What people say about Safe T-Sign

Whatever kind of trailer you’re towing, Safe T Signs mean Safe Towing! Be 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

We've had a fair bit of feedback on Safe T Sign - here it is to help readers think about Safe T-Sign and it's place in road safety for people who tow all sorts of trailers...

“I have long argued for the use of retro-reflective markings on all HGVs, and so I welcome a product that will help improve safety on our roads for vehicles towing trailers and caravans.”

John Leech, MP

                   

“I invested in the signs for safety reasons. I was negotiating a large island with my Discovery and twin axle tourer.  Some idiot hadn’t realised I was towing a nearly 8m long caravan and tried to slot in behind my car and then realised his mistake. I had to take exceptional driving manoeuvres to avoid a collision.   I can express the importance that these signs make to road safety, especially when towing coming out of side roads on to main roads, even in country lanes especially where there are motor bikes as they are on top of you in no time at all.  Whenever I tow I make sure these signs are fitted. I would rather be seen than somebody not realise that I’m towing until it is too late.  It is a possible life saving product.”

AP, Coventry

“I still use my Safe T-Sign magnetic signs. I originally used them when towing a small camping trailer behind a medium sized camper van which hid the trailer. Now having a large motor home, I find them a necessity when towing the small trailer and an extra safety feature when towing my Smart car on a small car trailer to avoid lorries tail ending / side swiping, particularly on motorways. I’ve had many people ask me why I use them and they quickly appreciate the sense of them when the safety aspect is explained.”

JS, Runcorn

“We always use the T-sign when towing our boat behind the campervan or car, easy to use and extremely prominent, just always remembering to remove them when stationary so no light fingered person can remove them! as it would seem to us they are much wanted.”

JS, Surrey

“I’m a big fan of Safe T-Signs. I use them every time I tow our caravan.  It must be almost 5 years and I would not be without them.  One might be forgiven for thinking that a caravan on tow is visible to everyone, especially other drivers!  However, I believe they afford an extra warning, especially when making a left or right turn from a side road and when negotiating roundabouts.”

PB, Abbots Langley

“I still use Safe T-Signs for towing.  They are an excellent product. I think more caravanners should use them - other motorists actually see you.”

GF, Scunthorpe

“I’ve found Safe T-Sign very handy when towing, especially at night and in bad visibility.  They give other motorists warning that you are a longer vehicle. They are very easy to apply and store.”

AL, Colchester

See our website ...

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


Whatever kind of trailer you’re towing, Safe T Signs mean Safe Towing! Be 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

Now you see me...

Whatever kind of trailer you’re towing, Safe T Signs mean Safe Towing! Be 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

Safe T-Signs are strikingly visible – reflective, bright, hatched.  They catch the light and catch the eye.  Meant to warn other drivers that you’re “TOWING”!

Conspicuity

Conspicuity is the ability of a vehicle to draw attention to its presence, even when other road users are not actively looking for it.

Other road users may not see when a vehicle is towing, for a number of reasons:

•       Some trailers are too low to be easily seen

•       Emerging from a junction or busy roundabout where there are other vehicles, buildings or hedges means that trailers aren’t always apparent

•       When it’s dark, it’s more difficult to see in general. Trailers often aren’t visible, especially from the side

•       Even with larger trailers, their colour and/ or speed means that they often aren’t conspicuous to other road users

•       Work on “conspicuity” is behind initiatives on fluorescent clothing for cyclists, pedestrians and lorry drivers and the requirements for trucks to use retro-reflective markings. 

•       The work on conspicuity acknowledges the problem which many towers have – that even though other road users ought to be able to see that they’re towing, they don’t...

Transport Research Laboratory, 2011

“Analysis for the five year period  2005-2009 identified a total of 4,173 reported accidents involving at least one car or light goods vehicle towing , representing 0.5% of the overall reported accidents.  Of these accidents, 100 were fatal (2.4%), 671 were serious (16.1%) and 3,402 were slight (81.5%).  The corresponding percentages for all cars/ vans are about 1% fatal, 11% serious and 88% slight, so there is some indication that tow combinations are slightly more likely to be involved in severe accidents.”

What we see depends largely on what we expect to see. 

