Driving awareness

At their last meeting members of the St Andrew’s URC Afternoon Fellowship heard a talk by Mandy Lees, a road safety officer with North Yorkshire County Council, about initiatives for older drivers.

Whilst many of the topics covered would probably be regarded as common sense, or things learned through many years’ experience of driving, it is always useful to be reminded of things we think we already know. The whole focus of the initiative is to keep people driving for longer, so their social and everyday lives can continue.

Mandy also mentioned brand new legislation about children’s car seats - only in the news that morning - which was very useful for those with small grandchildren (or even great-grandchildren). Members were reminded that their reaction times may be slower, and sight, hearing and judgement of speed not so sharp as they used to be. We learned about the length of time it takes alcohol to be eliminated from the body; the statistics of how much men and women can drink safely seem to change a lot, though drinking and driving should really be a no-no.

We received several helpful publications and leaflets, and members were offered the chance to take a free onehour assessment of their driving skills.

The next meeting will be on February 22 at 2pm in the church hall. This meeting will be part of the series of ecumenical meetings organised by South Cliff Churches Together, and the fellowship members will be joined by people from the other churches in the area. Kath Foreman will give us another dip into her fund of funny stories, weird happenings, amazing or amusing facts and odd ancient laws. Everyone is welcome, whether they attend any of the South Cliff churches or not; all attending are asked to pay £2 to cover running costs. For further information please contact Mrs P McNaughton on 01723 369070.