Police Roadcraft Manual Free Download

[Rode Strawther]

Making progress is best achieved through good observation, anticipation and planning as opposed to speed. Due to the nature of our roads sustaining high speed for any length of time is rarely possible resulting in any high speed only coming in short bursts which have little or no effect on your overal journey time because those bursts do little to raise your overal average speed for that journey.

Road craft and any other riding manual will tell you that riding within your own limits, the limits of your machine and all within the confines of any given circumstances is an essential ingredient to being a good (or even better than good) rider.

If the discomfort is the result of pressure from someone who is supposed to be helping you improve your riding then tell them, make them explain to you why the ability to complete a particular manoeuvre will make you a better rider and add to your safety.

The ability to overtake in a safe and timely manner is an essential part of being a good rider, even more essential is restraint and the ability to assess ones own ability and confidence levels so making someone feel uncomfortable or pressurising riders into overtakes which return little or no advantage does nothing for their riding ability or safety.

Now former motorcycle safety coordinator for Gloucestershire Road Safety Partnership.RPTMTPolice Standard Rider qualified.ROSPA Diploma in advanced instruction.Level 3 Award in training & Assessing.DSA Certified trainer.Biker since the age of sixteen.

Have agreed with these comments for many years. Progress means riding within the law and not exceeding the speed limit under any circumstances . no ADI will instruct a pupil going in for a test around town to overtake or do any manoeuvre that would break the law and that includes speeding. Therefore no so called Advanced advisor or assessor, be he police or civilian can advise you to ride above the speed limit or turn a blind eye to facilitate you doing so. No one should push you further than you want to go. maybe they may consider that benefit you but if feeling uncomfortable one will lose concentration with the task in hand and that could be lethal.

Whilst the training books has to make it clear that all laws apply certainly it had becomes institutionalised amongst certain parties or individuals that if one needs to make progress one needs to speed and that there is a culture of overtake to be at the front. A position which is deemed to be the safest place. Not so if it means overtaking 19 other vehicles one by one or indeed overtaking one vehicle and break the law.

The Police Roadsafe manual wants throwing away on a number of errors. Whats the point in having a bible that is 97% correct but 3% incorrect. That 3% can cost lives.As an example when it comes to country bends and overtakes some 40% of KSI still occur and have done so for the last 50 years or so. I therefore believe that there is something terribly wrong somewhere in the way we train riders in those circumstances.

I think the problem with the Police Roadcraft manual is the way in which some people apply it.
The ethos behind both this and advanced riding in general is about making good decisions based on the circumstances you are presented with at any given moment, that can change in a second meaning no book or manual can include every possible scenario.
Many read Roadcraft and take examples literally applying them without thought or justification.
As most pre test training takes place predominantly on urban roads its no wonder riders get it wrong on rural roads.
Thanks for your feedback.

I do not disagree with the ethos of the Roadcraft handbook. We are in agreement also that it was designed primarily as a training manual for police officers who at times would be required to do or perform certain actions out of a necessity. Much of that now no longer exists. They no longer patrol motorways or chase speeders or criminals. That is left to car pursuit drivers or helicopters. They still do perform general duties and a lot of PR. work. Civic duties performed by those Class 1 riders that have been selected to be Advanced motorcyclists and perform both slow and fast escort duties working sometimes alone but generally with others as a team, . As per the video shown.

There is therefore no need to train others such as civilians to ride in some manner like police officers who are by the nature of their job enabled to basically do what is required in the event of an emergency. There are now extremely few circumstances where a motorcycle police officer would be required to exceed the speed limit and those would have to satisfy the officer in charge usually and inspector in control room to give permission.

Only just recently it was decided that overtakes should not require any speed in excess of the speed limit. Whilst this had always been the case in the Roadcraft book its not stated as a reason not to overtake and therefore reading through the lines and therefore the ommision being open to interpretation many assessors have allowed such overtakes to take place and that has to be wrong.