“You may have experienced at one time or another, pulling out and narrowly missing a bicycle coming from the direction in which you have just looked.  Errors of this type are common because drivers are generally looking for cars or lorries but not for smaller objects such as bicycles or motorcycles which they fail to see.  When we concentrate we don’t just look at a particular part of a scene, we look for particular types of objects in that scene.  We find it easier to detect objects that we expect to see, and react more quickly to them. 

“Conversely we often fail to see objects that we do not expect to see.”

The essential towing handbook, TSO

The European Commission Road Safety Action Programme (2003-10) concluded:

•       one of the main causes of road accidents was the poor visibility of other road users

•       improved vehicle visibility and vision in difficult conditions are the prevention factors which offer the most encouraging prospects for improving road safety

Research by the University of Darmstadt found that 37% of all side collisions with trucks at  night occurred because the trucks were seen too late

“... The driver should have seen the truck but for some reason did not appear to do so ...”

Safe Towing

We see the acceptance of the need for conspicuity every time we take to the road and we see large lorries with conspicuity markings along the back.  These are big vehicles that, on the face of it, you’d say “how could you miss that”...

Safe T-Signs work on the same principle – they alert and warn other drivers.  The difference being that when you are towing, people might miss your trailer because they can’t see it; other’s may miss your trailer simply because they don’t see it.

Safe T-Sign – be seen, be safe

See our website:

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

Whatever kind of trailer you’re towing, Safe T Signs mean Safe Towing! Be 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

Ready Steady Tow...

Whatever kind of trailer you’re towing, Safe T Signs mean Safe Towing! Be 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

Comment of the week after the Easter holidays:

"I thought of you the other day. I was driving on the motorway, and a car overtook me.  I was about to pull out behind him, and I only realised in the nick of time that the he was towing a trailer - one of those low trailers.  There was no way of seeing it in that situation." 

"I thought, 'if he'd had a Safe T-Signs  I'd have known he was towing'."

Thank you Peter - please tell the world!

See our website:

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

Whatever kind of trailer you’re towing, Safe T Signs mean Safe Towing! Be 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

Keeping people safe - the first line of defence is yourself...

Whatever kind of trailer you’re towing, Safe T Signs mean Safe Towing! Be 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

Over the last week or so I've been mulling over how we can help people be safe by promoting them to use Safe T-Sign. 


Word on the street
I had a conversation with someone in the towing industry last October and I was very struck by what he said. 

First he said "there's no such thing as a bad safety product". 

The other thing he said was "most people understand the point of safety products, but they don't want to use them themselves - it's inconvenient.  Take the mirrors I use when I two my caravan, I hate them.  I know why I have them, I understand what they're for, but I wouldn't use them if it wasn't the law."

Then a month or so later I spoke to someone else in the road safety sector.  He was keen to say that people use road safety products when they're mandated.  Someone else needs to tell them to, tell them there's a benefit or else just that they must do it, even where individuals can see the benefit for themselves.


Attitudes to road safety
The Department for Transport had a literature review done in September 2010 on attitudes to road user safety Road Safety Research Report No. 112, Understanding Public Attitudes to Road-User Safety – Literature Review: Final Report, September 2012


The findings include:

·    There is the perception among individuals that it's ‘other’ drivers and ‘other pedestrians’, not themselves, that are the risk.

·    Safety concerns centre on the safety of other drivers rather than drivers’ own behaviour.

·    Reasons for speeding linked to attitudes include:

o   speeding because other drivers do so;

o   perceiving the speed limit as too low;

o   a belief that they will not be caught by the police for speeding;

o   not knowing they were speeding;

o   a belief that speeding is not that dangerous; and

o   views that link speeding to positive connotations.

·    Both driving too fast and too slow are linked to a perception of a dangerous driver. Driving at an appropriate speed is not seen as a quality of a good driver.

·    Various personality traits are linked to poor driving behaviour, including sensation seeking, aggression and anger, a Type A personality, normlessness, intolerance, less empathy, impulsiveness, recklessness and mild social deviance.

·    Current in-vehicle technology is viewed positively in terms of increasing road-user safety. Future in-vehicle technology has some support, especially for information provision rather than systems that take-over driving behaviour. There are concerns that technology might make driving less safe, especially in terms of over reliance on the technology.

