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PRESS RELEASE
Recognition for the Head of Advanced Drivers of America
Eddie Wren, president and chief instructor at Advanced Drivers of America
[ADA]
says he is "deeply gratified" to accept an invitation to chair a specialized
committee within the International Road Federation
[IRF]
Road Safety Working Group, Washington, D.C.
BUFFALO, N.Y., February 1, 2011 /
–
A staunch advocate of mutual respect and better, two-way understanding between
highway safety researchers and front-line practitioners, Eddie Wren has been selected
to head-up the
Driver Behavior, Education and Training Committee.
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Commenting on his surprise invitation to stand, the former UK traffic patrol
police officer said: "There are
research papers being written on the very subject of researchers failing to
successfully communicate their findings and recommendations to front-line road safety
workers, and ultimately to the public
[1]. As a result,
some opportunities to improve safety and save lives are being diminished. Many
knowledgeable people have been saying for some years that a
multi-disciplinary approach is crucial and I agree with that
wholeheartedly.
"This
is an excellent opportunity for myself, with a long background in practical
traffic safety issues and driver safety training, to work closely with some of
the highly-qualified academics in the IRF Road Safety Working Group.
Hopefully, this might help lead both sides into pastures-new."
Asked
what were his particular concerns in relation to driver beliefs and actions,
Wren said: "Above all, I dislike the well-intended but inaccurate and sometimes
dangerous 'advice' and training that is often given to drivers. Things
like 'holding the wheel at 8&4,' using car lengths to try to estimate safe
following distances, setting the exterior mirrors 'wide,' talking about the
'three-second-rule' as though it is only ever three seconds, and many other
examples. These are all badly mistaken and can cause significant danger.
It is entirely symptomatic of advice which emanates from self-appointed
'experts' –
people who just because they have been driving for perhaps 20 or 30 years now
believe they know everything about what is actually a very complex discipline
when it is done properly. Such people do far more harm than good and
their so-called advice has even spilled over into state drivers
manuals
[2]. Working closely with like-minded people from the research side of
the equation, I hope that not
only may we jointly be able to illustrate the utter fallacy in a lot of this bad
information but also, of course, to promote a lot of proven and highly-useful
information, too." |
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Eddie Wren
Copyright photograph, 2010.
All Rights Reserved. |
Eddie
Wren's full traffic safety and driver training résumé (CV) may be found here.
##ENDS##
References
[1]
Harder B.T., 2007, Development of an implementation infrastructure to
support a traffic safety culture. "Improving Traffic Safety Culture in the
United States - The Journey Forward;" AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety,
Washington DC.
[2]
Wren E, 2007, State Drivers' Manuals Can Kill Your Kids! [Society
of Automotive Engineers World Congress, Detroit]
For More Information Contact:
Advanced Drivers of America
E-mail:
info@advanceddrivers.com
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