We have seen changes recently also with regards to off siding for forward vision.. no longer recommended and of the dangerous situation riders have been put in by the recommendation of on left handed bands being almost on the middle line, be it broken or full. Such a position may need to be sacrificed for safeties sake in the event of a vehicle approaching and cutting the bend . Those in power have suggested that this was done as some motorcycles a with back panniers are wider than a normal bike and therefore being close to the line may have offside bodywork stray over the line and that would be dangerous and an offence. Note Police bikes in the main all have panniers on and have been committing this manoeuvre constantly for the last 5 decades or longer. In fact I am sure they are aware of the statistics concerning bends especially left hand ones and have decided that a close to the centre line position should no longer be recommended as it is dangerous anyway. To my mind putting someone in a situation that would or may require them to take emergency action to avoid hitting an oncoming vehicle thus averting a collision should not have been recommended in the first place. That is something that will never be admitted to but at least it is no longer there in books or instructed, However it begs the question, as with overtakes just how many riders have lost their lives or been seriously injured because those recommendations or omissions re overtakes and bend positioning were in the book.

So from my comments a unanimous decision has been made between you and you both decided that its fair to say that the book is not at all at fault but that therefore its the individuals who read it who are wrong all the time . That they should obviously apply whatever they read in the whole of the manual or have been taught by instructors using the Manual and that they should do certain things to benefit themselves and keep themselves safe. However you both now say that they are wrong in that they should not believe and take into isolation any specific individual pieces, words, lines or paragraphes, pictures etc. Therefore if parts are taken in isolation then they are wrong and that the whole is greater than its parts. That trainees have to look at the whole of the manual and the essence of what it wishes to achieve rather than factually the many pieces of useful, practical pieces of information contained therein?

I merely pointed out that it is to my mind right in say a conservative 97% of the advice that they gives and totally wrong in the remaining 3 %. One would also question why a book that is primarily designed as a teaching aid for serving police officers and one that contains information that the general public need not know about, should be in common use. Quite a number of alterations were made to the latest manual some were deletions so that others would ride safer. That means that certain pieces of information and advice were considered to be no longer suitable to be published.

A manual that in common with all or most other riding manuals, following its examples, expressly gives advice on certain matters that are completely at odds with the Highway Code. A book that is always recommended should be read before and/or in conjunction with all other manuals.

Without being argumentative or aggressive if I say that I have taught First aid from a manual for many years and if it is found that items in that manual are now believed to be wrong , controversial , injurious or dangerous then they need serious looking at and changing. Lets face it lives could be at stake.

That is what has happened with the amendments recently made to the latest issue of Roadcraft and changes were made.The whole ethos of such a book is to be a useful , informative. aid to training and to save lives. It therefore cannot in any way shape or form contain ANY material within its covers that creates a dangerous situation and puts persons lives at risk.

Personally I would like to see some deletions and changes made but within time these changes may or will take place particularly regarding bends and overtakes, irresponsible, unnecessary and inappropriate speeds

here we have a usual scene of several vehicles approaching a roundabout and from what I can see it must be a single carriageway major road with a limit of 50 or 60 mph. It has high street lighting so illuminates during the hours of darkness.

What concerns me is the apparent distance that can be seen between a number of these vehicles all travelling at the same speed and in the same direction. One car is almost hiddenfrom view by the other car close to its rear end. The vehicles are to my mind all travelling far to close to each other and in the event of an emergency some are so close that they cannot guarantee stopping in such a short distance and not collide with the rear of the forward vehicle. Many drivers drive to close in the belief that if the vehicles in front applies his brakes and the brake lights show then he can do the same thing and they will both be able to brake without any contact. They therefore believe that they are safe drivers. However as in this case they are only giving something like 30 or a generous 40 ft between themselves. At even 40 mph they cannot stop if a vehicle comes to a sudden stop in front of them and doesnt show any signs of braking or indeed doesnt show any brake lights.

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