·    Technological solutions are viewed differently by different people. Those who drive least safely most of the time (continuous risk takers) tend to view all engineering interventions very negatively, except black box technology.

So, what does this tell us?

In terms of launching a new safety product, this is a forbidding list which tells us that
when it comes to road safety, people aren't rational - a nightmare particularly for the
safety organisations and for government. And of course, it reinforces what was said by the people I spoke to.

There were also some conclusions about campaigns:

·    Campaigns targeting a mass audience may have little effect on changing the behaviour of road users, but may influence attitudes and social norms.

·    Campaigns that induce fear have little effect on the most confident drivers who believe such adverts are not targeted at them.

·    Skills training can have an unintended negative effect on driver performance by creating overconfidence, especially among professional drivers.

·    More success in changing behaviour and attitudes comes from interventions that target specific behaviours and groups, such as implementation intentions and reflective group discussions.

·    Most positive attitudes towards motorcyclists come from drivers who themselves are motorcyclists or have close relatives who are.

·    There is some interesting research on attitudes towards motorcyclists that links attitudes and skill, something that other areas of road-user safety research requires more focus on.

·    Choices made by individuals can be explained and predicted by cognitive psychology models of bounded rationality, opening the opportunity to change an individual’s behaviour towards better alternatives – in a way that does not limit their freedom of choice (or, as it is fashionable to say, people are ‘nudge-able’).

So, look to influence and shift attitudes (that's what we're trying to do).  Think about
educating people and use the people that understand the point.  Work to shift people over
time - we need to be in for the long haul!

At Safe Towing we are acutely aware of the need for safe driving practices, and of making sure that drivers are alert to the need to drive with consideration towards all other road users.   We believe that Safe T-Signs help alongside driver attitudes to being safe on the road and not taking unnecessary risks.  So how?

• We'll work with others who want to promote road safety
• We'll work with individuals who want to be safe
• We'll highlight issues of interest

 But, most importantly, I think we also need the help and support of people who influence drivers as individuals who could be in an accident with all that entails, to help influence drivers and all road users to do the things that will make and keep themselves and other road users safe.

... see our new website:

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


Whatever kind of trailer you’re towing, Safe T Signs mean Safe Towing! Be 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

All the right moves – a rapid appraisal of helpful towing guidance

Whatever kind of trailer you’re towing, Safe T Signs mean Safe Towing! Be 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

At Safe Towing we're acutely aware of the need for safe driving practices, and making sure drivers are conscious of the need to be considerate to all other road users.   We believe Safe T-Signs help, alongside drivers' attitudes to being safe on the road and not taking unnecessary risks.

While I’ve been working on Safe T-Sign I’ve read a great deal of guidance on towing (readers, let me know if list is lacking in anything essential).   

This week I’m sharing a rapid appraisal of the best of what’s out there!

The most comprehensive guidance is Roadcraft: Towing: The Essential Towing Handbook.   I regard this as the towing bible.  It largely covers how you drive when you’re towing.

It's written by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO).  It begins by talking about driving attitudes:

“… the bedrock of safe towing is your attitude to risk, safety and the need for hazard awareness … if you drive without regard to the safety of yourself and other road users you put lives and property at risk”. (page 1).

"Research evidence shows that attitudes affect towing safety … it depends on … making a personal commitment to changing unsafe attitudes.…These qualities depend on: …

·         A good level of concentration

·         Accurate observation ….

·         Awareness of the risks inherent in particular road and traffic situations

·         Acting to keep identified risks to a minimum

·         Awareness of their own limitations and those of the outfit and the road

·         Skillful use of vehicle controls and towing technique

·         Attitudes that contribute to road safety

It is not simply the speed of your reactions that determines whether you are safe but your ability to identify and respond to hazards…." (page 2)

It makes the crucial point that you shouldn’t second guess what other drivers have seen – roads can be very busy places.

"Anticipating the actions of other road users is critical for safety.   Never assume that other road users have either seen you or are going to react according to the Highway Code.  Watch other drivers’ general progress and road behaviour to get some idea of what sort of driver they are.  But always be aware that even the most conscientious of drivers can make mistakes." (page 89)

  

I recommend The Essential Towing Handbook to anyone who tows and anyone who is serious about safe towing and road safety. 

