly recognise what they mean and they will register that there is something else to look out for.



See our website:

http://www.safetowing.co.uk/index.htm


Whatever kind of trailer you’re towing, Safe T Signs mean Safe TowingBe seen and be safe when you emerge from junctions or roundabouts, and when you are towing in the dark.

Buy Safe T Signs from our website here:  http://www.safetowing.co.uk/buy-now.htm