I couldn’t miss Hitched, by the Highways Agency 

Hitched is an excellent and comprehensive guide to ensuring that your trailer is fit for purpose, that you understand the technicalities and practicalities of setting yourself up to tow safely and to maintain your trailer.  It’s designed to be a constant companion in your tow car and will serve you well.

It has a real focus on ensuring that your trailer is road-worthy and was a part of the Highway’s Agency’s Fit to Tow” campaign which was particularly aimed at reducing the inconvenience caused by towing accidents, particularly on the motorways – lane closures, delays, traffic disruption. As well as informative general articles, there are dedicated sections focussing on utility trailers, caravans, livestock trailers and large trailers for heavy loads.

The NTTA’s Guide to Safe and Legal Towing is also very good. 

http://www.ntta.co.uk/downloads/SafeLegalTowingShort.pdf

The presentation could be improved,  but it's a comprehensive guide, well written and thorough.  It covers technical aspects of hitching up, good preparation and it has very sound advice on driving while towing.

Very comprehensive and aimed at a wide range of towers.  The diagrams are very helpful. 

I’ve been really impressed by the guidance from the Amateur Rowing Association and the British Rowing Organisation, Trailer Towing and Trailer Driving Guidance

The guidance is comprehensive, pitched at a good level so that it both covers the ground and makes people think about how they approach towing.  For me the rowing organisations have stood out in producing succinct, focussed guidance that really hits their target organisations.

  

Other guidance which I think is very helpful and targeted at particular audiences are:

The National Caravan Council’s Caravan Towing Guide

Specifically aimed at caravanners, and a very comprehensive guide for all caravanners on:

• safely matching cars to caravans
• selecting the ratio of caravan weight to car weight for safe towing
• things to take into account before towing a caravan
• good driving techniques

I like it – plenty of pictures, concise, easy to understand and really targeted at its audience.

The Camping and Caravan Club’s Guide, Safe for the Road

This is comprehensive, but perhaps a bit less accessible than the other guidance. I particularly like the bullets at the end which cover “Be considerate to other road users” – don’t ever underestimate the value of courteous attitudes and behaviours.

VOSA’s guide for Horsebox and Trailer owners

This is a quite specialist guide for horsebox and trailer owners.  It covers some of the more technical issues around carrying goods and livestock, roadworthiness and the special requirements associated with horseboxes and licensing.  It's a good overview for people who are moving into horsebox and trailer territory.

How Trailer Towing Safety Works

Lastly, I found this helpful – it’s from the US, so excuse some of the terminology, but an accessible way of understanding some of the issues associated with towing.

What guidance have readers found useful?

I'd be interested to hear what guidance readers have found helpful and why.  We also think Safe T-Signs are an important part of the Safe Towing agenda - help other drivers know that you're towing, that there's more to you than meets the eye!

Safe T-Signs

Safe T-Signs are important because they can be seen, even when trailers can't.  They can make a positive impact on driver behaviours out and about and driving on the road – where it matters. 

Safe T-Sign is about positively promoting good driving behaviour, by:

• Enabling other drivers to better see when a vehicle is towing so that they are able to respond appropriately and considerately

• Raising awareness in the drivers of towing outfits about the need to drive considerately and defensively.

   See our website:
Whatever kind of trailer you’re towing, Safe T Signs mean Safe Towing! Be seen and be safe when you emerge from junctions or roundabouts, and when you are towing in the dark.

Safe Towing is about safe driving practices, as well as making sure that drivers are alert to the need to drive with consideration towards all other road users.  Alongside using the technical and driving advice from the best of the guidance to help you prepare to tow safely, Safe T-Sign should be part of your routine before you set off to tow, to help you and other road users to be safe.

Safe Towing - Promoting Safe Towing for all road users and the use of Safe T-Signs

Safe T-Sign: ® Community Design Registration 817085-002

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

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

...Smile

Whatever kind of trailer you’re towing, Safe T Signs mean Safe Towing! Be 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

We took some new photo's of Safe T-Signs at the weekend for the new web site.  Nothing spectacular, but what they do show is...

.... they go on




They come off....

And they really stand out!

We're looking at getting new stock soon.... and we hope to get more positive feedback from customers ...

See our website:

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

Whatever kind of trailer you’re towing, Safe T Signs mean Safe Towing! Be 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